Wright 101
Who is he?
Wright was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a racially mixed section called Germantown.[8] His parents are Jeremiah Wright, Sr. (1909-2001), a Baptist minister who pastored Grace Baptist Church in Germantown, Philadelphia from 1938 to 1980,[9] and Mary Elizabeth Henderson Wright, a school teacher who was the first black person to teach an academic subject at Roosevelt Junior High. She went on to be the first black person to teach at Germantown High and Girl's High, where she became the school's first black vice principal.
Wright graduated from the Central High School of Philadelphia in 1959, among the best schools in the area at the time.[8] At the time, the school was around 90 percent white.[10] The 211th class yearbook described Wright as a respected member of the class. "Always ready with a kind word, Jerry is one of the most congenial members of the 211," the yearbook said. "His record in Central is a model for younger members to emulate.
[edit] Education and military service
Jeremiah Wright (second from right, behind I.V. pole), in 1966, as a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman. He is tending to President Lyndon Johnson, standing behind him is Bill Moyers. (A letter of thanks on behalf of the President is superimposed on photo).
Jeremiah Wright (second from right, behind I.V. pole), in 1966, as a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman. He is tending to President Lyndon Johnson, standing behind him is Bill Moyers.[11] (A letter of thanks on behalf of the President is superimposed on photo).
From 1959 to 1961, Wright attended Virginia Union University,[2] in Richmond. In 1961 Wright left college and joined the United States Marine Corps and became part of the 2nd Marine Division attaining the rank of private first class. In 1963, after two years of service, Wright joined the United States Navy and entered the Corpsman School at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.[12][7] Wright was then trained as a cardiopulmonary technician at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Wright was assigned as part of the medical team charged with care of President Lyndon B. Johnson (see photo of Wright caring for Johnson after his 1966 surgery). Before leaving the position in 1967, the White House Physician, Vice Admiral Burkley, personally wrote Wright a letter of thanks on behalf of the United States President.
In 1967 Wright enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1968 and a master's degree in English in 1969. He also earned a master's degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School.[7] Wright holds a Doctor of Ministry degree (1990) from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, where he studied under Samuel DeWitt Proctor, a mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr.
