August 15 , 2007
The entire NAACP family extends sincerest sympathy to the family of Dr. Asa G. Hilliard, III, scholar and historian who dedicated his life’s work to the underserved people in the African Diaspora, with a particular focus on youth. Dr. Hilliard died Sunday while on a trip to Egypt. He was 73.
Dr. Hilliard was a teacher and psychologist who shaped minds and laid the groundwork for future African-American students. Since 1980, he served as the Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Urban Education at Georgia State University. He died two days before classes were to begin at the university.
“This is a great loss to the scholarship of the African people,” said NAACP National Board of Directors Chairman Julian Bond said of Hilliard’s death. “He opened the eyes of many to our African origins and was a pioneer in African studies. He will be much missed.”
Dr. Hilliard was in Egypt with a group of students on his annual study tour to Egypt to show its connection to the rest of Africa and its impact on the world.
Dr. Hilliard was a frequent speaker at NAACP conventions, meetings and training sessions where he spoke on the value of generational transfer of information and the creation of wisdom councils in the Black community.
School districts, public advocacy organizations, government agencies and private businesses often called on Dr. Hilliard to validate testing, advise on African content in curricula and identify biases for training programs. Over the years he served as an expert witness in several cases that resulted in the elimination of admissions tests as the sole criterion for college admission and led to the revamping of achievement testing.
Dr. Hilliard wrote more than 200 research reports, books and articles on testing, ancient African history, teaching strategies, African culture, child growth and development. He was a founding member of the National Black Child Development Institute and the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations.
Before joining Georgia State University’s faculty, Dr. Hilliard spent 18 years at San Francisco State University where he served as chairman of the secondary education department, dean of education, was a consultant to the Peace Corps and superintendent of schools in Monrovia, Liberia for two years. He also taught in the College of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences at his alma mater, the University of Denver, where he received a doctorate in educational psychology.
Dr. Hilliard and his wife, former East Point, Ga. Mayor and Atlanta NAACP Branch executive committee member Patsy Jo Hilliard, had four children and seven grandchildren.
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.
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