Educational Achievements
An Alabama native, Herman Long was born in the state's largest city, Birmingham, and moved with his family to Chicago's South Side, where he grew up in poverty. Working at numerous jobs, he studied at night and, as even worse times loomed in the aftermath of the October 1929 stock market crash, was determined to achieve the highest level of education. In September 1931 he returned to Alabama to attend Talladega College, the state's oldest, private, historically black liberal arts college, founded in 1867 on the outskirts of Talladega County's seat, the city of Talladega. During the four years spent there as a student, he was considered a top debater and, at 6' 3" (190.5 cm), became a star player and, eventually, captain of the basketball team. He also participated in the college's other athletic programs, whether as a member of the track team or taking part in baseball and football competitions. Until his graduation, cum laude, in 1935, he continued to work at any available jobs, including acting as a barber for his fellow students. A psychology major, he went on to earn his M.A. at the Hartford Seminary's School of Religious Education and his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan.
In the preparation for his doctoral dissertation in 1940–41, Long became associated with one of the leading African-American social scientists of the period, Charles S. Johnson, the head of sociology at Nashville's renowned historically black institution, Fisk University, which chose Johnson, in 1947, as its first African-American president. Along with two other research supervisors, Long provided the parish background reports for Johnson's influential Louisiana study (published in spring 1942) of race relations, on the eve of World War II, in twenty of the state's sixty-four parishes.
After receiving his Ph.D., Long returned to Fisk at Johnson's invitation, becoming the head of the University's Human Relations Institute of the American Missionary Association. In this capacity, he traveled around the country, researching race relations and serving as a consultant regarding programs centered at improving relations and ameliorating strained and problematic conditions. His 1949 study of racially-discriminatory housing covenants received favorable notice and was quoted in a number of sociological texts.
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