Green, William M.
Item
- Connection to Legacies of American Slavery Database
- Name
- One-line bio
- Biography
- Date of Birth
- Date of Death
- Historical Period
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Green, William M.
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William Mercer Green was the first Bishop of Mississippi (1850), Vice Chancellor of the University of the South (1866-1887), and an enslaver of enslaved persons.
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William Mercer Green was born in North Carolina on May 2, 1789. He graduated from the University of North Carolina and ordained as a priest in 1823. He was appointed to be the first Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi in 1850, where he was an outspoken supporter and secession and the Christianization of the enslaved. He was also a slaveholder, himself. He used his position to garner subscription funds form his wealthy, slave-holding parishioners. As a prominent leader in the Episcopal Church, Green was a member of the original Board of Trustees and therefore heavily involved in the fundraising, curriculum, and hiring in the early years of the University’s foundation. William Mercer Green became Sewanee’s Chancellor in 1866 and served until his death in 1887. As Chancellor of the University, Green regularly invited and hosted former-Confederate president Jefferson Davis at Sewanee. Green is memorialized on campus today through Green’s View, Green’s View Road, Green’s View Grill, and Green’s View Capital.
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May 2, 1789
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February 13, 1887
Position: 1765 (45 views)
