Pioneering Contributions
Dr. William Neal Brown, MSW, PhD, was a social work practitioner and educator who began his professional social work career after serving in World War II as a Tuskegee Airman. In 1956 he became the first Black professor at Rutgers University where he taught for the next 33 years, retiring in 1989.
Earlier in his life, following his 1946 discharge from the Army Air Corps, Brown went to work as a social group worker in Englewood, New Jersey. In 1952, Brown began working as a psychiatric social worker with the Veterans Administration in Newark, New Jersey.
While working full-time, Brown earned his MSW from Columbia University in 1950. In 1969, he earned his PhD in Human Growth and Development from the City University of New York.
In 1961, Brown was invited to debate Malcolm X on “Integration versus Separation.” This was a major event, held in Newark, New Jersey, and co-sponsored by the NAACP and the Black Students Association. A recording of this debate is now part of the permanent collection in the Library of Congress.
Throughout his career, Brown was an active member of NASW.
Biographic Data
Brown, the grandson of a former slave and son of an African American father and Native-American mother, was born in Georgia in 1919. In 1924, his family moved to Pennsylvania, where he attended an integrated high school. Though he graduated first in his high school senior class, he was denied the usual honor of being named valedictorian because of his race.
Despite facing hardships and prejudice, Brown started working, during the Great Depression, as a part-time employee at Virginia’s Hampton Institute (now Hampton University). Faculty members and administrators recognized his intelligence and talent and helped make it possible for him to enroll as a student. Throughout his college career Brown excelled, not only as a student but also as a member of the track teams and debate teams. He earned his BA in English and Physical Education from the Hampton Institute in 1941.
In 1942 Brown entered service in the U.S. Army, where he became an officer and member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American military pilots who fought in World War II. He ultimately earned the rank of captain. Following the end of the war, and his discharge from the U.S Army Air Corps, Brown settled in New Jersey.
In 1946, he went to work as a social group worker at a community social service agency in Englewood, New Jersey. After earning his MSW from the Columbia University School of Social Work in 1950, Brown began working as a psychiatric social worker at the Veterans Administration facility in Newark, New Jersey.
In 1956, after Brown was hired as an Assistant Professor at the Rutgers University School of Social Work, and earned his PhD, he received tenure at Rutgers and rose through the academic ranks to Associate Professor and then to full Professor. In 1989, Brown retired from the Rutgers University School of Social Work and was named Professor Emeritus. Over the course of his academic career Brown served as a visiting professor at Talladega College, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Wisconsin, Cornell University, and Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
In retirement, Brown continued to be active in volunteering with numerous community agencies and organizations.
Significant Recognition and Awards
In 1967, Brown was listed in Who’s Who in the East. For many years, Brown was an active member of NASW. In 1969, he was presented with the Social Worker of the Year Award by the North and the South New Jersey Chapters of NASW. In 2007, Brown was cited as “a courageous pioneer in breaking down racial barriers and promoting equality” and, along with other Tuskegee Airmen, he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of contributions to American History. Also in 2007, Dr. Brown received an Essex County, NJ, Executive Proclamation recognizing him as the first African American professor at Rutgers University.
In January 2009, Brown and other living members of the Tuskegee Airmen were honored guests at President Barak Obama’s inauguration. Brown died later that year, on April 17, 2009. The American flag that draped Brown’s casket and his medals are at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.
Significant Publications
Brown authored many papers and articles. His papers are now part of the permanent collection in the Columbia University Library.
Below is a selection of some of Brown’s publications:
Brown, W. N. (1968). Alienated youth. Mental Hygiene, 52(5). 330-336. This article was translated into 39 languages around the world.
Brown, W. N. (1970). Understanding and working with alienated and rebellious youth. In Strean, H. S. (Ed.). New Approaches In Child Guidance. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press. 282-295.
Brown, W. N. (1974). The social worker in the school as an agent of change. In Ferinden, W. E. and Van Handel, D.C. The Social Worker in the School as an Agent of Change. Linden, NJ Remediations Associates. 1-11.
Brown, W. N. (1971). Communication theory and social casework. In Strean, H. S. (Ed.). Social casework: Theories in action. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/alumni/Magazine/Winter2008/GreatDebaters.html