Richard A. Long (Finding Aid)

Richard A. Long

1927 -

Interview Length: 173 minutes

Interview Date(s): March 15, 2002

Interview Location(s): 883 Edgewood Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia, 883 Edgewood Ave, Atlanta, Georgia

Abstract

Former university professor and scholar, Richard Long, details his childhood in Philadelphia and summers in his family home of Columbia, South Carolina. Raised primarily by his oldest sister after his mother's death when he was just 6, he describes life in his segregated neighborhood in the 1930s and 1940s. Retired humanities professor, Richard Long, describes his long process of education at Temple University then the University of Pennsylvania. A teen during World War II, Long joined the Army in order to pay for college. Only 15, he became part of a specialized program, which ended just around the time the war ended. Severe allergies and the GI Bill allowed him to leave the Army and complete his studies at Temple. Noted professor, Richard Long, details his academic and artisitic growth in the late 1960s as he moved from Morgan State College to Hampton then Atlanta University. He recalls rising movements like Negritude and the arts movement which accompanied them. Long aslo recalls figures like Alioune Diop, Langston hughes and WEB DuBois and thier roles on various literary and artisitic movements of the time. Former Atlanta University professor, Richard Long, details his experiences at Morgan State College and Atlanta University. Long discusses efforts to navigate the politics ofacademia, the demise of Atlanta University, his concurrent teaching at Emory University among other subjects. Noted professor, Dr. Richard Long details his relationships with some of the greatest artists, dancers and thinkers of the 20th century. People like Romare Bearden, Arnold Rampersad, Alvin Ailey among others. Noted scholar Dr. Richard Long, opines on the state of intellectual develpment in the black community, the lack of committment to academic studies, reparations and art.

46 Stories (See Ordered Story Set)