First President of Anticoch

First President of Anticoch
09/1852 AD hired

Mann is nominated for governor of Massachusetts by the Free Soil Party, and the same day is chosen president of the newly established Antioch College. Failing in the election for governor, he accepted the presidency of the college, which he continued until his death.

He taught economics, philosophy, and theology; he was popular with students and with lay audiences across the Midwest who attended his lectures promoting public schools.

Mann also employed the first female faculty member to be paid on an equal basis with her male colleagues, Rebecca Pennell, his niece.

Antioch College was founded by the Christian Connexion, which later withdrew its financial support causing the college to struggle for many years with meager financial resources due to sectarian infighting. Mann himself was charged with nonadherence to sectarianism because, previously a Congregationalist by upbringing, he joined the Unitarian Church.

Mann was also drawn to Antioch because it was a coeducational institution, among the first in the country to teach men and women in the same classes, Mann and his wife had conflicts with female students, however, who came to Yellow Springs in search of greater equality. The young women chafed at restrictions on their behavior, and wanted to meet with men in literary societies, which Mann and his wife opposed

Yellow Springs, OH

Lattitude: 39.8° N
Longitude: 83.9° W
Region: North America

Modern Day United States

Events in 1852 MORE