James Edwin Campbell (September 28, 1867 – January 26, 1896) was an American educator, school administrator, newspaper editor, poet, and essayist.

[7][8] His childhood playmate, future West Virginia state auditor J. S. Darst, cited Campbell as a person who rose to prominence in spite of his early unfavorable environment, and described the "Bloody First" ward of Pomeroy as "tough".

[5] Campbell viewed West Virginia as a place for the advancement of African Americans due to the economic opportunities offered by the coal and oil industries.

[5] In May 1889, he delivered a lecture entitled "Race Antagonism" at the Simpson Methodist Episcopal Church in Wheeling.

[12][13] The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer remarked that he possessed "a natural gift of oratory, and his address was brimfull of eloquence, besides being instructive and worthy of attention".

[22][23] Prior to Campbell's selection as principal, an act of the West Virginia Legislature appropriated $10,000 for the purchase of a farm on which to construct a building for the institution.

[29][30][31] The original curriculum consisted of the equivalent of a high school education, and included agriculture, horticulture, mechanical arts, domestic science, vocational training, and teacher preparation.

[34] As the institute's principal, Campbell provided guidance to West Virginia's African-American coal miners in assisting their children in acquiring an education.

[36] The association aimed "to elevate the character and advance the interest of the profession of teaching, and to promote the cause of popular education in West Virginia".

[39] Early in his writing career, he wrote simple poems in the African-American vernacular dialect,[20] some of which were published in newspapers and magazines.

[39] Campbell continued to write poetry and stories at his leisure throughout his careers as a schoolteacher and school administrator.

"[39] According to historian Wilhelmena S. Robinson, Campbell's career as a newsman was "his chief contribution to the literary world".

[20] Campbell continued to publish his own poems and articles, and he participated in a group publication of the literary periodical Four O'Clock Magazine.

[20] Linthicum wrote that Campbell had "caught the true spirit" of African Americans in the Antebellum South in "characteristic verse".

[3] Campbell married Mary Lewis Champ (July 12, 1868 – October 18, 1909)[40] on August 4, 1891, in Harrison County, Ohio.

[39] While visiting his family's home in the Kerr's Run section of Pomeroy, Ohio, for the Christmas holiday, Campbell became ill with symptoms of a common cold, followed by a fever.

[9] Historian Jean Wagner argued that Campbell "had his own highly original talent and was in no sense a borrower".

[10] Wagner further stated that Campbell "reveals the upsurge, among blacks, of a racial consciousness that chafes under every yoke".

[1][47] In 2019, the Meigs County Historical Society unveiled a Meigs County Bicentennial Marker at the site of Campbell's primary school, Kerr's Run Colored School, and concluded the unveiling ceremony with a reading from one of Campbell's books.