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(Blake) J. Herman papers
MS.415
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: J. Herman Blake papers
Creator:
Blake, J. Herman
Identifier/Call Number: MS.415
Physical Description:
12 Linear Feet
(13 boxes)
Physical Description:
0.29 GB
(11 digital files)
Date (inclusive): 1949-2018
Language of Material:
English
Collection is open for research. Audiovisual media is unavailable until reformatted.
Contact Special Collections in advance for information regarding access.
Digital files are available in the UCSC Special Collections and Archives reading room. Some
files may require reformatting before they can be accessed. Technical limitations may hinder
the Library's ability to provide access to some digital files. Access to digital files on
original carriers is prohibited; users must request to view access copies. Contact Special
Collections and Archives in advance to request access to digital files.
Property rights for this collection reside with the University of California. Literary
rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. The publication
or use of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use for research or
educational purposes requires written permission from the copyright owner. Responsibility
for obtaining permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more
information on copyright or to order a reproduction, please visit the UCSC Special
Collections and Archives website.
J. Herman Blake papers. MS 415. Special Collections and Archives, University Library,
University of California, Santa Cruz.
John Herman Blake was born in Mount Vernon, New York on March 15, 1934. After serving in
the U.S. Army during the Korean War, J. Herman Blake earned his B.A. degree in sociology
from New York University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of
California at Berkeley. In 1966, Blake was recruited by Founding Chancellor Dean McHenry to
teach sociology at Cowell College at the newly opened University of California, Santa Cruz.
He became the first African American on the University of California Santa Cruz faculty and
remained at UCSC for eighteen years. Dr. Blake is beloved at UCSC, both as a charismatic,
rigorous, and brilliant teacher/mentor and as the visionary leader who founded UCSC's
seventh college, Oakes, and served as its first provost. Oakes College emerged from a larger
history of grassroots education in transformational politics in the United States centered
in the Citizenship School Movement in the Sea Islands of South Carolina and the Highlander
Folk School in Appalachia.
After leaving UC Santa Cruz, Blake served as the President of Tougaloo College until 1987;
held positions at Swarthmore College; served as the Vice Chancellor at Indiana University;
and was the Director of African American Studies at Iowa State University. In 2008, the
Medical University of South Carolina appointed Blake as the first Humanities Scholar in
Residence. He retired from the Medical University of South Carolina in December of 2014.
Throughout his career, Dr. Blake has focused on students of color in higher education, urban
militants in the African American community, and social change and community development in
rural and urban African American communities. His publications include over fifty
full-length contributions and a book, the autobiography of Huey P. Newton,
Revolutionary Suicide. He has been awarded six honorary degrees and two
presidential medals.
Professor Blake has devoted much of his life to preserving Gullah culture. He was the
founding director of the Sea Islands Institute at the University of South Carolina,
Beaufort, and formerly served as the Executive Director of the Gullah Geechee Cultural
Heritage Corridor.
- Cameron Vanderscoff and Irene Reti. Text adapted from
Look'n M' Face and Hear M' Story": An Online Exhibit about Professor J. Herman
Blake
See also
"Look'n M' Face and Hear M' Story": An Oral History with Professor J. Herman
Blake.
Oral history by Cameron Vanderscoff, 2014. (LD781.S518 B58
2014)
Collection includes writings, speeches, correspondence, photographs, administrative
records, research files, and audio recordings that document Blake's involvement in the
founding of Oakes College at UC Santa Cruz and his research on marginalized students in
higher education and the South Carolina Sea Islands.
J. Herman Blake and Emily L. Moore papers (Manuscript Collection No. 1357) at Emory
University's Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Faculty papers
Photographs