Atticus Greene Haygood
Emory College President 1875-1884
Class of 1859
- Serves as a Confederate army chaplain during the Civil War
- Progressive in his views about education, race, and philosophy
- Gains national attention with his 1880 Thanksgiving sermon titled "The New South"
- Sermon wins support of Brooklyn banker named George Seney, a Methodist minister's son, which helps eliminate Emory's debt and pays for a building that bears Seney's name on the Oxford campus
- Builds up the college library, introduces modern language instruction, launches a law department, and requires a thesis for the master of arts degree
- First Emory faculty member elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Leaves to lead the Slater Fund, a philanthropy to support schools and colleges for African Americans
- Motto chiseled into Atlanta campus gate: "Let us stand by what is good and make it better if we can."
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