August Meier (April 30, 1923 – March 19, 2003) was a professor of history at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in A ...

and an author. He was a leading scholar on African American history. He edited several books with Elliott Rudwick. The

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

has a collection of his papers. Raised in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

, Meier graduated from

Barringer High School Barringer Academy of the Arts & Humanities (formerly Barringer High School and Newark High School), is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Newark, in Essex County, New Jersey, Unite ...

.August Meier Papers - Part 1 (1930 - 1998)
Newark Archives Project. Accessed January 13, 2021. "Born in Newark in 1923, he was a graduate of Barringer High School." He graduated from Oberlin College and received an M.A. in 1947 and Phd in 1957 from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

where he studied under

Henry Steele Commager Henry Steele Commager (1902–1998) was an American historian. As one of the most active and prolific liberal intellectuals of his time, with 40 books and 700 essays and reviews, he helped define modern liberalism in the United States. In the 1 ...

and published his dissertation, ''Foundational Negro Thought in America: 1880–1915'' (1963).

References

1923 births 2003 deaths Barringer High School alumni Kent State University faculty Writers from Newark, New Jersey American writers Columbia University alumni Oberlin College alumni Historians from New Jersey {{US-historian-stub