Logan, Rayford Whittingham
1897-1982 · Contribution: 1944-1965
Education
Coined the term “the nadir” to describe the post-Reconstruction era of American race relations in his landmark study The Betrayal of the Negro, and edited the Dictionary of American Negro Biography, a foundational reference work still cited by historians of Black America today
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Impact on the world
Logan produced the first full scholarly account of the systematic destruction of Black rights after Reconstruction, giving historians a framework and vocabulary they still use.
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