John Wesley Manning

John Wesley Manning was born in 1857 in Edenton, North Carolina to Alfred and Eliza Allston Manning. His mother and her family were enslaved on the Hayes plantation by James Carthcart Johnston, and Manning was himself born enslaved. His father Alfred was a ship carpenter. Manning moved with his family to New Haven as a young child, likely during the Civil War, and graduated from the Hopkins School before becoming a student at Yale.

Manning’s maternal uncles, Osborn and Isom Allston, were employed for many years as “sweeps” (custodians) at Yale along with other members of his family, including during the time Manning was a student. Manning’s brother, Henry Edward Manning, and nephew, William Edward Beardsley Manning, also attended Yale, pursuing degrees in art.

Manning was an accomplished educator, writer, and a leader in his field. Following his graduation from Yale, Manning became the principal of the Austin School in Knoxville, Tennessee, a public primary school for Black children. He served as principal there until 1911, expanding the school to include a high school. In 1893, he married Leonora Jessamine Scott of Knoxville. The couple had five children, one of whom was named “Yale.” In 1899, he earned a master's degree from Wilberforce University. In the 1910s, he was appointed to the Southern Sociological Congress, and served in leadership roles in the Tennessee Conference of Educational Workers and the East Tennessee Association of Teachers in Colored Schools. He died in Knoxville in 1922.

"Not In Taft's Class," Knoxville Sentinel, August 18, 1911.

"Inhumanity of Stripes," Knoxville Sentinel, January 15, 1912.

"The African Question," Knoxville Sentinel, November 25, 1912.

"An Ode To Africa," Knoxville Sentinel, May 14, 1919.