In Black America Podcast: The Legacy of Rev. Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor
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On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with the late Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Proctor, distinguished minister, educator and author. During his lifetime he served as President of two universities, Virginia Union University in 1955, his alma mater; and North Carolina A&T University in 1960. Also, he was the Martin Luther King, Jr. professor emeritus of Rutgers University, where he taught in the graduate school from1969 to 1984, and visiting professor of the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University.
In 1972, Rev. Dr. Proctor became pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, one of the most influential African American institutions in New York, where he succeeded the late Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
Born on July 13th, 1921, in Norfolk, VA. Both of his grandparents had received a university education, which was considered unusual for the time. The prominent educator and clergyman served as associate director to the Peace Corps in Nigeria and Washington under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.
Rev. Dr. Proctor was the author of three books. On May 22nd, 1997, he suffered a heart attack and died. He was 75. The Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University was named in his memory.
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