Benjamin Quarles
Benjamin Arthur Quarles was an influential African American historian born in Boston, who significantly advanced the study of black history in America. After graduating from Shaw University, he earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. in history, eventually becoming a professor at Dillard University. Quarles faced challenges in his academic pursuits, particularly when researching Frederick Douglass, but ultimately succeeded in having his dissertation published as a widely regarded book in 1948. Quarles's scholarly work emphasized the intertwined nature of American history and the contributions of African Americans, arguing for a nuanced understanding of the diverse relationships between these groups.
His notable publications included *The Negro in the Civil War*, which highlighted the vital roles African Americans played during the conflict. Throughout his career at Morgan State University, where he served as a professor and department chair, Quarles published extensively and was recognized as a leading scholar in his field. He received numerous accolades for his contributions, including the American Historical Association's Senior Historian Scholarly Distinction Award. Beyond his academic achievements, Quarles was actively involved in civic and cultural organizations. He passed away in 1996, leaving a legacy that paved the way for future historians studying the African American experience.
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Benjamin Quarles
Historian and educator
- Born: January 23, 1904
- Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
- Died: November 16, 1996
- Place of death: Cheverly, Maryland
Quarles was one of the most important pioneers of African American history. He brought widespread attention and acknowledgment to the accomplishments and contributions of African Americans. Nearly all his books remained in print for many decades—a tribute to their historiographical importance.
Early Life
Benjamin Arthur Quarles was born in Boston, the son of a subway porter, but little else is known about his childhood. He took summer jobs as a bellhop on steamboats in Boston harbor and worked occasional summers in hotels in Florida. After graduating from high school, Quarles entered the oldest black institution of higher education in America, Shaw University in North Carolina. He graduated in 1931 with a history degree, then went on to receive a master’s degree in history from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1933. He pursued doctoral studies full time for the next year and a half and then became an instructor of history while continuing to work on his dissertation.
In 1939, Quarles moved to Dillard University, a historic black university in New Orleans, as a professor of history. He wanted to write his doctoral dissertation on Frederick Douglass but encountered opposition from faculty members who did not believe that an African American could objectively study black history. William Hesseltine, an expert on Ulysses S. Grant, agreed to supervise Quarles’s dissertation. Quarles was awarded a Ph.D. in 1940. A revised book version of his dissertation appeared in 1948; the work remained in print for decades as an important source for the study of Douglass.
Life’s Work
After earning his Ph.D., Quarles became a dean at Dillard and remained there until 1953. In his final year, he published The Negro in the Civil War, the first book-length work chronicling the many roles that African Americans played during the war. The book led to Quarles’s appointment in 1953 as professor of history and history department chair at Morgan State College (later Morgan State University) in Baltimore, where he remained for the rest of his career. He published eight more books, twenty-three peer-reviewed articles, and hundreds of shorter pieces during his tenure at Morgan State.
All of Quarles’s works used carefully detailed evidence to make two main points. The first point was that American history was inextricably linked to the complex relationships among African Americans and whites, and that diversity within both groups made broad generalizations difficult. The second point was that African Americans had contributed in substantial ways to America’s development as a symbol of freedom for people around the world.
Quarles was recognized by historians worldwide as one of the leading scholars of the black experience in America. At Morgan State, he was known to students as a dapper, energetic, and formidable teacher. He had two daughters with his second wife, Ruth Brett, whom he married one year after the death in 1951 of his first wife, Vera.
Quarles’s survey course titled “The Negro in American History” was popular among students and recalled by many Morgan alumni as an essential part of the undergraduate experience. The high general regard for Quarles’s scholarship was evidenced by fellowships from the Social Science Research Council, Carnegie Corporation for the Advancement of Teaching, Rosenwald Fund, and Guggenheim Foundation. He was appointed an honorary consultant in American history at the Library of Congress for two terms (1949-1951, 1970-1972), named to the Advisory Committee of Library Services at the U.S. Office of Education (1964-1966), and appointed to the National Council of the Frederick Douglass Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution. Quarles received the American Historical Association’s Senior Historian Scholarly Distinction Award in 1988 and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. He was named professor emeritus at Morgan State University in 1981.
Active in civic affairs, Quarles became secretary of the New Orleans Urban League (1947-1951) and then vice president (1957-1959). He served as vice president of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (1967-1971), chaired the Maryland Commission on Negro History and Culture (1969), was a member of the Project Advisory Committee on Black Congress Members of the Joint Center for Political Studies, and served on the Department of the Army Historical Advisory Committee (1977-1980).
Quarles died on November 16, 1996, in Cheverly, Maryland. He was ninety-two years old. A room in Morgan State’s library and its on-campus club for history students are named in his honor.
Significance
As one of the leading members of the third generation of African American historians, Quarles contributed thoughtful, well-researched works that advanced understanding of the important ways in which African Americans contributed to American culture, education, and commerce. He opened new pathways for historical research related to African Americans and played a key role in the identification, acquisition, preservation, and analysis of a huge body of written records and artifacts associated with the black experience in America. His work laid a foundation for a generation of scholars to continue to expand and deepen historical understanding of African Americans in the United States.
Bibliography
Franklin, John Hope. “Afro-American History: State of the Art.” Journal of American History 75, no. 1 (1988): 162-173. Overview by the dean of African American historians, who provides perspective on Quarles’s achievements.
Moses, Wilson J. “African American Historiography and the Work of Benjamin Quarles.” The History Teacher 32, no. 1 (1998): 77-88. Highlights the contributions of Quarles as a scholar and mentor to a generation of African American historians.
Quarles, Benjamin A. Frederick Douglass. 1948. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1997. The first academic biography of Douglass, based on Quarles’s doctoral thesis at the University of Wisconsin. This source is still in an essential starting point for scholarship on Douglass.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Lincoln and the Negro. 1962. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1991. Examines Lincoln’s complicated thinking and actions related to African Americans. Highlights the president’s many achievements but also notes his failings.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Negro in the American Revolution. 1961. Reprint. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996. Shows how African Americans were involved in the struggle for liberty within the colonies despite many not winning liberty for themselves, as well as describing the activities of African Americans who sided with the Tories and the British.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Negro in the Making of America. 3d ed. Introduction by V. P. Franklin. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. The longest book by Quarles, this work seeks to show how the “black story” in all its intricacies, and despite continuing historical uncertainties, is central to the story of America and that the entire history of race in America is integral to understanding the nation throughout its history.