Robert Nathaniel Black

ROBERT NATHANIEL BLACK, Sr. was an educator who believed in John of Salisbury's dictum that we are all like dwarves on the shoulders of giants. This is what he taught his children—that each generation is able to rise and see more by standing on the shoulders of the generation before it.

He was the great-grandson of Thomas M. Black, who immigrated to America a free man from Jamaica,when Napoleon sent troops into the Dominican Republic, and made his fortune in land in Alabama. Thomas Black died in 1888 at the age of 109, leaving an estate that included over 1000 acres in Monroe County, Alabama, known as the Black Settlement. His grandfather, William Black, was a plantation owner, and his father, Robert Lee Black, a successful brickmason, building foundations, churches and brick houses from Florida to Selma, Alabama.

Robert was born a frail child. His father suspected he would never be able to work outside, so he turned his young son's mind to the world of books. "You may not like these books," he said, "but keep your head in them."

The child grew into a strong man, seeing combat in the Navy during World War II, but he never lost his fascination with books. He completed his undergraduate studies in elementary education at Alabama State University in 1950. Between 1956 and 1962 he did graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and from 1971 to 1973 he completed a Master of Science in Education at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a devoted alumni of the University of Pennsylvania, having received many awards from the University.

He met his wife, Lillian during their freshman year at Alabama State in 1946. Lillian was the love of his life in a marriage that lasted 66 years until Lillian's demise in May of 2012. Their union produced two sons, Robert N. Black, Jr, an attorney; and Keith Lanier Black, a Neurosurgeon. After college, the Blacks moved to Auburn, Alabama where he became principal of the all-black Boykin Street Elementary School and Lillian taught first grade.

Robert Black knew the first names of all 750 of his students and he was determined to prepare them for the world. He demanded the latest textbooks for his students. When his attempts to integrate the student body failed because segregation was the law of the day, he brought in white teachers and a white librarian, who taught French to the fourth graders. He raised his own two sons in accordance with the teachings of John Locke, bringing out of each the soul of a prince.

During the civil rights movement, Robert served as head of Auburn's 50-member Biracial Committee. It wasn't enough to force the community to build a swimming pool for black children after two drowned in the gravel pits. Robert insisted on integration of all aspects of life in Alabama.

In 1968 Lillian and Robert Black moved north, where Robert served briefly as assistant superintendent of schools in Rockford, Illinois before moving to Cleveland, where he was a school principal and retired from Kent State University after serving twelve years as integration consultant to the Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Cleveland school systems.

Robert was active in the Presbyterian church in Cleveland where he was an Elder. He was a member of Sigma Pi Phi fraternity and served as Sire Archon of his chapter in Cleveland, Beta Rho Boule; a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and a member of local and national educational associations.

His memory will be cherished by his sons, Robert Jr., and Keith; daughters-in-law, Maureen and Carol; grandchildren, Robert III, Zakiya, Austin, Teal and Keith; siblings, Alexander Black, Bennye Reasor, Ruth Jefferson and Rufus Black, and many other relatives and friends.