Our Black Hoosier Educators series will feature notable Black educators with ties to Indiana.

William David McCoy was born on November 14, 1853 in Cambridge City, Indiana. Later in life, he served as a superintendent of schools in Helena, Arkansas. When he returned to Indiana, he served as the principal of public school 23 and 24. In 1890, he ran on the republican ticket for the Indiana House of Representatives but did not win. Two years after the defeat, President Benjamin Harrison appointed him as minster resident & consul general of Liberia. The three previous selections unexpectedly died of “African fever.” Only a few months into his tenure McCoy met the same fate. He died on May 14, 1893. It is important to note the colonization movement in Indiana that encouraged Black people to leave and go to Africa, specifically Liberia. From 1840-1862, at least 80 Black people left Indiana and moved to Liberia. After McCoy’s death, school 24 was named after him.

Sources: Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, U.S. Office of the Historian, & African Americans in Indianapolis: A Story of a People Determined to Be Free

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