Savage, W. Sherman (William Sherman)

W. Sherman Savage remained deeply involved in education throughout his adult life, both as a teacher and as a scholar. Born in Wattsville, Accomac County, Virginia, Savage received a bachelor's degree from Howard University in 1917. He held various teaching positions in Mississippi, North Carolina and Oklahoma, before becoming professor of history at Lincoln University of Missouri (Jefferson City, Missouri) in 1921. Despite the racial barriers in place at most universities, Savage also pursued his graduate studies, becoming the first black graduate of the University of Oregon (receiving an M.A. in 1925) and the first black to receive a doctorate from Ohio State University in 1934. Dr. Savage remained at Lincoln University until his retirement in 1960 as chair of the History Department. As his papers demonstrate, he was regarded with great respect and affection by his colleagues and by his students at Lincoln University because of his exceptional dedication to the school and to his teaching. Thereafter, he taught in the History and Political Science Department at Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins, Texas until 1966. Following his departure from Jarvis, he and his wife Roena moved to Los Angeles where he continued to teach as a visiting professor at California State College, Los Angeles until 1970. He pursued his research and his writing in the years after his final retirement up until his death in 1980.

As an historian, Savage wrote initially about abolitionism (including a published version of his doctoral dissertation, "The Controversy Over the Distribution of Abolition Literature, 1830-1860") but soon became interested in exploring the circumstances of African Americans in the trans-Mississippi West. He published extensively in The Journal of Negro History and The Negro History Bulletin on aspects of the subject, served as a consultant to a 1970 television series dealing with the general topic and eventually made it the subject of his best known book, Blacks in the West (1976).