Matthew W. Dogan, Sr.

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Matthew W. Dogan, Sr. Now, some stories start with a man.

This one starts before the man — starts with a mother and a father, William and Jennie Dogan, who were born into slavery and somehow, against every weight the world could press on a person, purchased their freedom. Not just their own, either. All six of their children.

That transaction happened in 1858, and you have to sit with that a moment — the arithmetic of it, the sacrifice of it — before you can understand the kind of household Matthew Winfred Dogan was born into on December 21, 1863, in Pontotoc, Mississippi. William and Jennie weren't finished. They moved the whole family to Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1869 — chasing something specific: a school organized by the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

These were people who understood that freedom without education was only half the thing. And young Matthew, it turns out, had a gift. At Rust College in Holly Springs, he was named valedictorian of his 1886 senior class.

He stayed on as a math teacher after that, building his life in the same town that had built him. He married his childhood sweetheart, Fannie Faulkner, in 1888. Together they had seven children, though two of those children died in infancy — a grief that quietly shadows an otherwise remarkable life.

By 1892, Matthew Dogan had moved to Central Tennessee College in Nashville — later known as Fisk University — where he worked as a mathematician. He was a man climbing, steady and deliberate, and in 1896, Bishop Robert Jones promoted him to something larger than a teaching post. He was sent to Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, where he would become its second African American president.

Now, here's what he walked into. Wiley was in its 20th year of operation. It had 285 students and was, by the marker's own word, struggling.

A lesser man might have treated that as a ceiling. Dogan treated it as a foundation. By 1905, he had overseen the construction of thirteen buildings.

Enrollment had nearly doubled. And then there was the library — a Carnegie Library, funded through Dogan's persistence, debated over for two years, and then built in 1907 entirely by student labor. That building became the only truly public library in Marshall, and it held that distinction until 1972.

Think about what that means. Generations of people in that city, of all kinds, had access to books because of what Dogan and his students built with their own hands. He also established an endowment for Wiley College.

After four years, that endowment had grown to more than six hundred thousand dollars. Time and again, he stood beside his students and professors, even stepping into moments that could have turned violent in the segregated community around them, and steering them somewhere else. Matthew Dogan spent decades at Wiley College.

He retired in 1942. He died in 1947 and is buried in Wiley Cemetery — not far from the institution he gave his life's work to. His legacy, the marker tells us, lives in several schools across East Texas that bear his name, and in the longer, quieter tradition of advocacy for educational equality that he helped make real.

The son of people who bought their freedom. The man who built a library. The president who nearly doubled a struggling college in a decade.

That's Matthew W. Dogan, Sr.

What the marker says

Matthew Winfred Dogan was born on December 21, 1863 in Pontotoc, Mississippi. His parents, William and Jennie Dogan, were born slaves, but were able to purchase their freedom and that of their six children in 1858. Determined to educate their children, the family moved to Holly Springs, Miss., in 1869 where there was a school organized by the Freedman’s Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. At Rust College, Dogan was recognized as valedictorian of his 1886 senior class and then began as a math teacher in Holly Springs. He married his childhood sweetheart, Fannie Faulkner, in 1888 and they had seven children, two of whom died in infancy. In 1892, Dogan moved to Central Tennessee College (later Fisk University) in Nashville, Tennessee as a mathematician. In 1896, Bishop Robert Jones promoted Dogan to Wiley College, making him its second African American president. When Dogan arrived, Wiley was struggling in its 20th year of operation with 285 students. By 1905, Dogan oversaw the construction of thirteen buildings and almost doubled enrollment. Dogan successfully secured the funding for a Carnegie Library on campus. After two years of debate, the building was completed in 1907 entirely by student labor and remained the only truly public library in Marshall until 1972. Dogan also established an endowment for Wiley and, after four years, had raised more than $600,000. Time and again, Dogan supported his students and professors, even preventing potentially violent confrontations within the segregated community. Dogan spent decades at Wiley College, retiring in 1942. He died in 1947 and is buried in Wiley Cemetery. Matthew Dogan’s legacy may be remembered through several schools in East Texas that bear his name and as an advocate for educational equality. (2014)