John Gibbs St. Clair Drake (January 2, 1911 – June 15, 1990)Calloway, Earl (June 28, 1990). "Memorial services held for Dr. Drake, noted author and Roosevelt professor." ''Chicago Defender'', p. 10. was an African-American sociologist and anthropologist whose scholarship and activism led him to document much of the social turmoil of the 1960s, establish some of the first Black Studies programs in American universities, and contribute to the independence movement in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. Drake often wrote about challenges and achievements in race relations as a result of his extensive research. While studying at

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, in 1945 Drake co-authored with

Horace R. Cayton, Jr. Horace Roscoe Cayton Jr. (April 12, 1903 – January 21, 1970) was a prominent American sociologist, newspaper columnist, and writer who specialized in studies of working-class black Americans, particularly in mid-20th-century Chicago. Cayton ...

the work '' Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City'', a landmark study of race and urban life. Drake was one of the first African-American faculty members at

Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The unive ...

in Chicago, at a time when academic opportunities for Black scholars were usually limited to

historically black colleges and universities Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. ...

. He continued his research while a professor at Roosevelt for 23 years, before leaving to found the African and African American Studies program at Stanford University.Bond, George C., and St. Clair Drake, "A Social Portrait of John Gibbs St. Clair Drake," ''American Ethnologist'', 15(4), 1988, pp. 762–781. A major element in Drake's career was an interest in Africa and the pan-African movement, which sprang from his dissertation work with immigrants from Africa living in the United Kingdom, and was expanded upon during his later research projects conducted in West Africa. Ultimately he spent years working in the newly independent country of Ghana as an academic and an informal advisor to the national government there, before his return to the United States and his academic career in that country.

Early life and education

John Gibbs St. Clair Drake was born in Suffolk, Virginia, on January 2, 1911. Later in life, including professionally, he went by his last name only, St. Clair Drake. His father immigrated to the United States from

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

in the British West Indies, becoming a Baptist minister and an international organizer for

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...

Universal Negro Improvement Association The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) is a black nationalist fraternal organization founded by Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant to the United States, and Amy Ashwood Garvey. The Pan-Africa ...

."Drake, St. Clair." William A. Darity, Jr. (ed.), ''International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences'', 2nd edition. Vol. 2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008, pp. 442–443. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. October 17, 2013. His father's devout religious faith did not allow for activities like dancing, going to the movies, or using playing cards, all of which were forbidden to Drake in his childhood. Drake's mother, Bessie Lee, was a native of Staunton, Virginia. When Drake was two years old, the family moved to

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

, Virginia, when his father decided it would be best for the family to join the many African Americans who were then moving northward. During his childhood, St. Clair lived in a multi-ethnic neighborhood. He recalled that his understanding of race and prejudice was vague, but at least one of his fights occurred when he was insulted about the color of his skin. Drake attended elementary school in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, where he remained through the 7th grade. He then returned to Virginia to attend high school. He inevitably learned "the facts of Southern life", and in his first contact with the Negro press, he remarked: "It was rather exciting, this learning that one is a Negro and what it means – also rather frustrating.""St. Clair Drake", Biographical Sketch, St. Clair Drake Papers, Roosevelt University Archives, Chicago. At this time, with the encouragement of his teachers, he began to write poetry, generally about nature. That same year, he also edited the school yearbook. He completed high school in three years. In 1927, Drake left Staunton, Virginia, to attend Hampton Institute (now Hampton University). Hampton's appeal, according to Drake, was its offer to allow students to work their way through college. Drake met the cost of his education by working as a waiter and then as a front desk clerk at the Holly Tree Guesthouse. Both of these forms of employment were segregated jobs, intended only for black workers. Drake was almost immediately dissatisfied with the faculty's "civilizing mission" attitude, which he attributed to the intellectual legacy of

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...

, and he complained that the Institute's faculty did not include any African Americans among its full professors. Drake and other Hampton students engaged in a strike beginning on October 9, 1927, only a few weeks after Drake arrived on campus.Baber, Willie L. (1999), "St. Clair Drake", in Ira E. Harrison and Faye V. Harrison (eds), ''African-American Pioneers in Anthropology'', Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, pp. 196–198. While the list of student demands exceeded sixty specific points, many of them dealt with the need for more black teachers, higher academic standards, the dismissal of racist and unqualified faculty, an end to various strict disciplinary policies, and amnesty for those involved in the strike. Due to the intervention of administrators and parents, the strike ended in defeat. But as scholar Andrew Rosa concluded, the "administration lost the war."Andrew J. Rosa, "New Negroes on Campus: St. Clair Drake and the Culture of Education, Reform, and Rebellion at Hampton Institute," ''History of Education Quarterly'' 53, no. 3 (August 2013): 203–232. Many reforms eventually became implemented, and Drake flourished at the college over the next three years there. In the course of his studies at Hampton, Drake served as the president of the student body, led the college chapter of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, became the editor of the ''Hampton Script'', and even played on the college's soccer team. He graduated from Hampton in 1931 with a B.S. degree in Biology and a minor in English.

Career as an academic

From 1932 to 1933, Drake was on the faculty of the Christiansburg Institute, an African-American trade high school in Christiansburg, Virginia. At the Christiansburg Institute, he taught a variety of subjects, coached soccer, led chapel prayer, and began to write professionally. During this time Drake continued pursuing his interests in academic and social justice pursuits at

Pendle Hill Pendle Hill is in the east of Lancashire, England, near the towns of Burnley, Nelson, Colne, Brierfield, Clitheroe and Padiham. Its summit is above mean sea level. It gives its name to the Borough of Pendle. It is an isolated hill in the P ...

, a Quaker retreat and graduate center. Drake worked as an instructor at

Dillard University Dillard University is a private, historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 and incorporating earlier institutions founded as early as 1869 after the American Civil War, it is affiliated with the United Church of C ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

from 1935 to 1937. In 1935, Drake also joined a research team led by Allison Davis, a former colleague from

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

. The anthropological research explored the caste system of the American south, and they later published their observations in the book '' Deep South: A Social Anthropological Study of Caste and Class''. Drake was moved by the potential that social science could have in racial causes, and ultimately followed Davis to study anthropology as a doctoral student at the

. During the late 1930s in Chicago, Drake worked as the assistant director for the Illinois State Commission on the Condition of the Urban Colored Population, and conducted research in churches serving Chicago's black community."St. Clair Drake Papers, 1935-1990"
New York Public Library. He returned briefly to Dillard in 1940 to work as an assistant professor, but was dismissed in the following year for supporting a student strike, and subsequently returned to his studies at Chicago.

After World War II

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he was the co-author, with

, of ''Black Metropolis,'' a study of the lives of African Americans living in Bronzeville, a neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. The book was characterized in Drake's obituary in the ''New York Times'' as "a landmark of objective research and one of the best urban studies produced by American scholarship". Drake became one of the more prolific chroniclers, in books and scholarly articles, of the turmoil and development of

race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in the ...

in the 1960s. In 1946, Drake became an assistant professor of sociology at Roosevelt University along with chemist Edward Marion Augustus Chandler, modern dancer

Sybil Shearer Sybil Louise Shearer (February 23, 1912 November 17, 2005) Hunt, Marilyn (December 22, 2005). ''The Independent''; retrieved October 10, 2013. was an American choreographer, dancer and writer. She was hailed as a "maverick" or "nature mystic" ...

, and sociologist Rose Hum Lee. He remained a member of the Roosevelt sociology department until 1968. He commented years later that the offer to join Roosevelt came as "a surprise". He fully expected only to be considered by "Negro" colleges of the time. He found a home at Roosevelt which he embraced as an "experimental institution" where he was able to develop his calling as an "activist anthropologist,". He was perhaps the most distinguished faculty member ever to have taught at Roosevelt University, and was also one of the first black faculty members at Roosevelt. While there, he created one of the first African American Studies programs in the United States. Among his many honors, he received an honorary degree from Roosevelt."Scholar In Afro-american Studies"
''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'', June 21, 1990. Drake taught at Roosevelt for 23 years before leaving in 1969 to found the African and African American Studies program at Stanford University. He remained at Stanford until his retirement in 1976.

Two years in the United Kingdom

Drake spent nearly two years in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, 1947-1948. He conducted his dissertation research in 1947 in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, where he studied a community of African seamen and their Welsh families. In "Value Systems, Social Structure and Race Relations in the British Isles," Drake "examined the forms of social action that arose in response to British racial and colonial domination". At this time, he was one of the first scholars studying race relations in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

and was considered one of the foremost scholars on the subject.

Kenneth Little Kenneth Lindsay Little (19 September 1908 – 28 February 1991) was an English academic who started out as a physical anthropologist. He attended the London School of Economics where he studied under Raymond Firth. He subsequently headed the Depa ...

published his PH.D. thesis, '' Negroes in Britain'', which was a study of the Black and minority ethnic communities of

. Drake worked with the Black community of Cardiff, drafting a response in which the local community said they "distrust people who survey us and study us, who write about us and publicize us, and who try to reform and lead us."

After retirement

Even after his retirement from the faculty at Stanford, Drake remained active as a scholar and author. Another of Drake's works, which demonstrates his continued interest in race relations throughout his career, was ''Black Folk Here and There: An Essay in History and Anthropology'', published in two volumes in 1987 and 1990 as part of a series entitled ''Afro-American Culture and Society''. One of Drake's former students characterizes his research as drawing heavily from urban sociology and history, which led his peers in the 1940s to see "his scholarship ... smore sociological than anthropological" and "virtually ignored within anthropology as a consequence."

Contributions to the Pan-African movement

Drake's connections to the African continent began early in his academic career. He met Kwame Nkrumah,

George Padmore George Padmore (28 June 1903 – 23 September 1959), born Malcolm Ivan Meredith Nurse, was a leading Pan-Africanist, journalist, and author. He left his native Trinidad in 1924 to study medicine in the United States, where he also joined the Com ...

, and

Mbiyu Koinange Peter Mbiyu Koinange (1907 – 3 September 1981) was a politician from Kenya. He served in the government and cabinet of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president, for 16 years. During this time, he held the post of member of parliament for the ...

when he was completing his fieldwork in Cardiff, Wales as a part of his dissertation at Chicago. As a result of this early contact with pan-African advocates, Drake pursued research projects in Liberia and Ghana in the 1950s, funded in part by a grant he received from the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

. From 1958 to 1961, Drake served as head of the department of sociology at the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

. Drake's connections allowed him to participate in increasingly important discussions connected to the newly independent nation of Ghana. At the request of George Padmore, Nkrumah's advisor, Drake presented and participated in the planning meetings for the

All-African Peoples' Conference The All-African Peoples Conference (AAPC) was partly a corollary and partly a different perspective to the modern Africa states represented by the Conference of Heads of independent Africa States. The All-Africa Peoples Conference was conceived to ...

held at Accra in December 1958. Padmore's relationship with Drake "allowed Drake to acquire unrivaled knowledge of Ghana's political leaders."Baber (1999), p. 205. Drake served as an informal adviser to leaders of several newly independent African nations in the early 1960s, particularly Nkrumah, who by this time had become Ghana's prime minister, but later chose to leave Africa and this political work after coups installed military leaders in many of these nations: Drake later remarked that he would not "work under generals."Flint, Peter B.
"St. Clair Drake, Pioneer in Study Of Black Americans, Dies at 79"
''New York Times'', June 21, 1990. Drake's personal commitment to see Ghana succeed and his concerns about the privacy of the people and conversations he observed led him to elect not to publish books or articles based directly on his work in Africa or with African immigrants in Britain. However, he did conduct several research studies during his time in Africa with his wife and fellow anthropologist Elizabeth Dewey Johns, though these were not directly associated with his political or personal connections in the countries he visited. Drake was also able to further social interest in African countries through his work with the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F ...

. He provided cultural sensitivity training for a group of 50 American students planning to work in Ghana.

Personal life

St. Clair Drake was married to a colleague, Elizabeth Dewey Johns. Johns was a graduate student in sociology at the University of Chicago when Drake began work there as a graduate student in anthropology. As a fellow student, she helped introduce Drake to theories connected with cultural and behavioral relativism. After their marriage, the two of them worked together conducting research in West Africa. The couple raised two children, Sandra and Karl. During

, Drake was a conscientious objector in response to the U.S. military's segregation policies, and he served in a civilian capacity in the

U.S. Maritime Service The United States Maritime Service (USMS) was established in 1938 under the provisions of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 as voluntary training organization to train individuals to become officers and crewmembers on merchant ships that form the U ...

Legacy and awards

dedicated a research center to Drake's memory, The St. Clair Drake Center for African and African American Studies, which follows Drake's social activist model to document and explore "contributions, challenges and conditions of Africans and African Americans." * Stanford University dedicated the St. Clair Drake Lectures to his memory. * Recipient of the

Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...

, 1946 *Recipient of the Dubois-Johnson-Frazier award, 1973American Sociological Association.
*Recipient of the

Bronislaw Malinowski Award The Bronislaw Malinowski Award is an award given by the US-based Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) in honor of Bronisław Malinowski (1884–1942), an original member and strong supporter of the Society. Briefly established in 1950, the awar ...

, 1990

Selected works

;Thesis *"Value Systems, Social Structure and Race Relations in the British Isles," University of Chicago (Ph. D., Anthropology), 1954 ;Books *''Churches and Voluntary Associations Among Negroes in Chicago'', 1940 *'' Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City'', with Horace R. Cayton, 1945, revised 1962, revised 1970 *''Social Work in West Africa'', with Dr. Peter Omari, 1963 *''Race Relations in a Time of Rapid Social Change'', 1966 *''Black Religion and the Redemption of Africa'', 1971 *''Black Folks Here and There: An Essay in History and Anthropology'' (2 vols), 1987 and 1990 ;Pamphlets *''The American Dream and the Negro: 100 Years of Freedom?'', The Emancipation Centennial Lectures Given at

, 1963 *''Our Urban Poor: Promises to Keep and Miles to Go'', with an introduction by Bayard Rustin, 1967 *''Black Religion and the Redemption of Africa'', 1971 ;Chapters in books *"Representative Government and the Traditional Cultures and Institutions of West African Societies," in Herbert Passin and Q. A. B. Jones-Quartey (eds.), ''Africa; the dynamics of change'', 1963 *"Social Problems and Social Change in Contemporary Africa," in Walter Goldschmidt (ed.), ''The United States and Africa'', 1963 *"'Hide My Face?' On Pan Africanism and Negritude," in Herbert Hill (ed.), ''Soon One Morning'', 1963 *"Representative Government and the Traditional Cultures and Institutions of West African Societies," in H. Passin and K. A. B. Jones-Quartey (eds), ''Africa: The Dynamics of Change'', 1963 *"The Social and Economic Status of the Negro in the United States," in T. Parsons and K. B. Clark (eds), ''The Negro American'', 1966 *"Negro Americans and the 'Africa Interest'," in John P. Davids (ed.), ''American Negro Reference Book'', 1966 *"Introduction to the 1967 Edition", in Edward Franklin Frazier, ''Negro Youth at the Crossways: There Personality Development in the Middle States'', 1967 *"Violence and Social Movements in the United States," in Robert H. Connery (ed.), ''Urban Riots: Violence and Social Change'', 1968 *"Research on Intergroup Relations at the Neighborhood Level," ''Race and Research'', 1968 *"'Hide My Face?' On Pan-Africanism and Negritude," in August Meier and Elliot Rudwick (eds), ''The Making of Black America'', 1969 *"In the Mirror of Black Scholarship: W. Allison Davis and ''Deep South''," in Institute of the Black World (ed.), ''Education and Black Struggle: Notes from the Colonized World'', 1974 *"Diaspora Studies and Pan-Africanism," in Joseph E. Harris (ed.), ''Global Dimensions of the African Diaspora'', 1982 *"African Diaspora and Jewish Diaspora," in Joseph R. Washington (ed.), ''Jews in Black Perspectives: A Dialogue'', 1984 ;Journal articles *"On Being A Negro," ''Afri-American Youth'', 1.5, 1937 *"Chicago: A Profile," ''Journal of Educational Sociology'', 18.5, 1945 *"Freedom Fighters (to Charles Houston, Carter Woodson and Charles Drew)," ''Phylon'', 11.3, 1950 *"The International Implications of Race and Race Relations," ''The Journal of Negro Education'', 20.3, 1951 *"The 'Colour Problem' in Britain: A Study in Social Definitions," ''Sociological Review'', 3, 1955 *"Prospects for Democracy in the Gold Coast," ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'', 306, 1956 *"Some Observations on Interethnic Conflict as One Type of Intergroup Conflict," ''Conflict Resolution'', 1.2, 1957 *"Independence and Crisis," ''Africa Today'', 4.2, 1957 *"Pan-Africanism: What Is It?," ''Africa Today'', 6.1, 1959 *"Détruire le mythe chamitique, devoir des hommes cultivés" (Destroy the Hamitic Myth), ''Présence Africaine'', 24-25, 1959 *"Traditional Authority and Social Action in Former British West Africa," ''Human Organization'', 19.3, 1960 *"Democracy on Trial in Africa", ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'', 354, 1964 *"The Social and Economic Status of the Negro in the United States," ''Daedalus'', 94.4, 1965 *"The American Negro's Relation to Africa," ''Africa Today'', 14.6, 1967 *"The Black University in the American School Order," ''Daedelus'', 100.3, 1971 *"The Black Diaspora in Pan-African Perspective," ''Black Scholar'', 7.1, 1975 *"Reflections of Anthropology and the Black Experience," ''Anthropology & Education Quarterly'', 9.2, 1978 *"What Happened to Black Studies?," ''New York University Education Quarterly'', 10.3, 1979 *"Anthropology and the black experience," ''Black Scholar'', 11.7, 1980 *"Black Studies and Global Perspectives: An Essay," ''The Journal of Negro Education'', 53.3, 1984 *"Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois: A Life Lived Experimentally and Self-Documented," ''Contributions in Black Studies'', 8, 1986 *"Further Reflections on Anthropology and the Black Experience" (with Willie L. Baber), ''Transforming Anthropology'', 1.2, 1990 ;Review articles *"Appreciation of the Phenomenon: ''The Negro and the Communist Party'', by Wilson Record," ''Phylon'', 12.3, 1951 *"The Falasha Way of Life: ''Falasha Anthology'', by Wolf Leslau," ''Phylon'', 13.1, 1952 *"''Mau Mau and the Kikuyu'', by L. S. B. Leakey," ''American Anthropologist'', 56.3, 1954 *"''Race Relations in World Perspective'', by Andrew W. Lind (ed.)," ''American Anthropologist'', 59.2, 1957 *"''Townsmen in the Making'', by A. W. Southall and P. C. W. Gutwind," ''American Anthropologist'', 59.5, 1957 *"''The African Nations and World Solidarity'', by Mamadou Dia," ''Journal of Modern African Studies'', 1.1, 1963 *"''Africa in World Politics'', by Vernon McKay," ''American Sociological Review'', 28.4, 1963 *"''Negro Thought in America, 1880-1915: Racial Ideologies in the Age of Booker T. Washington'', by August Meier," ''American Sociological Review'', 30.2, 1965 *"''Out in the Mid-day Sun'', by Boris Gussman," ''American Sociological Review'', 30.2, 1965 *"''The Autobiography of W. E. B. Du Bois: A Soliloquy on Viewing my Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century''," ''Political Science Quarterly'', 86.2, 1971

References

External links

St. Clair Drake, 1911-1990
A website built to be a

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

in honor of Drake's life and work * FBI files on St. Clair Drake *

Vera Mae Green Vera Mae Green (September 6, 1928 – January 17, 1982) was an American anthropologist, educator, and scholar, who made major contributions in the fields of Caribbean studies, interethnic studies, black family studies and the study of poverty an ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, St. Clair 1911 births 1990 deaths People from Suffolk, Virginia African-American social scientists Activists for African-American civil rights American sociologists Roosevelt University faculty Dillard University faculty Hampton University alumni Stanford University Department of Anthropology faculty Writers from Virginia University of Chicago alumni 20th-century American writers Activists from California 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American anthropologists