Niara sudarkasa biography

Niara Sudarkasa (August 14, 1938 – May 31, 2019) was an American scholar, educator, Africanist and anthropologist who holds thirteen honorary degrees.
Accomplished scholar, educator, Africanist, and anthropologist, Niara Sudarkasa, was born Gloria Albertha Marshall on August 14, 1938, in Fort Lauderdale.
Niara Sudarkasa was an American scholar, educator, Africanist and anthropologist who holds thirteen honorary degrees, and is the recipient of nearly 100 civic and professional awards.

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Sudarkasa, Niara 1938–

University president

At a Glance…

Sources

Niara Sudarkasa is the first woman president of Lincoln University, one of the oldest historically black institutions of higher learning in the United States. Lincoln boasts numerous illustrious graduates, including Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American to become a United States Supreme Court Justice; Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first president of Nigeria; Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana; and writer Langston Hughes. Sudarkasa seeks to foster among present students the same zeal that Lincoln’s past scholars have shown for bettering the human condition. As she told Essence, “Unless a sense of service and duty is instilled, our upward mobility will only be measured by cars and styling.”

Sudarkasa was born Gloria Marshall on August 14, 1938, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A precocious student, she enrolled in Fisk University in 1953 at the age of fifteen. In 1956 she transferred to Oberlin College, where she completed a degree in sociology the following year. Sudarkasa rece

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The following is an excerpt from Erica Lorraine Williams’s chapter “Niara Sudarkasa: Inspiring Black Women’s Leadership” in The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology edited by Ira E. Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon, and Erica Lorraine Williams.

Remembering Niara Sudarkasa

Pioneering cultural anthropologist Niara Sudarkasa has traveled to twenty-seven African countries and conducted research in West Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States. Her research interests have included West African trade and migration, anthropology and development, the roles of African women, African and Caribbean immigration to the United States, African and African American family organization, race and ethnicity, and diversity, equity, and excellence in higher education. Born in 1938 as Gloria Marshall in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, she adopted the name Niara—an adaptation of a Swahili word meaning “woman of high purpose.” Her choice of this name is fitting, considering how she has earned nearly twenty fellowships, grants, and awards, more than seve

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Niara Sudarkasa Collection

Collection

Identifier: AARLCC-2006.4

Scope and Contents

The Niara Sudarkasa Collection contains correspondence, scholarly writings, publications, audio visual material, plaques, and business files from Fort Lauderdale native, anthropologist, professor Dr. Niara Sudarkasa. The collection highlights Sudarkasa's professional achievements including becoming the first woman president of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. Her papers are a unique resource on Yoruba language and culture, ethnic groups in higher education and the Black Power Movement in the United States.

Dates

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The Niara Sudarkasa Collection is open for research.

Biographical / Historical

Niara Sudarkasa, née Gloria Albertha Marshall was born on August 14, 1938, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She graduated from Dillard High School at 14 years old. Dr. Sudarkasa, a gifted student, was accepted to Fisk University on a Ford Foundation scholarship at the age of 15. She transferred to Oberlin College and ea