Professor of Sociology and Anthropology | 1946–68
St. Clair Drake was an activist anthropologist who studied urban communities and race relations. His groundbreaking book Black Metropolis offered a comprehensive portrait of the lives of African Americans on Chicago’s South Side.
With professors Frank Untermyer and Lorenzo Dow Turner, Drake developed one of the first African studies programs in the United States. He also advised the first prime minister of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, and trained Peace Corps volunteers. He is the namesake of Roosevelt’s St. Clair Drake Center for African and African American Studies.