{{Short description|American scholar, educator, pastor (1864–1941)}} {{Use American English|date=November 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Pinckney Warren Russell | image = Pinckney Warren Russell.png | caption = Russell, circa 1920 | birth_date = April 25, 1864 | birth_place = Newberry County, South Carolina, United States | death_date = September 24, 1941 (aged 77) | death_place = Charlotte, North Carolina, United States | education = Biddle University (B.A., B. Th., M.A.), Lincoln University (D.D.) | occupation = Classics scholar, Presbyterian pastor, educator | spouse = Hattie E. Field (1894–) | children = 6 }} '''Pinckney Warren Russell''' (April 25, 1864–September 24, 1941) was an American classics scholar, Presbyterian pastor, and educator. He was a department chair and taught Greek at Biddle University (now Johnson C. Smith University) in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was an early African American Classicist in North Carolina.<ref name="Caldwell-1921">{{Cite book |last=Caldwell |first=A. B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzoTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA524 |title=History of the American Negro and His Institutions: North Carolina |date=1921 |publisher=A. B. Caldwell Publishing Company |pages=524–528 |language=en |chapter=Pinckney Warren Russell |via=Google Books}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Pinckney Warren Russell was born on April 25, 1864, in Newberry County, South Carolina, to parents Rachel (née Williams) and Madison Russell.<ref name="Caldwell-1921" /> When he was young it was the Reconstruction era in the U.S., and he struggled to find educational opportunities as a Black child.<ref name="Caldwell-1921" /> Russell attended Hoge School for Colored Children in the city of Newberry in South Carolina.<ref name="Briggs">{{Cite web |last=Briggs |first=Ward |last2=Ronnick |first2=Michele Valerie |title=Russell, Pinckney Warren |url=https://dbcs.rutgers.edu/all-scholars/russell-pinckney-warren |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=Database of Classical Scholars |publisher=Rutgers University–New Brunswick, School of Arts and Sciences |language=en-gb}}</ref> His parents died young and he worked at a cotton factory at Pelzer, South Carolina.<ref name="Briggs" />
Russell received a 1890 B.A. degree with honors from the normal school at Biddle University (now Johnson C. Smith University), followed by a 1893 B. Th. degree, and a M.A. degree at the same university.<ref name="Briggs" /> He continued his studies at Lincoln University near Oxford, Pennsylvania and received a D.D. degree.<ref name="Briggs" />
== Career == He served as a Presbyterian pastor in Biddleville, an historically African-American neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, followed by pastorate in Goldsboro, North Carolina.<ref name="Caldwell-1921" /> He served as the principal at the State Normal School in Goldsboro.<ref name="Caldwell-1921" />
For one term he returned to Biddle University as an assistant teacher in the college preparatory department, and three terms after he served as the principal of that department from 1899 to 1908.<ref name="Caldwell-1921" /><ref name="Briggs" /> He was promoted to the department chair for the Greek department at Biddle University.<ref name="Caldwell-1921" /> He taught ancient Greek literature and New Testament Greek.<ref name="Briggs" /> He worked as the dean of faculty from 1921 to 1922, and the dean of the school of arts at Biddle University from 1922 to 1926.<ref name="Briggs" /> He left teaching in 1938.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=April 5, 1953 |title=Johnson C. Smith Plans Special Service Tuesday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-charlotte-observer-johnson-c-smith/158875091/ |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=The Charlotte Observer |page=29 |language=en-US |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Russell and Hattie E. Field married on December 19, 1894.<ref name="Caldwell-1921" /> His wife was an accomplished educator.<ref name="Caldwell-1921" /> Together they had six children.<ref name="Briggs" />
He was a member of the Classics Association of the Middle West and South starting in 1917.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Black Classicists: A Mural Mosaic |url=https://chs.harvard.edu/permanent-collection/black-classicists/ |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=The Center for Hellenic Studies |publisher=Harvard University |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Death == He died on September 24, 1941, in Charlotte, North Carolina.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATMsAQAAIAAJ |title=The Quarterly Review of Higher Education Among Negroes |date=1941 |publisher=Johnson C. Smith University. |pages=198 |language=en |via=Google Books}}</ref> In April 1953, Johnson C. Smith University held a special memorial event at Biddle Memorial Chapel for seven deceased faculty, which included Russell.<ref name=":0" />
== See also ==
* Reuben Shannon Lovinggood * John W. E. Bowen Sr. {{Portal|North Carolina|South Carolina }}
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}} Category:1864 births Category:1941 deaths Category:19th-century African-American academics Category:19th-century American academics Category:20th-century African-American academics Category:20th-century American academics Category:African-American Presbyterian ministers Category:American Presbyterian ministers Category:Classics educators Category:Johnson C. Smith University faculty Category:Johnson C. Smith University alumni Category:Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) alumni Category:People from Charlotte, North Carolina Category:People from Newberry County, South Carolina