Who was Joan Nicklin, for whom the Puerto Rican Cultural Center's "Third World Collection" is named?
Ann Bishop
(abishop@uiuc.edu)
(ready to use)
ASK
Subject Areas
| Education, Information Science, Social Studies |
Grade Levels
| Preschool, Kinder, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, Vocational, Undergraduate, Graduate, Continuing, Informal |
Unit Keywords
|
Paseo Boricua Community Library Project, PBCL, Joan Nicklin, Puerto Rican Cultural Center, community-based cataloging |
Background and Resources
Activities and Open-ended problems
Joan Nicklin was born in Birmingham, England, May 7, 1921, the only child of
Hans Montgomery Nicklin and May Bach Nicklin.
She attended the public schools of Birmingham and graduated with a degree in
Economics from Birmingham University. During World War II, she worked as a
welder in the local war plant and proudly served there as Chief Steward of
the union.
In 1946 she came to the United States to study sociology and anthropology at
Columbia University where she was appointed research assisstant to Ruth
Benedict and received the Master of Arts degree in Sociology.
Subsequently, Joan moved to Chicago which became her permanent home. Here
she found her professional niche and many opportunities to expand her own
horizons while inspiring those to whom she brought her rich talents as
teacher, researcher, and counselor.
Before settling into what would become a long and distinguished academic
career Joan worked at the National Opinion Research Center and at the
Institute for Juvenile Research.
Now her long and abiding interest in the Third World Countries - especially
in the African Diaspora - led her to pursue studies in African Linguistics
and History at Roosevelt University, under Lorenzo Dow Turner and at
Northwestern University, where she took courses with Melville Herskovits,
earning from that institution the Certificate of Advanced Studies.
In 1964, she joined the staff of Central YMCA Community College as a
full-time professor. Here Joan developed new curricular materials;
initiated, along with other innovative staff members, an interdisciplinary
approach to teaching students of diverse cultural backgrounds; seryed as
Chairman of the History Department and organizer cnd President of the
Faculty Union, a position which, no doubt, revived memories of her "union
days" in World War II Birmingham.
During these years, she was in demand as a lecturer throughout the Chicago
area. She presented papers a Third World Conference, held annually at
Chicago State University, and published articles in-scholarly journals.
Her latter years, perhaps the most personally satisfying, found her actively
engaged in creative writing and in scholarly research in the field of her
doctoral dissertation - the history of Jamaican nationalism and the Jamaican
language.
She died March 22, 1993.
Left to cherish her memory are many friend and colleagues. |
Dialogues, Discussions, and Presentations
Assessment, Related Questions, and Story of the Unit
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