Director of black studies remembered

By Campbell Massie

Published Nov. 13, 2007

Colleagues, family, fraternity members, students and family gathered at the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center on Friday to celebrate the life and work of Julius Thompson, professor of black history and black studies director at MU.

Thompson died on Oct. 26 at University Hospital of undisclosed causes. He was 61 years old.

"Julius Thompson was a very distinguished scholar, but he was also a poet and artist," History Department Chairman Jonathan Sperber said.

Thompson's poetry was featured throughout the service.

Mable Grimes, a retired associate professor and friend of Thompson, said he was a very private person with a "wicked" sense of humor.

Thompson showed immense dedication to students, history professor Robert Weems said. He said one course Thompson was teaching this year had more than 50 students although the class would normally be capped at 35.

"Julius was the type of person, as a faculty member, that he never turned a student down who asked for an override," he said.

Thompson's efforts did not go unnoticed by students, Weems said. He said when Thompson first came to MU, the two attended a conference in Illinois together, and two of Thompson's former students drove to the conference to see him.

Malachi Crawford, a Ph.D. candidate who studied under Thompson, said he saw a great deal of Thompson's legacy in the work that he left behind.

Thompson's work focused on black history in the South, especially in his home state of Mississippi. His published works included biographies of important black Americans, studies on lynching in Mississippi and studies of black people in the arts.

Thompson was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity as well, a participant in the Minority Men's Network, and a participant in the MU Black Faculty and Staff Organization.

He was recognized by several organizations in the course of his long career. Thompson received the Danforth Fellowship, the Ford Foundation Doctoral Award and the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for University Teachers. He was also a Fulbright exchange scholar to Zimbabwe.

Crawford said Thompson spent his last two years pushing for MU to recognize black studies as a major. There is a black studies program in the history department but it is not available as a major.

"I think his legacy will be a top-notch teacher, a top-notch scholar," Weems said. "Again, (he was) someone who fought long and hard to sustain the black studies program here."

Thompson was born in Vicksburg, Miss., on July 15, 1946, and grew up with five siblings.

He received his bachelor's degree in history from Alcorn State University and his master's degree and doctorate from Princeton University.

He spent the past 47 years teaching about black history in the U.S., U.S. history, and black social and political history to both graduate and undergraduate students. He taught at Jackson State University, Florida Memorial College, The State University of New York, University of Rochester and Southern Illinois University Carbondale before coming to MU.