Gordon Daniel Morgan (October 31, 1931 – December 17, 2019) was an American sociologist who became the first Black professor at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

in 1969.

Life

Gordon Morgan was born in 1931 in

Mayflower, Arkansas Mayflower is a city in Faulkner County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,234 at the 2010 census, up from 1,631 at the 2000 census. It is located in the Central Arkansas region. History Mayflower is a small town located along Inte ...

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 The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, and became first lieutenant in the artillery. He continued graduate studies as one of the first Black students at the

(MA in sociology, 1956), and then continued at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

and

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

(PhD, 1961). He married in 1957 with Izola Preston, and they had 4 children.

Academic

After working as researcher in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

and teaching at his alma mater Arkansas AM&N and

Lincoln University (Missouri) Lincoln University (Lincoln U) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Jefferson City, Missouri. Founded in 1866 by African-American veterans of the American Civil War, it is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College ...

, 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. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

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

External links

Gordon Morgan's papers
in the Special Collections of the University of Arkansas Libraries {{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Gordon Daniel Lincoln University (Missouri) faculty University of Arkansas faculty African-American sociologists American sociologists 1931 births 2019 deaths 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics