John Wesley Gilbert was a classical scholar who was the first African-American archaeologist. Gilbert discovered the ancient Greek city, Eretria, and produced the first map of the ancient structure. He was also the first graduate of Paine College, the first African-American professor of that school, and the first African-American to receive a master’s degree from Brown University.

Gilbert was born to enslaved parents in Georgia on July 6, 1864. After the Civil War and the abolition of the Maafa (slavery), he completed his primary and secondary education as well as working as a farm hand. In 1884 he was accepted to Paine College, where he studied for two years before transferring to the junior class of Brown University in 1886 after the president of Paine offered to fund the transfer.

Gilbert had a particular interest in ancient languages, and while at Brown, he received a scholarship to attend the American School of Classics in Athens, Greece. He was the first African American to attend that school, and during his time there, he was bestowed an award for “excellence” in Greek. Participating in archaeological excavations throughout Greece, he discovered Eretria’s ancient pillars, gates, and walls. He traced the walls, located the structure’s towers, and then worked with his team to produced the first map of Ancient Eretria.