Charles Warner Cansler (May 15, 1871 – November 1, 1953) was an American educator, civil rights advocate, and author, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, the Scotts moved to Knoxville, which offered better protection from pro-Confederate guerrillas, who often targeted free blacks.
[3] While in Knoxville, Cansler's mother attended a school for black children established by St. John's Episcopal Church rector, Thomas William Humes.
[1] In 1864, she became Knoxville's first Negro teacher when she received permission to open a school from Ambrose Burnside, commander of the occupying Union forces.
[4] In August 1865, William Scott moved to Nashville, where he founded The Colored Tennessean, the state's first newspaper published and edited by a Negro.
[4] 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.