1825-1903
Educator, Religious Leader, Statesman
Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry was born in Lincoln County, Georgia, on June 5, 1825,
to William and Susan (Winn) Curry. The family moved to Talladega County, Alabama
in 1837, where his father was a planter. For his college education, Curry returned
to his birth state and graduated from the University of Georgia. He went on
to complete a law degree at Harvard University.
After returning to Talladega to practice law, he was elected to the Alabama
legislature in 1847 and served several terms. During that time, he authored
a bill for the geological survey of the state and promoted public education.
In 1857, Curry was elected to the United States Congress and reelected in 1859.
Along with other Southern congressmen, he resigned from Congress in 1861 due
to the conflict between the states. Curry served in the Confederate Congress,
1861-1863, and in the Confederate army as lieutenant colonel of the Alabama
5th Regiment.
Following the Civil War, Curry was elected president of the Alabama Baptist
State Convention in 1865. A month later, he became president of Howard College
(now Samford University) serving until 1868. He went on to hold numerous high
posts in the Southern Baptist Convention and became an ardent advocate of the
separation of church and state. Curry moved to Richmond College as Professor
of English and also lectured in philosophy and international law.
Because of his work in behalf of free schooling for every child, he was selected
to supervise the George Peabody Fund for public education in the South and to
serve as agent of the Slater Fund for Negro Schools. Booker T. Washington said
of him, "There was no man in the country more deeply interested in the
higher welfare of the Negro, than Dr. Curry." Through countless speeches
and publications to the public and governmental sectors, he tirelessly promoted
the cause of free public education for all. Having declined the post as head
of the Bureau of Education in 1885, he was appointed ambassador to Spain.
On March 4, 1847, Curry married Ann Alexander Bowie. They had three children-Susan
Lamar, Manly Bowie, and Jackson Thomas. Two years after the death of his wife,
Ann, he married Mary W. Thomas of Virginia on June 25, 1867.
Dr. Curry died February 12, 1903. Later that year, acknowledging his long dedication
to education, Curry was chosen as the first Alabamian to be recognized in the
National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. His statue was completed and erected
in 1906. The Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia is named
in his honor.