American Historical Ephemera & Photography

2 1/8 x 3 9/16 in. CDV on cardstock mount (minimal spotting, good condition). Photographer's imprint and later inscription to verso, "Brother of Henry Montgomery educated at Dartmouth by Col. Dutton / Scott Montgomery." 

Winfield Scott Montgomery (1853-1928) was born to enslaved parents in Fort Adams, Mississippi. After running away across Union lines during the Civil War, he attended Dartmouth College, graduating in 1878. He went on to work as a professor at Alcorn University in Rodney, Mississippi, and then to begin a 42-year career in Washington, DC's public schools for black students. During this time, he graduated from Howard University with a medical degree and license to practice medicine in that city and in Michigan.

After retiring in 1924, and passing away only 4 years later, Montgomery was memorialized by a local paper as follows: "To him as to no other man in the last half-century was given the opportunity of supervising and directing the public education of his race on all levels of instruction in a public school system. His chief contribution is the inspiration to pupils, teachers, and parents of the public schools in the District of Columbia derived from his noble character and noteworthy career."