- Willis Nathaniel Huggins
Willis Nathaniel Huggins (
February 7 ,1886 -July 15 ?,1941 ) was ahistorian andsocial activist . He was one of the earliest proponents of teaching African andAfrican-American history in American schools.Early life
Huggins was born in Selma,
Alabama , but moved toWashington D.C with his family when he was still young. After university, he moved toChicago ,Illinois where he worked as a high school teacher. During theChicago Race Riot of 1919 , Huggins became involved in theNew Negro Movement , writing for a number of proAfrican-American journals. He also became involved in the "Garvey movement" to popularise African-American history, along withArthur Schomburg andJohn Edward Bruce . [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Willis+Nathaniel+Huggins+(1886-1941):+historian,+activist,+and...-a0148463511 Huggins biography] .]In 1924, Huggins moved to
New York City to continue his teaching. Black teachers were quite still unusual in the New York public school system, and Huggins' attempts to include African and African-American history within the curriculum were met with strong opposition. Instead, Huggins and other black teachers taught out-of-school classes on African-American history to students. In 1932 he became the first black student to receive a PhD fromFordham University .Work
Huggins main goal was to promote the serious study of African and
African-American history , which he did as associate director of the Blyden Society. In 1934 he co-wrote "A Guide to the Study of African History" with John G. Jackson as a prospective guide to teaching African history in schools. The two later wrote "An Introduction to African Civilizations with Main Currents in Ethiopian History" in 1937.Huggins was also a passionate campaigner for
Ethiopia during the Italo-Ethiopian War and during its subsequent occupation byItaly . He became executive director of theInternational Council of the Friends of Ethiopia and was sent by theAmerican League Against War and Fascism as a special envoy to theLeague of Nations inGeneva on behalf of Ethiopia, where he argued against Italian fascism and criticised American neutrality. [ [http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/jackson2.html On Huggins] .]Death
Huggins went missing on December 23, 1940. The only clues to his whereabouts were an overcoat that had been found on the
George Washington Bridge and a letter that Huggins sent to his wife stating that "Something is going to happen." At the time of his disappearance, Huggins was teaching history and economics at Bushwick High School in Brooklyn and serving as Assistant Principal at Harlem's Union High School in the evening. Seven months later, on July 15, 1941, his body was recovered from theHudson river by police. His death was ruled a suicide by the police, his family, and his lawyer. Despite this, some of his students at the Blyden Society andHarlem community centre voiced concerns that he may have been murdered by gangsters over unpaid business loans.ee also
*
Arthur Schomburg
*John G. Jackson
*Marcus Garvey
*Black history month References
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