Research Guides: Early Black Alumni of Bowdoin College: William Henry Dean, Jr. (1930)

William Henry Dean, Jr. (1930)

Biographical Overview
Sources

William Henry Dean, Jr. '30 was the sixth black student to graduate from Bowdoin, and the second black person to receive a PhD in economics from Harvard. At Bowdoin, he worn six academic prizes and was a Commencement speaker. He graduated summa cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He became the chief of the United Nations Africa Unit Division of Economic Stability and Development.

Office of Development Services: Alumni biographical files: 1930: Dean, William (A01.03.01, box 210)
Meyers, Samuel L. Jr. “The Production of Black Ph.D.’s in Economics at Harvard University, 1905–1955” in The Review of Black Political Economy (January 1, 2017)
See “William Henry Dean” under the heading “The First Six Negro Ph.D.’s in Economics from Harvard University.”
Mitchell, J. Arnett. “Bowdoin and her Negro Graduates” in Bowdoin Alumnus (March 1939).
Writing in 1939, by which time nine African Americans were graduated from Bowdoin, J. Arnett Mitchell of the Class of 1912 reflects on the record and careers of these students.