MORGAN, Harry 1926-

PERSONAL: Born June 6, 1926, in Charlottesville, VA; son of John and Cheyney Morgan; married, 1949; wife's name Edwina (divorced, 1982); children: Parris, Lawrence. Ethnicity: "African American." Education: New York University, B.S., 1949; University of Wisconsin—Madison, M.S.W., 1968; University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Ed.D., 1970. Hobbies and other interests: Collecting antiques.

ADDRESSES: Home—228A Lakeview Parkway, Villa Rica, GA 30180. Office—University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA 30118; fax: 770-836-4612. E-mail—hmorgan@westga.edu.

CAREER: Writer. Bank Street College of Education, New York, NY, professor, 1966–69; Ohio University, Athens, professor, 1970–72; Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, professor, 1972–84; University of West Georgia, Carrollton, professor, 1984–. Metropolitan School for the Arts, Syracuse, cofounder; founder of Syracuse Community Folk Art Gallery and Syracuse Neighborhood Housing Services; National Head Start and early childhood consultant.

MEMBER: American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Society, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Phi Delta Kappa.

WRITINGS:

The Learning Community, C. E. Merrill (Columbus, OH), 1973.

Historical Perspectives on the Education of Black Children, Praeger (Westport, CT), 1995.

Cognitive Styles and Classroom Learning, Praeger (Westport, CT), 1997.

The Imagination of Early Childhood Education, Bergin & Garvey (South Hadley, MA), 1999.

Real Learning: A Bridge to Cognitive Neuroscience, Scarecrow Education (Lanham, MD), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including Journal of Educational Research, Journal of Research in Middle School Annual, Roeper Review, and Trotter Review.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Phenomenology and Existentialism in Early Education; research on pragmatic language in early education.

SIDELIGHTS: Harry Morgan once told CA: "As a university professor, I consider writing one of the essential tasks of my job. It provides a means to communicate with the world community and, among other things, to inform others of the many things that I have learned from my work and my students. My work is influenced by philosophers, theorists, and practitioners. I am also drawn to historical perspectives and how I perceive early issues and events affecting our present-day human conditions. My work is influenced by what I consider good writing. Examples of this type of writing can be found in publications like the New Yorker, Harper's magazine, and Nature, just to name a few.

"The greatest opportunities for advancement in seeking truth and a sense of self are provided for individual children—on their way to becoming adults—by parents and classroom teachers. Here lie the greatest opportunities and at the same time the greatest obstacles. Children need a voice—a voice that is given attention by significant others. Only teachers with the time and inclination to become readers of good literature—and the luck to have attended a worthy teacher education institution—can assure a voice that enables students to make their own meaning. Parents and teachers who are trapped in religious dogma, racism, and closed thinking are poor candidates to allow children to make their own meaning.

"Too many teachers, poorly trained and trapped in the system, perpetuate the system's grinding influence upon children through controlled textbook material and morning prayer meetings around the flag pole. I derive inspiration from teachers and their students who, despite such pressures to conform, assume a voice that enables their own meaning to escape.

"I received my greatest inspiration from classroom teachers during junior high school, in graduate schools at the University of Wisconsin—Madison and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Inspiration for the manner in which I write and my choice of topics came from my teachers in these institutions."