Alfred A. Thorne

Alfred Athiel Thorne, LLD, MA (August 14, 1871–April 23, 1956) (known as "A.A. Thorne"), was a Popular Statesman, Incisive Author, Advocate for Educational Access, and Key Contributor to the History of Human Rights. A.A. Thorne famously championed human rights during the nineteenth century by establishing and leading one of the first human rights and labor rights institutions in the Western Hemisphere. He also broke new ground for Educational Access by establishing and operating one of the world's first co-educational private secondary schools, providing equal access to qualified students regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, religion or financial status, in British Guiana in 1894. The school he founded provided educational access for hundreds of students who would otherwise have been excluded from the existing preparatory schools due to their high tuitions and restrictive class-based and gender-based admissions policies. Called a "Hero of the People", Thorne worked to unify the collective voices of East Indians, Africans, Chinese, Portuguese, Aboriginal Amerindians, and working class British colonists across the British colony. He was popularly elected to numerous public offices for more than fifty years, including as Mayor of British Guiana's capital city, Georgetown. A prolific writer and columnist, Thorne authored numerous published articles and editorial columns for the influential newspapers "Echo" and "Outlook" in British Guiana, as well as notable articles published by the "Boston Transcript" in Massachusetts. Using the merit of his ideas and the power of his words, AA Thorne courageously stood up for the principles of self-determination, social justice and equal rights which had been casualties of colonialism and plantocracy -- and he repeatedly won broad-based support, driven by compelling arguments and inclusive politics. Born in Barbados, Dr. Thorne was a British Classical Scholar and earned two degrees from Durham University in Durham, England -- the world's third-oldest English-speaking university -- where he graduated with honors and became the first person in history of African descent to earn both Bachelor's and Advanced degrees conferred by a British University.

A.A. Thorne first visited the United States in 1904, at the special invitation of the New York City Mayor. During this U.S. visit, Thorne delivered a keynote address to the President and Alumni of Wilberforce University, where the Senate conferred upon Thorne the degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD), a distinctive honor which had only been conferred previously on two other men: US President William McKinley, and Frederick Douglass.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_A._Thorne

• Residence: 1871 - Barbados
  • Reference: Barbados Baptisms, 1739-1891 - SmartCopy: Jun 8 2020, 19:14:53 UTC