Journal of Nile Valley Civilizations

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1 - Page 2 - March 21, 2009

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Runoko Rashidi, William Leo Hansberry: Pioneer Africanist Scholar (1894-1965)
Mathu Ater, The Pyramid Builders of Ancient Kemet

William Leo Hansberry

WILLIAM LEO HANSBERRY:

PIONEER AFRICANIST SCHOLAR (1894-1065)

By: Runoko Rashidi

Professor William Leo Hansberry-- one of the most distinguished and determined Africanist scholars of the twentieth century, was born in Gloster, Mississippi on 25 February 1894. He attended Atlanta University in 1916 where he came under the Influence of Dr. William Edward Burghardt DuBois (1868 - 1963). In 1917, Hansberry transferred to Harvard University, where he received his BA degree in 1921 and MA degree in 1932. Hansberry conducted research at the University of Chicago in 1936, Oxford University In 1937 and 1938 and the University of Cairo in 1953 and 1954.

After teaching for a year at Straight College in New Orleans, in September 1922, Hansberry joined the faculty of Howard University where he taught courses on African civilizations and cultures until his retirement in June 1959. In 1922, Professor Hansberry Initiated the African Civilization Section of the Howard University History Department. In June 1925, he organized and coordinated a major symposium and exhibition held at Howard, where twenty-eight scholarly papers were presented by his students--sixteen of which were women.

In August 1927, Hansberry spoke at the Fourth Pan-African Conference in New York on the topic of archaeological research in Africa and its significance for African people. In 1934, he helped organize the Ethiopian Research Council. The aims of this council were to "Stimulate interest in Ethiopia's efforts to resist the Italian invasion, and to disseminate information on Ethiopian history, ancient and modern. Correspondents were located in London, Paris, Rome and Addis Ababa; affiliates were listed in Ethiopia, France, and Panama, in addition to Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia."

During the mid- 1950's, Hansberiy engaged in field research in Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zaire, Ghana, and Nigeria. He also visited Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and Liberia. In 1955, for the Journal of Negro Education, he reviewed George G.M. James' classic--Stolen Legacy. In 1955 and 1956, for the Washington Post and Africa Today, he reviewed Ghanaian scholar J.C. deGraft-Johnson's African Glory: The Story of Vanished Negro Civilizations. Although, Hanaberry produced a number of Impressive written works, It is highly unfortunate that his own magnum opus, The Rise and Decline of the Ethiopian Empire, was never published, although, both Kwame Nkrumah and Noamdi Azikiwe invited him to publish the work In Africa.

Hansberry was slighted and snubbed for much of his life, not only by white academia, but by many of his Black academic colleagues, as well. One of his greatest consolations though, was the love, admiration and respect of his students. Besides Dr. Chancellor Williams, one of Hansberry's most prominent pupils, there was Noamdi Azikiwe, who became the first President of the, Federal Republic of Nigeria. Lorraine Hansberry, the brilliant African American playwright, was Hansberry's niece.

On 22 September 1963, Hansberry delivered the inaugural address at the formal opening of the Hanaberry College of African Studies at Nsukka, University of Nigeria. In 1964, he became the first recipient of the African Research Award from the Haile Selassle I Prize Trust. On 3 November 1965, at the age of 71, William Leo Hansberry died of a cerebral hemorrhage. His contributions, however, live on.

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