Inman E. Page escaped enslavement with his family when he was ten years old. Fourteen years later, in 1877, Inman, who had become known as an eloquent orator, was chosen by his classmates to be the speaker for Class Day at Brown University. Among his remarks that day, he would say, “The true greatness of a nation consists in the influence which it wields for good.”
A year after graduating from Brown, Inman became a teacher at Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, Missouri, and school president within a few years. And soon after, Inman became president of the Missouri State Teachers’ association, serving for three successive terms.
Inman would lead educational institutions from elementary schools through universities until retiring in 1935. He passed away later that year in Oklahoma City.
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“Inman E. Page: a snapshot biography” sources: Portrait of Inman E. Page is his Brown University class photo, taken in 1877 – Brown University Library / Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. G.M. Rewell & Company, 1887, pp. 474-480. / Brown University – News from Brown / Commencement Oration of Inman E. Page, Class of 1877 – Transcribed from The Providence Press, Friday evening edition, June 15, 1877 (https://250.brown.edu/page-oration.html) / Wikimedia Commons
