Robert Hughes Brisbane

Background

Robert Hughes Brisbane was born on March 21, 1913, in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. He was raised in Harlem, New York City.

Education

Brisbane learned public speaking and debate at St. John’s University, New York, graduating from there in 1939. After the war, Brisbane returned to college, earning a doctorate in political science from Harvard University in 1949.

Career

During World War II, Brisbane worked at a factory, making war machines, and organized a slowdown of black workers, who were being paid less than whites. His action led to a Presidential Executive Order banning discrimination in war production. After the war, he joined the faculty of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and became chairman of the Political Science Department in 1965.

Brisbane also contributed several articles to journals and periodicals. From 1965 until retirement in 1985, Brisbane was also on the editorial staff of Encyclopedia Britannica. He continued to teach at Morehouse periodically after retirement, and last lectured in 1996.

Achievements

• Brisbane was nationally known for his writings on the early civil rights movement in the United States and was always vigilant against racial discrimination. He authored The Black Vanguard: Origins of the Negro Social Revolution, 1900-1960 and Black Activism: Racial Revolution in the United States 1954-1970.
  
  In 1994, Morehouse College honoured Brisbane by creating the Brisbane Institute to promote his social and educational goals, offering scholarships, internships and sponsoring community projects.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Black Vanguard: Origins of the Negro Social Revolution, 1900-1960 1969
  • Black Activism: Racial Revolution in the United States - 1954-1970 1974

Connections

Brisbane was married to Kathryn Brown Brisbane until she died in 1993. The couple had 1 daughter, Phillipa.

Wife:

Kathryn Brown Brisbane

Daughter:

Phillipa Brisbane

Brother:

Samuel Brisbane

Brother:

Levi Brisbane

Sister:

Era Brisbane