This fellowship is intended to honor Professor William Sanders Scarborough’s memory and to help foster diversity in the fields of Classical and Hellenic Studies and the Humanities more broadly by supporting students and teachers from underrepresented groups in their study and research at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

William Sanders Scarborough (1852–1926), the son of an enslaved woman and a freedman, was a pathbreaking African American Classical scholar and public intellectual. Scarborough’s scholarship included philological works on Greek and Roman authors, as well as studies of African languages and African American folklore. His First Lessons in Greek (1881) was the first foreign language textbook by an African American author. He taught at Ohio’s Wilberforce University and Payne Theological Seminary, serving as Wilberforce’s president from 1908– 1920. At least twice in his life (1886 and 1896), Scarborough hoped to attend the American School, with the encouragement of the School’s Managing Committee. Lack of funding, coupled with his many professional responsibilities, kept Scarborough from realizing his dream of going to Greece.

The fellowship supports up to three months in residence at the School to carry out proposed research projects and/or join the School’s academic programs (field trips and seminars during the regular academic year or the summer, excavations at the Agora or Corinth, scientific field schools, etc.). 

Each of the awards provides for $1500 per month (rounded upwards to the nearest whole month to a maximum of 3 month) as a stipend. The fellowship covers the costs of room and board in Athens, a waiver of any applicable School fees, and one roundtrip economy-class airfare to Athens. The School intends to make up to four such awards each year.

Eligibility
Graduate students, faculty, and independent scholars residing in the United States or Canada, regardless of citizenship, whose geographic origin, diverse experiences, and socio- economic background are underrepresented at the School (including persons from the Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color communities), and whose studies, research, or teaching would benefit from residency at the School. Fellowship recipients need not be specialists in the field of Classical Studies. The School welcomes applicants from public and private universities, colleges, and community colleges, and particularly encourages those from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.