Nathan Hare Biography Favorites Color Light Blue Food Greens or Ice Cream Time of Year All the Seasons

The eminent sociologist and psychotherapist, Dr. Nathan Hare was born on April 9, 1933 in Slick, Oklahoma. He received an A.B. degree in sociology from Langston University, Langston, Oklahoma; and an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago. He also obtained a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the California School Of Professional Psychology located in Berkeley, California in 1975.

Hare planned on becoming a professional boxer until one of his high school teachers suggested he attend college. In college, he began taking sociology classes and switched his major from English to sociology. He became an instructor and assistant professor in sociology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1961. Later in September 1966, he wrote a letter to the editor of the The Hilltop, Howard University's student newspaper, that was viewed as being unfavorable to the college administration. Hare spoke against then Howard University president James Nabrit's plan to turn the university's student body sixty percent white by 1970. Hare was then fired in 1967. In 1968, Hare became the coordinator of the nation's first Black Studies Program at San Francisco State College. The following semester, the college decided to make major cutbacks in the Black Studies Program, cutting its courses from 16 to 9. As a result, Hare and the Black Student Union went on strike for five months. He was fired in 1969 after the strike was called off. Nonetheless, the program's courses were expanded and a Black Studies Department was established. Needing a way to express his thoughts and the ideas of others, he became the founding publisher of The Black Scholar: A Journal of Black Studies and Research from 1969 to 1975. Expanding on his study of black relationships he has worked as a clinical psychologist in community health programs, hospitals and in private practice since 1975. Along with his wife, Dr. Julia Hare, he established The Black Think Tank in 1979, which focuses on issues affecting the black family.

Throughout his career, he has served as a consultant and given numerous lectures and scholarly presentations. Hare is the author of several books and articles including The Black Anglo Saxons, The Endangered Black Family, Bringing the Black Boy to Manhood: The Passage, Crisis in Black Sexual Politics and The Miseducation of the Black Child. He has been the recipient of many awards such as the Joseph Hines Award for Distinguished Scholarship from the National Association of Black Sociologists, Scholar of the Year Award from the Association of African Historians and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame. Hare was also awarded the National Council for Black Studies National Award for his distinguished scholarly constitutions to Black Studies.

He married the former Julia Reed in 1956 and resides in San Francisco, California. Throughout his life, his love of boxing and learning as helped him to fight for social justice.

Hare was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 5, 2004.