Brody condon biography of christopher columbus

Since the early 1960's August Meier has been a major force in the study of African-American history in his examination of late nineteenth and twentieth century America by his application of rigorous social and intellectual analysis. Meier was actively involved in the civil rights movement and studied its origins and development. He taught at three historic black colleges followed by twenty years at Kent State University. As editor of two major series on blacks in America, he influenced scholars and students alike.

Born in 1923 in Newark, New Jersey, Meier was reared in upwardly mobile, middle class surroundings. He openly acknowledges his parents' influence on his intellectual development--his East European Jewish mother was a teacher and vice principal of a public school, his father was a chemist. His parents had met in the Socialist Party--his mother, of German extraction, came from a family of radical intellectuals. By the mid-1930's his parents were liberal in their thinking and made him aware of the plight of the poor and the oppressed.

Another significant factor was Meier's experience as a camper and counselor at Pioneer Youth Camp near Kingston, New York where he spent his summers between 1934 and 1939. Pioneer Youth of America had been founded in 1924 by a group of reformers including progressive educators, anarchists, Communists, socialists, union leaders and liberals. A racially integrated camp, the children decided democratically what their activities would be. Pioneer Youth served as a catalyst for Meier's interest in social issues, his growing commitment to racial equality, his persistent anti-Stalisism, and the shaping of his activity in the black student protest movement of the 1960's.

Between 1940-1945 Meier attended Oberlin College, which had a reputation for being "liberal." One year during this time was spent working at a War Department agency in Newark, one-third of the employees were the black. Experi

Publications in Ohio History                                  83

Eid, Leroy V. "The Pride of the Muddy Maumee." Northwest Ohio

Quarterly, XLVIII (1976), 52-54.

Haites, Erik F., James Mak, and Gary M. Walton. Western River

Transportation: The Era of Early Internal Development, 1810-

1860. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975. 209p.

Havighurst, Walter. The Long Ships Passing: The Story of the Great

Lakes. New York: Macmillan, 1975. 360p. Revised edition.

Lechner, Carl B., Jr. "The Erie Triangle, 1782-1802." Ph.D. disserta-

tion, Case Western Reserve University, 1975.

Saylor, Larry J. "Street Railroads in Columbus, Ohio, 1862-1920."

Old Northwest, 1 (1975), 291-315.

Scheiber, Harry N. "Land Reform, Speculation, and Governmental

Failure: The Administration of Ohio's State Canal Lands, 1836-

60." Prologue, 7 (1975), 85-98.

Schneider, Norris F. The National Road: Main Street of America.

Columbus: The Ohio Historical Society, 1975. 40p.

Stanton, Samuel Ward. Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, Southern and

Western Inland Steam Vessels. Upper Montclair, N.J.: Whiting,

1974. 40p.

White, John H., Jr. "The Steam Railroad Comes to Cincinnati."

Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin, 32 (1974), 177-182.