Edgar Allan Toppin, Sr. (January 22, 1928 – December 8, 2004) was an African-American professor of history, and an author who specialized in Civil War, Reconstruction and African-American history. He spent the majority of his 40+ year teaching career at Virginia State University, and wrote ten books on the subjects of American and African-American history. He served on several historical boards including the National Park Service, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, the later serving as president. As president, he was instrumental in turning Black History Week into Black History Month in 1976.
Early years He was born in Harlem, New York to immigrants Maude Catherine Joel (Bermuda) and Vivien Leopold Toppin (Grenada). He was the second of six children; Lucille, George, Mary, Sammy, Eleanor (in birth order). Named after writer Edgar Allan Poe, he had a passion for reading and learning. He would often escape to the roof of his apartment building on 114th Street and read in order to nurture his yearning for knowledge. His family was poor, and growing up during the Great Depression was especially hard. His wardrobe of white shirts and navy blue pants was a symbol of poverty so recognizable that "when you walked into a place, people could spot you a mile away," he recalls.Goodwyn, M.W. Edgar Toppin , Richmond Times-Dispatch, dailyprogress.com, accessed July 22, 2007.
At age 16, he attended New York City College and after one semester, enrolled at Howard University on scholarship. He received his B.A. 1949 and M.A. 1950 in History and was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Beta Chapter (Spring 1948).Alpha Phi Alpha, Beta Chapter lines, aol.com/fiveb90/lines.htm, accessed July 21, 2007. He went on to study at Northwestern University earning his Ph.D. in History in 1955 and was named a William Randolph Hearst Fellow and a John Hay Whitney Opportunity Fellow.Strong Men & Women – Edgar Toppin , dom.com, accessed July 21, 2007.The Progress-Index , progress-index.com, accessed July 22, 2007.
Teaching career In 1964, Toppin began his teaching career at Virginia State University (VSU). In the mid-1960s, he created Americans from Africa, an educational 30 lesson television course, that aired on Richmond's public TV station and was later aired across the country.Senate Joint Resolution NO. 511, leg1.state.va.us, accessed July 20, 2007. In 1966, Toppin was the first African-American member admitted to the Virginia Historical Society and in 1989, would become the first African-American member of the board of trustees.
Toppin played an integral role in turning Black History Week into Black History Month in 1976 while serving as President of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History.Northwestern Magazine , Summer 2005, northwestern.edu/magazine/ accessed July 20, 2007. In 1975, he was the first African American appointed to the National Park Service's Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings, and Monuments and later served on the board of Colonial Williamsburg.National Park Service, nps.gov/history/history/online_books, accessed July 22, 2007. Back at Virginia State University, he was he was appointed Dean of the Graduate School in 1979 and later served as provost and vice president of academic affairs of the university from 1987 to 1989.
In 1992, Toppin was honored in the Dominion series Strong Men & Women - Excellence in Leadership that honors African-American "positive role models and demonstrate leadership in their chosen field" and "someone whose achievements have made an imprint upon some facet of national or local life". The series has honored such individuals as Colin Powell, Mae Jemison, Michael Jordan, Thurgood Marshall, Maya Angelou, Oprah Winfrey and Reginald Lewis (a former student of his). In December 1999, the Surry County, Virginia, Historical Society and Museums called Dr. Toppin, "one of the greatest living authorities on African-American history. [who] spoke on the Civil War and the little understood post-war period of Reconstruction".Surry County, Virginia, Historical Society and Museums, Archived Meeting Information, rootsweb.com/, accessed July 22, 2007.
On December 8, 2004, Toppin died of heart failure at the age of 76. He is buried at Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia, beside his son, Edgar Toppin, Jr. Toppin once said, "I hope people would remember me for my humaneness, for being kindly to both colleagues, staff and students; for seeing the worth and potential in each person, no matter who it is or their background." In 2005, VSU established the Edgar A. Toppin Endowment Fund.VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY, BOARD OF VISITORS, DRAFT MINUTES, Friday, January 21, 2005
Publications
Edgar A. Toppin, "Negro Emancipation in Historic Retrospect: Ohio, the Negro Suffrage Issue in Postbellum Ohio Politics", Journal of Human Relations, XI, 1963, 232–246 Edgar A. Toppin, "Humbly They Served: The Black Brigade in the Defense of Cincinnati", Journal of Negro History, XLVIII, 1963, 75–97. (About the Black Brigade of Cincinnati.) Lavinia G Dobler and Edgar A. Toppin, Pioneers and patriots: the lives of six Negroes of the Revolutionary era, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1965. . Drisko, Carol F and Edgar A. Toppin, The Unfinished March the History of the Negro in the United States Reconstruction to World War I , New York, 1967. Edgar A. Toppin, Blacks in America: then and now. Illustrations by Gene Langley. Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1969. ISBN B0007DECN6 Edgar A. Toppin, A Mark Well Made: The Negro contribution to American culture, Chicago: Rand McNally, 1969 Edgar A. Toppin, A Biographical History of Blacks in America Since 1528, New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1971. Edgar A. Toppin, The Black American in United States History, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1973. The World and Its People: The United States and Its Neighbors, Silver Burdett, 1982. Edgar A. Toppin, Opening day centennial: A century of service at Virginia State University, 1883 to 1983, CPS Systems, Virginia State University, 1983 Virginia History and Government, 1850 to the present, Silver Burdett, 1986. Val Arnsdorf, Timothy Helmus, Norman Pounds, Edgar A. Toppin, The United States Yesterday And Today, Silver Burdett, 1988, Edgar A. Toppin, Setting the Record Straight: African American History, Colonial Williamsburg (Spring 1990): 10–12 Edgar A. Toppin, Loyal Sons and Daughters: Virginia State University 1882 to 1992, Norfolk: Pictorial Heritage Publishing Company, 1992. Edgar A. Toppin, African Americans in the Confederacy, in Encyclopedia of the Confederacy, 1993, pg. 4–9 Edgar A. Toppin, Scott, Emmett Jay, American National Biography. February 2000. Edgar A. Toppin, "Ulysses Simpson Grant", in Melvin I. Urofsky (ed.), The American Presidents, New York: Garland Pub., 2000, p. 185.
Other work Edgar Toppin and Benjamin Quarles, The black man in the Civil War, Format: [Sound recording], discussion of the impact of emancipation, the black desire to fight against slavery, and the influence of Frederick Douglass in assisting black participation in the war. Edgar A. Toppin and John Hope Franklin, Reconstruction & the black codes, discussion of the reconstruction. Format: [sound recording]: Author: Toppin, Edgar Allan, Publisher: North Hollywood, CA: Center for Cassette Studies, Date: c1971.
Awards and honors named Distinguished Virginian by Gov. Linwood Holton 1992, Strong Men & Women – Excellence in Leadership Honoree, Dominion 1994, Scholar Awards, Virginia Social Science Association Virginia Social Science Association , vssa.net/scholar.html, accessed July 22, 2007. 1995, Outstanding Faculty Award for teaching excellence, Virginia State Council of Higher Education 2003, distinguished professor emeritus, Virginia State University
References
External links
ASALH, Edgar Toppin The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation 2000 Annual Report Organization of American Historians, Recruiting Minorities to the History Profession: An Informal Interview with Dr. Edgar A. Toppin Strong Men & Women – Excellence in Leadership, Selection Criteria Edgar Allan Toppin, Ph.D. (IN MEMORIAM)(Obituary), Journal of African American History, January 2005, by Franklin, V.P.