21 Facts About Leonard Jeffries

Leonard Jeffries was the departmental chair of Black Studies at the City College of New York, part of the City University of New York.

Leonard Jeffries was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, where he first developed his leadership skills and Pan-African consciousness.

Leonard Jeffries is the uncle of US Representative Hakeem Jeffries.

Leonard Jeffries is a founding director and a former vice president and president of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations.

Leonard Jeffries was discharged from his position as chair of CUNY's Black Studies Department, leading to a long legal battle that ended with the courts affirming the college's right to remove him from the position due to his incendiary remarks.

Leonard Jeffries became the program coordinator for West Africa in 1965.

Leonard Jeffries became a political science instructor at City College of New York in 1969 and received his doctorate from Columbia University in 1971 with a dissertation on politics in the Ivory Coast.

Leonard Jeffries became the founding chairman of Black Studies at San Jose State College in California.

Leonard Jeffries chaired CCNY's Black Studies Department for over two decades, recruiting like-minded scholars and attempting to expand the number of faculty and students within or associated with the department.

Besides administration and teaching, Leonard Jeffries often traveled to Africa and served in the African Heritage Studies Association, a group seeking to define and develop the Black Studies discipline.

Leonard Jeffries became popular among students and as a speaker at college campuses and public organizations.

Leonard Jeffries is a proponent of melanin theory, which posits that greater skin pigmentation makes Black people inherently superior to white people.

Leonard Jeffries says melanin allows Black people to "negotiate the vibrations of the universe and to deal with the ultraviolet rays of the sun".

Leonard Jeffries has stated the idea that whites are "ice people" who are violent and cruel, while blacks are "sun people" who are compassionate and peaceful; historian Mia Bay attributes the origins of this hypothesis to the writings of anthropologist Cheik Anta Diop as well as Michael Bradley, author of The Iceman Inheritance.

Leonard Jeffries's remarks were broadcast on cable television, drawing angry responses from Italian and Jewish Americans.

In 1992, Leonard Jeffries first got his term shortened from three years to one, and then was removed as chair of the department of African-American studies, but allowed to stay as a professor.

Leonard Jeffries sued the school, and in August 1993 a federal jury found that his First Amendment rights had been violated.

Leonard Jeffries was awarded $400,000 in damages.

Leonard Jeffries's case led to debate about tenure, academic freedom and free speech.

Leonard Jeffries was sometimes compared to Michael Levin, a CUNY professor who outside the classroom claimed that black people are inferior, and had recently won against the school in court.

One interpretation of Leonard Jeffries's case is that while a university cannot fire a professor for opinions and speech, it has more flexibility with a position like department chair.