Richard A. Long, a noted cultural historian and the author of numerous books on Black history, has died. Long was the Atticus Haygood Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Emeritus at Emory University.
According to his biography, Long’s books included “Black Americana” (1985), “The Black Tradition in American Dance” (1989), “African Americans: A Portrait” (1993), “Grown Deep: Essays on the Harlem Renaissance” (1998) and “One More Time: Harlem Renaissance History and Historicism” (2007).
He also edited the works “Negritude: Essays and Studies” and “Afro-American Writing: Prose and Poetry and Black Writers and the American Civil War.”
He was the founder of the Triennial Symposium on African Art and of the New World Festival of the African Diaspora. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Smithsonian Museum of African Art, is a life member of the Board of Directors of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, has served on the Board of the Society of Dance History Scholars and is now an Honorary Fellow of the organization. He continues to serve on the National Planner Committee of the Zora Neale Hurston Festival.
Long also served on the editorial boards of several publications, including the Langston Hughes Bulletin, Phylon and the Zora Neale Hurston Bulletin. He was a US committee member at the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture in Lagos, Nigeria, from 1971 to 1977 and has acted as a consultant for both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Long was born in Philadelphia and received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Temple University, where he began his teaching career as a graduate assistant. Long continued his education with doctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Paris. He received his doctoral degree at the University of Poitiers.
In addition to teaching at Temple and Emory, Long also taught at West Virginia State College and spent 15 years as a teacher at Morgan State College (now University) followed by two years at Hampton Institute (now University) where he was also Director of the College Museum.
He went on to become a Professor of English at Atlanta University in 1968 where he was founder of the African-American Studies program. He began an association with Emory University 1973 as adjunct professor and became Atticus Haygood Professor in 1987. From 1971 to 1973 he was a visiting lecturer at Harvard University. He has lectured widely in West, Central and South Africa, the Caribbean, India and Southeast Asia.
Dr. Long’s Papers are deposited at the Auburn Avenue Research Library.
His death was reported to the Daily World by Susan Ross.
“Another great tree in our forest has fallen,” said Ross.
According to information from Long’s HistoryMakers.com profile he was 85 years old.
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