Early Years
He was born in Harlem, New York to immigrants Maude Catherine Joel (Bermuda) and Vivien Leopold Toppin (Grenada). He was the second of six children; Lucille, George, Mary, Sammy, Eleanor (in birth order). Named after writer Edgar Allan Poe, he had a passion for reading and learning. He would often escape to the roof of his apartment building on 114th Street and read in order to nurture his yearning for knowledge. His family was poor, and growing up during the Great Depression was especially hard. His wardrobe of white shirts and navy blue pants was a symbol of poverty so recognizable that "when you walked into a place, people could spot you a mile away," he recalls.
At age 16, he attended New York City College and after one semester, enrolled at Howard University on scholarship. He received his B.A. 1949 and M.A. 1950 in History before deciding to matriculate to Northwestern University. He earned his Ph.D. in History in 1955 and was named a William Randolph Hearst Fellow and a John Hay Whitney Opportunity Fellow. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Beta Chapter (Spring 1948).
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