[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 149 (Tuesday, September 24, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E960-E961]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING THE LIFE OF NATHAN HARE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 24, 2024

  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life 
and legacy of a civil rights icon, a fearless truthteller, this 
country's ``Father of Black Studies,'' Dr. Nathan Hare.
  Born on April 9, 1933, Dr. Hare was a son of Oklahoma sharecroppers. 
Academically gifted, he excelled through the state's segregated school 
system, earning a bachelor's degree from Langston University. He went 
on to receive a master's degree and Ph.D. in Sociology from the 
University of Chicago, finishing his education with a second Ph.D. in 
clinical psychology at the California School of Professional 
Psychology.
  Throughout his academic and professional career, Dr. Hare was a 
champion of Black history and power. In 1965, as a professor at Howard 
University, he published ``The Black Anglo-Saxons,'' the first of his 
many ground-breaking works.
  In 1968, he arrived at San Francisco State University, where he 
sought to develop an interdisciplinary program dedicated to 
understanding the Black experience. After significant pushback from the 
university's administration, which resulted in a five-month strike with 
students and faculty, Dr. Hare completed the proposal for the program. 
With its adoption, Dr. Hare became the first head of a Black Studies 
Department in the United States
  In 1969, Dr. Hare co-founded the Black Scholar magazine. Through this 
publication,

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he granted me the privilege of writing an edition about the Non-Aligned 
Movement. The Conference on Non-Aligned Nations was held in Havana, 
Cuba and I received credentials as a journalist to cover this impactful 
summit on behalf of the Black Scholar and the Sun Reporter newspaper.
  He also asked me to write an article about the nonviolent revolution 
in Grenada. Through our friendship, work, and his mentorship, he taught 
me what a Black perspective on foreign policy and international 
relations meant as an African American. For this, I am deeply grateful.
  Dr. Hare was preceded in death by his loving wife, Dr. Julia (Reed) 
Hare, an activist and scholar who joined him on the frontlines of his 
academic efforts. In 1979, they founded a research institution, called 
the Black Think Tank, where they wrote several books about Black life 
in America.
  Dr. Nathan Hare was an incredible scholar, whose contributions to 
Black academia and media have made a lasting impact on our world. He 
will be greatly missed by those who had the honor of knowing him and 
remembered by all who stand upon his shoulders. May he rest in eternal 
peace and power.

                          ____________________