Hylan Garnet Lewis ( 1911-2000 )
Hylan Garnet Lewis died on March 8, 2000 at a hospital in Versailles, France at age 88. He was born in Washington, D.C. on April 4, 1911 and had lived in New York City for the past three decades. He had recently spent time in Chambourcy, France as well as at his Upper West Side residence in Manhattan. He taught in the Sociology Department at Brooklyn College between 1967 and 1977 and then on the doctoral faculty of the City University of New York Graduate Center between 1967 and 1990. In 1974, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. Between 1988 and 1989, he served as a Revson Fellow in legal and urban studies at City College. During 1990-91, he was appointed the first Michael Harrington professor at Queens College.
Dr. Lewis completed his undergraduate training at Virginia Union University where he earned a B.A. in 1932. He was awarded a Social Science Research Council grant to begin his graduate studies at the University of Chicago from which he earned at Masters degree in 1936. He continued his graduate work as a Rosenwald Fellow from 1939 to 1941 and earned a doctorate in Sociology at the University of Chicago in 1951.
Hylan Lewis' career in teaching and research began in 1932 when he taught at Virginia Union University and subsequently at Howard University, Talladega College, Hampton Institute, the Institute for Social Research at the University of North Carolina, and Atlanta University. It was during this period that he undertook his pioneering study of the Negro community in a small Southern Piedmont town which was subsequently published asBlackways of Kent (1955) and considered a classic in the technique of participant observation in social science research. About the use of that technique and, it could be said, about his relationship with his host of friends throughout his life, Hylan wrote in the preface to the book:
"The degree to which I permitted to share in the activities and thoughts of the people of Kent was in large measure a function of the extent to which I came to know and to reciprocate the affection and confidence of many Kentians. This sharing paid dividends in personal satisfaction, continuing friendships, and kinds of knowledge not obtainable otherwise."
Hylan's way of friendship is well-known and treasured by his far-flung circle of friends.
Between 1959 and 1964, Dr. Lewis was director of the Child Rearing Study for the Health and Welfare Council of Washington, D.C. This led, in November 1965, to his appointment as co- chair of the family section of the White House Conference, " To Secure These Rights," In this period of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty, Lewis' research and publications were pivotal in the critique of the culture-of -poverty theory that had become the focus of scholarly and policy debate during the 1960s.
At various time and over many years, Lewis was a consultant to both public and private agencies. These included the Office of War Information, the Volta River Project in Ghana, the Unitarian Service Commission, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Children's Bureaus, the Department of Education, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Health, the U.S. Department of aging, the Ford Foundation's "Ashmore Project" on school desegregation, the Office of Economic Opportunity, and the Urban Institute's Advisory Group on Female- headed Households.
During the late 1960's, Lewis joined Kenneth B. Clark as senior vice president of MARC ( Metropolitan Applied Research Center) in New York City. MARC became a center for policy-related research and remedies for problems of the city, the urban poor and unemployed, and discrimination against minorities in foster car, school and employment. MARC provided a training ground for young activists and a resource for major leaders in the civil rights movement.
Hylan Lewis received many honors for his contributions to his academic discipline, among them: the DuBois-Johnson-Frazier Award by the American Sociological Association, the Charles Lawrence II Memorial Lecture at Brooklyn College, the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Association of Black Sociologists, fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an honorary degree of Doctor of the Humanities from Long Island University.
Hylan is survived by his companion, Francoise Burgess; his first wife, Leighla Whipper,from whom he was divorced in 1942; his wife, the former Audrey Carter, from whom he has been separated for 26 years; a daughter, Carole Ione of Kingston NY; a son, Guy Edward of Yreka, California; grandsons, Alessandro, Santiago and Antonio; seven great grand children; and two sisters, Katie Garner and Elsie Lewis, both of Washington, D.C. Preceding him in death were two brothers, Harry, Jr. and Albert.
Dr. Lewis completed his undergraduate training at Virginia Union University where he earned a B.A. in 1932. He was awarded a Social Science Research Council grant to begin his graduate studies at the University of Chicago from which he earned at Masters degree in 1936. He continued his graduate work as a Rosenwald Fellow from 1939 to 1941 and earned a doctorate in Sociology at the University of Chicago in 1951.
Hylan Lewis' career in teaching and research began in 1932 when he taught at Virginia Union University and subsequently at Howard University, Talladega College, Hampton Institute, the Institute for Social Research at the University of North Carolina, and Atlanta University. It was during this period that he undertook his pioneering study of the Negro community in a small Southern Piedmont town which was subsequently published asBlackways of Kent (1955) and considered a classic in the technique of participant observation in social science research. About the use of that technique and, it could be said, about his relationship with his host of friends throughout his life, Hylan wrote in the preface to the book:
"The degree to which I permitted to share in the activities and thoughts of the people of Kent was in large measure a function of the extent to which I came to know and to reciprocate the affection and confidence of many Kentians. This sharing paid dividends in personal satisfaction, continuing friendships, and kinds of knowledge not obtainable otherwise."
Hylan's way of friendship is well-known and treasured by his far-flung circle of friends.
Between 1959 and 1964, Dr. Lewis was director of the Child Rearing Study for the Health and Welfare Council of Washington, D.C. This led, in November 1965, to his appointment as co- chair of the family section of the White House Conference, " To Secure These Rights," In this period of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty, Lewis' research and publications were pivotal in the critique of the culture-of -poverty theory that had become the focus of scholarly and policy debate during the 1960s.
At various time and over many years, Lewis was a consultant to both public and private agencies. These included the Office of War Information, the Volta River Project in Ghana, the Unitarian Service Commission, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Children's Bureaus, the Department of Education, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Health, the U.S. Department of aging, the Ford Foundation's "Ashmore Project" on school desegregation, the Office of Economic Opportunity, and the Urban Institute's Advisory Group on Female- headed Households.
During the late 1960's, Lewis joined Kenneth B. Clark as senior vice president of MARC ( Metropolitan Applied Research Center) in New York City. MARC became a center for policy-related research and remedies for problems of the city, the urban poor and unemployed, and discrimination against minorities in foster car, school and employment. MARC provided a training ground for young activists and a resource for major leaders in the civil rights movement.
Hylan Lewis received many honors for his contributions to his academic discipline, among them: the DuBois-Johnson-Frazier Award by the American Sociological Association, the Charles Lawrence II Memorial Lecture at Brooklyn College, the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Association of Black Sociologists, fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an honorary degree of Doctor of the Humanities from Long Island University.
Hylan is survived by his companion, Francoise Burgess; his first wife, Leighla Whipper,from whom he was divorced in 1942; his wife, the former Audrey Carter, from whom he has been separated for 26 years; a daughter, Carole Ione of Kingston NY; a son, Guy Edward of Yreka, California; grandsons, Alessandro, Santiago and Antonio; seven great grand children; and two sisters, Katie Garner and Elsie Lewis, both of Washington, D.C. Preceding him in death were two brothers, Harry, Jr. and Albert.