John Arthur Peoples Jr. (born August 26, 1926) is an American former educator who was President of

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a Public university, public Historically Black colleges and universities, historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and ...

from 1967 to 1984.

History

Peoples was born in August 1926 in

Starkville, Mississippi Starkville is a city in and the county seat of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, Starkville's population is 24,360, making it the 16th-most populated city in Mississippi. Starkville is the largest ...

.Who's who in the South and Southwest, pg. 481
/ref> Unlike many African-Americans in the community, his family owned their home as well as rental property. He learned to read before attending school. He graduated from the segregated

black school The History of African-American education deals with the public and private schools at all levels used by African Americans in the United States and for the related policies and debates. Black schools, also referred to as "Negro schools" and " ...

Oktibbeha County Training School in 1944. In 1945 he enlisted in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

, where he served for three years. He studied mathematics at Jackson State, where he received a B.S. in 1950, then went to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, where he received an M.A. in Math in 1951. He taught math from 1951 through 1958 at Froebel School in Gary, Indiana, before taking an assistant principal position at Lincoln School in 1958 and becoming the principal of Banneker School in 1962. During this period, he earned a PhD in higher education from the University of Chicago, graduating in 1961. He returned to Jackson State as a mathematics professor in 1964, advancing to vice president in 1966 and president in 1967. In 1970, police fired 150 rounds of ammunition into a women's dormitory on campus, killing two students and injuring 12 more. Peoples was instrumental in de-escalating the situation and preventing further bloodshed. He closed the school for the summer and mailed students their degrees. During his career, Peoples was director of the American Association of Higher Education from 1971 to 1974, and served on the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

committee. He was the

American Council on Education The American Council on Education (ACE) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) U.S. higher education association established in 1918. ACE's members are the leaders of approximately 1,600 accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities and higher educati ...

's first African-American chairman and director. Peoples is a member of the Jackson State University Hall of Fame and the

Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United St ...

Hall of Fame. He received the National Black College Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. The John Peoples Science Building at JSU is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peoples, John 1926 births Living people Presidents of Jackson State University American mathematics educators Educators from Mississippi People from Starkville, Mississippi Jackson State University alumni University of Chicago alumni United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Military personnel from Mississippi