Aldon Morris facts for kids

Aldon Douglas Morris (born June 15, 1949) is a very important professor of sociology. Sociology is the study of how people live together in groups and societies. He taught at Northwestern University for many years. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Morris studies social movements, which are large groups of people working for change. He also studies civil rights, which are the basic rights all people should have. His work also looks at social inequality, meaning unfair differences between groups of people. In 2021, he was the president of the American Sociological Association. He is especially known for his work on another famous sociologist, W. E. B. Du Bois.

Early Life and Education

Aldon Morris is an African-American man. His grandparents were sharecroppers, who were farmers who worked on land owned by others. He was born in a small town called Tutwiler, Mississippi.

When he was a child, he experienced Jim Crow laws. These laws made life unfair for Black people. They forced people to be separate, or segregated, based on their race. One of his earliest memories was about a young boy named Emmett Till.

Later, his family moved to Chicago. In 1968, Aldon Morris started college at Southeast Community College. He studied sociology and social movements at Bradley University. He then went to the State University of New York, Stony Brook. He earned his highest degree, a PhD, in 1980.

Career and Important Ideas

Professor Morris taught sociology at the University of Michigan from 1980 to 1990. In 1988, he joined the faculty at Northwestern University. There, he became a special professor of sociology and African-American Studies. He also led the sociology department for a time.

Aldon Morris was greatly inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.. He also admired the work of W.E.B. Du Bois. Du Bois was the first Black person to earn a doctorate degree from Harvard University.

In 2005, Professor Morris and other scholars convinced the American Sociological Association to name their top award after Du Bois. This was a big step to honor Du Bois's work.

In 2015, Professor Morris wrote an important book. It was called The Scholar Denied: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology. In this book, he argued that Du Bois was actually the founder of modern American sociology. He also explained that Du Bois's important ideas were ignored for many years. This happened because of institutional racism, which means unfair treatment built into systems and organizations.

In 2019, Professor Morris was chosen to be the next president of the American Sociological Association. He served as the president in 2021.

Awards and Recognition

Aldon Morris has received many awards for his important work. These awards show how much his studies have helped us understand society.

• 1986: Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Award from the American Sociological Association.
• 1988: Outstanding Leadership Award from the Association of Black Sociologists. He was also their president from 1986 to 1988.
• 2006: Joseph Himes award for Lifetime Achievement. This award recognized his long career of excellent scholarship.
• 2009: Cox-Johnson-Frazier award from the American Sociological Association.
• 2013: A. Wade Smith Award for Teaching, Mentoring and Service. This was from the Association of Black Sociologists.
• 2016: R.R. Hawkins Award and Award for Excellence in Social Sciences from the PROSE Awards.
• 2020: W.E.B. Du Bois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award. This award is named after the sociologist he admired so much.