Arrangement
This collection is arranged into seven series: Series 1 - Personal papers; Series 2 - Scholarly writings by Sudarkasa; Series 3 - Scholarly writings by other authors; Series 4 - University of Michigan; Series 5 - Lincoln University; Series 6 - Subject files; and Series 7 - Miscellaneous materials.
Abstract
The personal collection of Dr. Niara Sudarkasa, a Fort Lauderdale native. Dr Sudarkasa attended Fisk University and Oberlin College at a very young age and went to complete a Doctorate in Anthropology at Columbia University, focusing on women in Nigeria. Dr. Sudarkasa became an accomplished and prolific scholar. She broke records in the world of academia; first at the University of Michigan and later becoming the first woman president of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.
Administrative/Biographical History
Born Gloria A. Marshall in Fort Lauderdale, Dr. Sudarkasa attended Fisk University and Oberlin College on Ford Foundation early entrant scholarships. She graduated from Oberlin in 1957 at the age of 18. By age twenty-five, she had earned a Master's degree and a Doctorate in anthropology from Columbia University, which included twenty-one months of fieldwork and research in Nigeria and England for her dissertation on Yoruba women traders.
Dr. Sudarkasa has achieved many significant "firsts" in her career. From 1987 to 1998, she served as the first woman president of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania. Previously, she had spent close to twenty years at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she was the first African-American woman to be awarded tenure in the arts and sciences, the first to become a full professor, the first to head an academic center (CAAS) and the first to be appointed Associated Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Her academic research has led to numerous publications on Yoruba women traders; trade and migration in West Africa; African and African-American families; race and ethnicity; and higher education in the United States. Her publications include The Strength of Our Mothers (Africa World Press) and a co-edited volume entitled Exploring the African American Experience (Lincoln University Press). She has conducted fieldwork in Ghana, the Republic of Benin, Nigeria, the Caribbean and the United States. Her extensive travels include twenty-seven African countries.
After retirement, Dr. Sudarkasa served as Scholar-in-Residence at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center. Among other awards, she holds thirteen honorary degrees. She was also one of seventy-five women included in the Brian Lanker's book, I Dream A World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America.
