FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - The first black professor at a university in Arkansas recently died at his home in Fayetteville, his son said.
Gordon Morgan was a sociologist professor at University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. His son, Brian Morgan, said Wednesday that he did not have any information regarding the cause of his father’s death. Gordon Morgan was 88.
Morgan started working at UA in 1969 as a tenure-track faculty member. He conducted research that delved into topics of race and education, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
“The thing about Gordon was his total commitment to helping students not just learn sociology, but to get an education and to get a perspective on life and to get a leg up on the next chapter in their lives,” said Dan Ferritor, a former UA chancellor and colleague of Morgan’s in the university’s sociology department.
John L Colbert, who is the first black person to be superintendent of the Fayetteville School District, said Morgan in the mid-1970s served as a role model for him and other black students on the mostly white UA campus.
“It was nice to have someone that you could go and talk to, to open the doors for you in a sense and say, ’It’s OK if you have a problem. Feel free to come and talk to me.’ That was very important to us,” said Colbert. “We did not have that many African American staff members or professors on campus, so the few that we did have, we ran to them and asked for advice.”
At a September event celebrating the legacy of Gordon and Margaret Clark, considered the first two black professors at UA, Ferritor praised Gordon’s service, scholarship and work ethic. A UA residence hall had been renamed in Morgan’s honor.
Morgan even co-wrote “The Edge of Campus” with his wife, Izola Preston, about the experiences of black students at UA.
Morgan earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from what’s now known as the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, then enlisted in the Army and served during the Korean War. He later earned a doctorate degree at Washington State University and taught at Lincoln University, a historically black university in Missouri, before going to UA.
Morgan received honors for his scholarship and service, including a National Endowment for the Humanities Teaching Fellowship and a Ford Foundation Fellowship, according to UA. In 2006, UA honored Morgan with its J. William Fulbright Distinguished Alumni Award.
A gift from Morgan and his wife established the Gordon Morgan Family Scholarship for minority-group students at UA, and a fellowship in their name for graduate students was established at Washington State University.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.