Willis Nathaniel Huggins

Willis Nathaniel Huggins (February 7, 1886 – July 15?, 1941) was a historian and social activist. He was one of the earliest proponents of teaching African and African-American history in American schools.

Huggins was born in Selma, Alabama, but moved to Washington D.C with his family when he was still young. After university, he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he worked as a high school teacher. During the Chicago Race Riot of 1919, Huggins became involved in the New Negro Movement, writing for a number of pro African-American journals. He also became involved in the "Garvey movement" to popularise African-American history, along with Arthur Schomburg and John Edward Bruce.

In 1924, Huggins moved to New York City to continue his teaching. Black teachers were quite still unusual in the New York public school system, and Huggins' attempts to include African and African-American history within the curriculum were met with strong opposition. Instead, Huggins and other black teachers taught out-of-school classes on African-American history to students. In 1932 he became the first black student to receive a PhD from Fordham University.

Huggins main goal was to promote the serious study of African and African-American history, which he did as associate director of the Blyden Society. In 1934 he co-wrote A Guide to the Study of African History with John G. Jackson as a prospective guide to teaching African history in schools. The two later wrote An Introduction to African Civilizations with Main Currents in Ethiopian History in 1937.

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