Charles Warner Cansler (May 15, 1871 – November 1, 1953) was an American educator, civil rights advocate, and author, active primarily in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the stat ...

, USA. A grandson of William Scott, a pioneering Black American publisher, and the son of Knoxville's first Black American teacher, Cansler was instrumental in establishing educational opportunities for Knoxville's Black American children in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His 1940 biography, ''Three Generations: The Story of a Colored Family in Eastern Tennessee'', remains an important account of black life in 19th century

East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 count ...

Biography

Background and early life

Cansler was born in

Maryville, Tennessee Maryville is a city in and the county seat of Blount County, Tennessee, and is a suburb of Knoxville. Its population was 31,907 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area and a short distance from popular tourist de ...

, in 1871, a son of Hugh Lawson Cansler (originally spelled "Gentzler" ) and Laura Scott.East Tennessee Historical Society, Lucile Deaderick (ed.), ''Heart of the Valley: A History of Knoxville, Tennessee'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1976), p. 504. Cansler's father was the son of a plantation slave and the plantation owner's daughter Catherine Cansler. Cansler's maternal grandfather, William Scott (1821–1885), had moved to Friendsville in 1847 at the request of the town's Quaker leaders. At the outbreak of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, the Scotts moved to Knoxville, which offered better protection from pro-Confederate guerrillas, who often targeted free blacks. While in Knoxville, Cansler's mother attended a school for black children established by St. John's Episcopal Church rector,

Thomas William Humes Thomas William Humes (April 22, 1815 – January 16, 1892) was an American clergyman and educator, active in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the latter half of the 19th century. Elected rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in 1846, Humes led ...

. In 1864, she became Knoxville's first Negro teacher when she received permission to open a school from

Ambrose Burnside Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor ...

, commander of the occupying Union forces.Robert Booker
Charles Warner Cansler
''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009. Retrieved: 6 April 2011. In August 1865, William Scott moved to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

, where he founded ''The Colored Tennessean'', the state's first newspaper published and edited by a Negro. Two years later, he returned to Maryville, where he published the pro-

Radical Republican The Radical Republicans (later also known as "Stalwarts") were a faction within the Republican Party, originating from the party's founding in 1854, some 6 years before the Civil War, until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Recon ...

'' Maryville Republican'', and in 1869 served as the city's only black mayor.Robert Glenn Slater, "A Distinctive Minority: The Black Leaders of Blount County, Tennessee During Reconstruction," ''Journal of East Tennessee History'', Vol. 81 (2009), pp. 19-32. Charles Cansler studied at the Quaker-sponsored Freedmen's Normal Institute. He later attended Maryville College, one of the few integrated colleges in the South, but he quit before graduating. In the early 1890s, Cansler worked at different jobs for the railroad and the federal government, but disheartened by discrimination, he began studying law under Knox County judge William Kain. He passed the bar in 1892.

Political and education career

In 1894, Cansler ran unsuccessfully for the Tennessee state legislature. He attended the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

in 1896, and was present at President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in t ...

's inaugural festivities in Washington, D.C., in 1897. By the end of the decade, he tired of his law practice and focused his efforts on educating Knoxville's Negro children. In 1900, Cansler joined the teaching staff at Austin High School, one of Knoxville's colored schools, and in 1911 became its principal. His students included future artist

Beauford Delaney Beauford Delaney (December 30, 1901 – March 26, 1979) was an American modernist painter. He is remembered for his work with the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as his later works in abstract expressionism following his mov ...

(1901–1979), who while a student is said to have drawn a portrait of Cansler that "looked just like him." Cansler organized the East Tennessee Association of Colored Teachers in 1912, and established a night school in Knoxville in 1914. A mathematical genius, Cansler gave demonstrations in which he would calculate large columns of numbers faster than

adding machine An adding machine is a class of mechanical calculator, usually specialized for bookkeeping calculations. In the United States, the earliest adding machines were usually built to read in dollars and cents. Adding machines were ubiquitous off ...

s. He used the funds raised to finance school projects. He published two booklets in which he explained how he added numbers so quickly. In 1917, Cansler was instrumental in obtaining Carnegie library funds for the establishment of the Knoxville Free Colored Library for the city's black residents. He retired from teaching in 1939, and wrote his book, ''Three Generations: The Story of a Colored Family in Eastern Tennessee'', the following year. He later provided the chapter on Knox County's Black American community in the East Tennessee Historical Society's book, ''The French Broad-Holston Country: A History of Knox County, Tennessee''. After Cansler died in 1953, a large memorial service was held in his honor at

Knoxville College Knoxville College is a historically black liberal arts college in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, which was founded in 1875 by the United Presbyterian Church of North America. It is a United Negro College Fund member school. A slow peri ...

's McMillan Chapel.

Legacy

Cansler Street, in Knoxville's Mechanicsville neighborhood, is named for Cansler,Old Mechanicsville - History
. Retrieved: 6 April 2011. as is the Charles W. Cansler Family YMCA in

East Knoxville East Knoxville is the section of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, that lies east of the city's downtown area. It is concentrated along Magnolia Avenue ( US-70/US-11), Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard, Dandridge Avenue, and adjacent streets, and includ ...

.Steve Cotham,
Local Black History: Charles Warner Cansler
" ''Knoxville News Sentinel'', 23 February 2011. Retrieved: 6 April 2011. Cansler Elementary School, which operated in Knoxville through much of the 20th century, was named for Cansler's mother, Laura Scott Cansler.

References

External links

A Library Milestone
— address delivered by Cansler upon the opening of Knoxville's Carnegie Library, May 6, 1918 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cansler, Charles W. 1871 births 1953 deaths People from Maryville, Tennessee American Presbyterians Tennessee Republicans People from Knoxville, Tennessee African-American history in Knoxville, Tennessee Activists for African-American civil rights Writers from Tennessee