Enlightened Free Thinking Nubian Kings And Queens

Lucy Craft Laney, educator, school founder, and civil rights activist, was born on April 13, 1854 in Macon, Georgia to free parents Louisa and David Laney.   David Laney, a Presbyterian minister and skilled carpenter, had purchased his freedom approximately twenty years before Lucy Laney’s birth.  He purchased Louisa’s freedom shortly after they were married. Lucy Laney learned to read and write by the age of four and by the time she was twelve, she was able to translate difficult passages in Latin including Julius Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War. Laney attended Lewis (later Ballard) High School in Macon, Georgia and in 1869, at the age of fifteen; she joined Atlanta University’s first class.  Four years later she graduated from the teacher’s training program at the University.  After teaching for ten years in Macon, Savannah, Milledgeville, and Augusta, she in 1883 opened her own school in the basement of Christ Presbyterian Church in...

       M.P. Burley attended grammar and high school in his hometown of Macon, Georgia. His love of learning guided him to Ballard Normal School, where he excelled in a broad range of subjects, including Latin. Even though he was an outstanding scholar, Burley could find no work in his chosen field as an educator, so he took a job at a soap factory until a better opportunity came along.        In the Fall of 1903 he received a teaching job, but son concluded that his own education was incomplete. Burley then entered Atlanta University, where he finished college while supporting himself as a photographer during the Summers.        After graduation in 1909, he was appointed professor of English, Science and Latin at Homer College. Six years later, he left his native state to become Professor of Science at Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama. Burley's special talent for teaching was recognized by his promotion to President...