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William Thomas Valerio Fontaine (born William Thomas Fontaine; December 2, 1909 – December 29, 1968) was an American philosopher. Teaching at the University of Pennsylvania from 1947 to 1967, he was an American Professor of philosophy in the Ivy League. He was African American and advocated for African American rights.[1]
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Fontaine was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, an industrial town southwest of Philadelphia. His father worked in a steel mill on the Delaware River. Enrolling in Chester High School at the age of 12, Fontaine graduated in the top third of his class. After his parents died in the 1930s, his aunt raised his younger siblings and funded their continued education.
In 1926 Fontaine enrolled in Lincoln University, a school about 30 miles west of Chester. He wrote poems and analytic essays for the school newspaper, in which he argued that African Americans needed to show "ability, aggressiveness, and cooperation" to succeed. He graduated first in his class in 1930.
Over the next six years, Fontaine taught Latin, history and government at Lincoln. He also pursued an M.A. in Philosophy from the nearby University of Pennsylvania, which he earned in 1932. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Penn in 1936.
He worked as a professor of philosophy and history at Southern University in Louisiana from 1936 to 1942. Fontaine married an acquaintance from Philadelphia in 1936, Willabelle Hatton of Iva, South Carolina; they had two daughters, Jean and Vivian.
Fontaine returned to Penn in 1943 and audited graduate courses until 1946. Drafted during World War II, he worked at Holabird Signal Depot in Baltimore, Maryland. He taught basic education to illiterate soldiers.
Fontaine joined the University of Pennsylvania faculty in 1947 as a lecturer and was promoted to Assistant Professor two years later.
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In his honor, the University of Pennsylvania established the Fontaine Fellowships in 1970, awarded to "provide the additional funds necessary to students from underrepresented minority groups to pursue full-time doctoral study".[2]
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