Gordon Daniel Morgan (October 31, 1931 – December 17, 2019) was an American sociologist who became the first Black professor at the University of Arkansas in 1969.
Life
Gordon Morgan was born in 1931 in Mayflower, Arkansas to Roosevelt Morgan and Georgia Madlock Morgan. He went to college at the Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College (the largest and oldest historically black college in the state, which later (re)joined the University of Arkansas system as University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff), where he graduated in sociology in 1953. Morgan served in the US Army from 1953 in the Korean War, and became first lieutenant in the artillery.
He continued graduate studies as one of the first Black students at the University of Arkansas (MA in sociology, 1956), and then continued at the University of Minnesota and Washington State University (PhD, 1961).
He married in 1957 with Izola Preston, and they had 4 children.
Academic
After working as researcher in Kampala, Uganda and teaching at his alma mater Arkansas AM&N and Lincoln University (Missouri), Morgan was hired as the first Black assistant professor at the University of Arkansas in 1969. He did research on a range of topics, including the intersection between race and education, the Caribbean, the use of the dollar standard in African countries and sociology in general.
Morgan co-founded the university's Black Student Association in the wake of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1969 and mentored thousands of students.
Morgan published multiple books, including America without Ethnicity (1981) and more for public consumption The Edge of Campus: A Journal of the Black Experience at the University of Arkansas (1990, together with his wife).
Morgan retired in 2012.
Recognition
Morgan was appointed as 'University Professor', a distinguished status reserved for professors with national or international recognition that have extensive tenure. The university named one of the student residence halls after him: Gordon Morgan Hall.
References
- ^ "Morgan, Gordon D. 1931–". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- "Interviews". Pryor Center - University of Arkansas. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- "History - University of Arkansas System". University of Arkansas System. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- ^ "First black professor hired by UA dies at 88". Arkansas Online. 2019-12-19. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- ^ Inlow, Alana (2020). "Remembering Gordon Morgan, "first, last, and always a sociologist" | Sociology News | Washington State University". Sociology News - College of Arts & Sciences, Washington State University. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- "Tribute to Gordon Morgan from the BAS President | Arkansas Alumni Association's Blog". blog.arkansasalumni.org. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- ^ "Remembering a Trailblazer, Mentor and University Professor: Gordon Morgan". University of Arkansas News. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- "Gordon Morgan Interviews". pryorcenter.uark.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- "Gordon Morgan | University of Arkansas". fulbright.uark.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- Komar, Sarah (2020-02-04). "Professor's Legacy Continues Through Students, Faculty He Inspired". The Arkansas Traveler. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- Willis, James F. (2009-10-28). Southern Arkansas University: The Mulerider School's Centennial History, 1909-2009. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 978-1-4415-5363-8.
External links
- Gordon Morgan's papers in the Special Collections of the University of Arkansas Libraries