Oran Wendle Eagleson

Oran Wendle Eagleson (1910–1997) was the Callaway Professor of Psychology at Spelman College, Atlanta.^[1]

Eagleson was the eighth black person in the United States to receive a doctorate in psychology.^[1]

Early life

Oran Wendle Eagleson was born in Unionville, Indiana in 1910.^[2] In Bloomington, Indiana he completed his PhD at Indiana University in 1935.^[2] He also earned a bachelor’s degree in 1931 and a master’s in 1932, both in Indiana.^[2] Eagleson worked as a shoe shiner and shoe repair finisher from high school through graduate years.^[2]

Career

It was hard for Eagleson to find employment with his psychology degree.^[2] He found a job in 1936 in Durham, North Carolina at the North Carolina College for Negroes, where he taught psychology, sociology, economics, and philosophy.^[2] After financial issue in Durham, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia to teach at Spelman, a women’s college.^[2] At Spelman, he was high paid, but psychology was not a major. It was an elective until a few years later.^[2] Eagleson also served as an exchange professor at Atlanta University where he taught graduate courses.^[2] He became the dean of instruction at Spelman in 1954 and in 1970 he was promoted as Callaway Professor of Psychology.^[2] He was co-director of Morehouse-Spelman Intensified Pre-College program.^[2] H was also a lecturer and consultant in orientation and training project conducted by the Peace Corps.^[2]

References

1. Franklin, Anderson J.; Yates, Jacques Frank (1979), Research directions of Black psychologists, Russell Sage Foundation, p. 5, ISBN 978-0-87154-254-0
2. • Guthrie, Robert V. (2004), Even the rat was white a historical view of psychology (2 ed.), Allyn and Bacon, p. 181, ISBN 978-0-205-39264-3

Bibliography

• Guthrie, Robert V. (2004), Even the rat was white a historical view of psychology (2 ed.), Allyn and Bacon, pp. 155–212, ISBN 978-0-205-39264-3