Early Life
Richard was born on the campus of Howard University in Washington D.C. His early childhood was spent on a farm on Whiskey Bottom Road in Howard County, Maryland. His father, Sterling N. Brown, a former slave, was a prominent minister and professor at Howard University Divinity School. His mother Grace Adelaide Brown taught in D.C. public schools for over fifty years. Brown was educated at Dunbar High School and graduated as the top student. He received a scholarship to attend Williams College. Graduating from Williams Phi Beta Kappa in 1922, he continued his studies at Harvard University, receiving an MA a year later.
The same year, he became an English teacher at Virginia Theological Seminary and College in Lynchburg, Virginia, a position he would hold for the next three years. In 1927 he married Daisy Turnbull. They adopted two children.
Read more about this topic: Sterling Allen Brown
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