James Edwin Campbell

James Edwin Campbell was born on September 28, 1867, in the Kerr's Run area of Pomeroy to James and Letha Campbell. He graduated from Pomeroy High School with the class of 1884 and, after graduation, taught in various parts of Meigs County. Campbell became known as an African American poet, editor, author of short stories, and educator. He began his writing in 1887 with Driftings and Gleanings. During the 1880s and 1890s, he wrote regularly for daily newspapers in Chicago and served on the literary staff of the Chicago Times-Herald. His dialect poetry gained widespread popularity, and he published a collection of his best works, Echoes From the Cabin and Elsewhere. He was the first president of the West Virginia Colored Institute, now West Virginia State University, serving from 1891 to 1894. Campbell died in Pomeroy on January 26, 1896.

Pomeroy, Ohio · United States