Wright, Richard Robert, 1855-1947

born 16 May 1855, Dalton, Madison County, Georgia; DEATH 2 Jul 1947 (aged 92), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Former Slave, 94, Bank President, Dies PHILADELPHIA, July 4 AP) -Maj. Richard Robert Wright, a 94-year-old former Georgia slave who became president of a college and a bank, died yesterday in Jefferson hospital. Wright, who twice declined to become U. S. Minister to Liberia, headed the first negro high school in Georgia and later became president of a Georgia State College for negroes. He was founder and president of the Citizens & Southern Bank & Trust Company, Philadelphia. President William McKinley appointed Wright as special paymaster with the rank of major during the Spanish American War.

<p>Richard Robert Wright, Sr. was born in Dalton, Georgia in 1855 to Richard Robert Waddell and Harriet
Lynch Waddell. Shortly after the Civil War, the family moved to Cuthbert, Georgia where Wright
attended school.
Wright later moved to Atlanta and attended Storrs School, a forerunner of Atlanta University. He was
among the original eighty-nine students who entered the University in October 1869. He graduated from
their preparatory course in 1872 and from the college as valedictorian in 1876. In 1879, Wright received
his A.M. degree from the same University. After graduation, Wright moved to Cuthbert, Georgia where
Wright founded the Howard Normal School. During this time, he met Lydia Elizabeth Howard. The two
married on June 7, 1877and went on to have nine children.</p>

<p>Richard R. Wright, Sr. died in Philadelphia in 1947. A year later, on June 30, 1948, President Harry
Truman signed a bill proclaiming February 1 as National Freedom Day</p>

Richard Robert Wright Sr. (May 16, 1855 – July 2, 1947) was an American military officer, educator and college president, politician, civil rights advocate and banking entrepreneur. Among his many accomplishments, he founded a high school, a college, and a bank. He also founded the National Freedom Day Association in 1941 ...