Biography:

Educator, clergyman, social activist. Born– February 4, 1904, Rankin, Ill. Parents– Elmer and Elma Maryel (Poole) Gallagher. Married –June Lucille Sampson, September 1, 1927.  Children– two. Education– Carleton College, B.A., 1925; Union Theological Seminary, B.D., 1929; Columbia University, Ph.D., 1939; further study at the London School of Economics, 1929-30. Instructor in economics, Doane College, Nebraska, 1925-26; ordained minister in the Congregational Church, 1929; National secretary of YMCA, 1930-31; pastor of Congregational Church in Passaic, NJ, 1931-33; president of Talladega College, 1933-43; professor of Christian Ethics, Pacific School Of Religion, 1944-49; consultant, U.S. Office of Education, 1950-51; president of the College of the City of New York, 1952-61 and 1962-69; chancellor of California State College system, 1961-62. Candidate for U. S. House of Representatives, California 7th district, 1948. A member and officer in many national service organizations and commissions, including the World University Service, the Commission on Religion and Race of the National Council of Churches, and the NAACP (which he served as vice-chair of the board of directors). Named president emeritus of the College of the City of New York on his retirement in 1970. Received  honorary degrees from many colleges and universities, including  Columbia University,Brandeis University (1954); Tuskegee Institute (1963); L.H.D. degrees from Wagner College (1954); Moravian College (1958); Adelphi College (1966); City College of City University of New York (1972); Talladega College (1973); honorary Litt. D., University of Cincinnati (1957).  Named a chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the French Government. Awarded the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal by the U.S. Army; the Amistad Medal (1968) and the Martin Luther King Jr. Medal by the City University of New York, 1969.  Died August  30, 1978.

Source:

Contemporary Authors Online; Marquis Who’s Who online.

Publication(s):

American Caste and the Negro College. New York; Columbia University Press, 1938.

Color and Conscience; the Irrepressible Conflict. New York; Harper & Row, 1946.

The Federal Government and the Higher Education of the Deaf. Washington, D.C.; s.n., 1949.

Portrait of a Pilgrim; a Search for the Christian Way in Race Relations. New York; Friendship Press, 1946.

A Preface to the Study of Utopias. Yellow Springs, Ohio; Antioch Press, 1960.

Editor and Contributor:

Campus in Crisis. New York; Harper & Row, 1974.

College and the Black Student:  NAACP Tracts for the Times.  NAACP, 1971.