Albert J. McQueen Papers

Albert James McQueen, Professor of Sociology at Oberlin College, was born on August 22, 1927, in Bennettsville, South Carolina. He earned his high school diploma at Huntington High school in Newport News, Virginia in 1944.

McQueen began his college career at Virginia State College, Petersburg, Virginia in 1944, but joined the army in 1946 in search of a better financial foundation for his college career. After completing his service in the Army in 1948, McQueen attended Oberlin College, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology in 1952. While at Oberlin, McQueen was president of Oberlin's NAACP and United World Federalists and held membership in the YMCA Cabinet.

After graduating from Oberlin, McQueen received his MA in sociology in 1953 and his PhD in sociology in 1959 from the University of Michigan.

While completing his graduate studies at the University of Michigan, McQueen was a Teaching Fellow in the Sociology Department from 1953 to 1954. In 1955, when Eastern Michigan University requested emergency assistance in the sociology department, McQueen became Eastern Michigan's first Black faculty member. He continued teaching at Eastern Michigan University until he received his PhD in 1959.

After completing his PhD, McQueen returned to the University of Michigan as a Study Director in a National Institute of Mental Health project, where he remained until 1963. From 1963 to 1964 Albert McQueen served as a Research Associate at the Institute for Social Research and as Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department  at Michigan From 1964 to 1965, McQueen was an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He then took a position at Brooklyn College as Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology from 1965 to 1966.

McQueen was recruited to teach at Oberlin College in 1966. He became a Professor in the Department of Sociology in 1974 and was Chairman of the department from 1976 to 1979. Additionally, McQueen was a significant campus-wide leader in the effort to include an interdisciplinary African American studies program in Oberlin's curriculum. He was chairman of the African American Studies Program at Oberlin in 1969 to 1971. He served on many other committees, including the Educational Plans and Policies Committee, the Danenberg Oberlin-in-London Committee, and the Standing Committee on Pluralism and Equality. McQueen participated in the College and General Faculty Councils, and was outspoken on many issues concerning cultural differences, Black students' opportunities, and student life in general. Albert McQueen was recognized by his colleagues as a good teacher and friend to many students.

Specializing in social change and development, social movements, organizations and society and youth study, McQueen received several grants to study these areas. From 1961 to 1963, he received a Ford Foundation Grant to study at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and then at the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Supported by the Ford Foundation Grant, McQueen was invited to evaluate a project for homeless youth in Nairobi, Kenya, from 1962 to 1963. In 1964, he received an Institute for International Education Grant and a Social Science Research Council Grant to support analysis of data on Nigerian Youth. He continued this work in 1974, when he received an African American Scholars Council Grant for follow up research on unemployed youth in Nigeria, at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. In 1983, McQueen received a Research and Development Grant for research on the Rastafarians in Jamaica. Throughout his career at Oberlin, McQueen received other fellowships and grants, including: the Mellon Colloquium Development Award in 1988, the McCandless Teaching Grant in 1977, and the Rockefeller Grant in 1967.

Among his other accomplishments, Albert McQueen contributed book reviews to journals, wrote articles for magazines, and participated in lectures. His publications and lecture topics included Black Students at Oberlin, Unemployment and African Youth, and Emerging Black Scholars.

Albert McQueen retired from Oberlin College on June 30, 1995, after being on medical leave since November, 1992. He continued to be an active and enthusiastic member of the Oberlin community in his position as Professor Emeritus. He was a member of the Kendal Community at Oberlin. He passed away on May 22, 2019 in Oberlin, Ohio.

SOURCES CONSULTED

The Observer (May 13, 1993), Albert McQueen's faculty file in the Oberlin College Archives, and a telephone interview between the Archivist and J. Milton Yinger. African American Studies program files of the College of Arts and Sciences, RG 9. See SG IV, Series 1, Box 3.