Francis Williams
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Francis Williams (1702-1770) was a scholar and poet born in Kingston, Jamaica. He is notable as the first known person of African descent to be educated at Cambridge University.
His parents were 'free blacks' John and Dorothy Williams and he was their youngest son.
He was sent by the Duke of Montagu to England, where he attended grammar school and then Cambridge, where he studied Latin, Literature and Mathematics, graduating with a bachelor's degree.
Example of his poetry:
An Ode to George Haldane
Rash councils now, with each malignant plan,
Each faction, in that evil hour began,
At your approach are in confusion fled,
Nor while you rule, shall raise their dastard head.
Alike the master and the slave shall see
Their neck reliv'd, the yoke unbound by thee.
[edit] External links
- Mathematicians of the African Diaspora, State University of New York at Buffalo.
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