Black’s goal: Better life for all children

Black

Veteran sociology lecturer receives Outstanding Public Service Award

Albert W. Black, Jr.
Senior Lecturer in Sociology (UW Seattle)

Albert Black set clear goals as an academic: his contribution would be in teaching and in service. He has met both goals with distinction.

After seven years on the UW faculty, Black won the coveted Distinguished Teaching Award in 1979. And over the past three decades he’s continued to excel in the classroom, winning numerous other campus honors for undergraduate teaching. At the same time Black has volunteered countless hours—as a sociologist, consultant, life skills trainer, motivational speaker, curriculum developer, grassroots organizer, mentor, role model, concerned citizen and surrogate father—to promote the welfare of young people.

Saving the children is his lifelong commitment. An expert on race relations and the sociology of African Americans, Black shares his knowledge with the community and puts it into action. He’s been exceptionally effective going into the public schools to motivate children to make constructive choices about their lives.

The Franklin Fathers Group is a prime example. Black organized Franklin High parents into a unified, highly visible presence in the schools to encourage low-performing students to take their education seriously. Their message: “As parents, we will no longer tolerate classroom disruptions. You are here to work and learn, and we refuse to let you throw your lives away.” The parents’ moral leadership is backed up by another group Black organized: a steady stream of UW students who work alongside classroom teachers as one-on-one mentors and tutors to the students.

Black continues to create organizational responses to social ills. Grounded in his belief that sociology helps us recognize the effects of the past on the present, he’s building a better future for all children.

Black also won this year’s Charles E. Odegaard award at the Educational Opportunity Banquet. The award recognizes a faculty or community member whose work has supported equal opporunity in higher education for minority and economically disadvantaged students. ¶