William Graham Sumner (October 30, 1840 – April 12, 1910) was an American academic and "held the first professorship in sociology" at Yale College. For many years he had a reputation as one of the most influential teachers there. He was a polymath with numerous books and essays on American history, economic history, political theory, sociology, and anthropology. He is credited with introducing the term "ethnocentrism," a term intended to identify imperialists' chief means of justification, in his book Folkways (1906). Sumner is often seen as a proto-libertarian. He was also the first to teach a course entitled "Sociology". Sumner was a critic of natural rights, famously arguing
"Before the tribunal of nature a man has no more right to life than a rattlesnake; he has no more right to liberty than any wild beast; his right to pursuit of happiness is nothing but a license to maintain the struggle for existence..." —William Graham Sumner, "Earth-hunger, and other essays," p. 234.Read more about William Graham Sumner: Biography, The Forgotten Man, Influence, Works, Bibliography, William Graham Sumner Chair
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Was never heard before;
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—James Graham Marquess of Montrose (1612–1650)
“through the Sumner Tunnel,
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tile by tile like a men’s urinal,
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like somebody else’s package.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)