S. Allen Counter

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S. Allen Counter
Born
Samuel Allen Counter Jr.

(1944-07-08)July 8, 1944
Americus, Georgia, U.S.
DiedJuly 12, 2017(2017-07-12) (aged 73)
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma materTennessee State University, Case Western University (PhD), Karolinska Institute (PhD)
Occupation(s)Neuroscientist, explorer, university administrator, author
Years active1970–2017
EmployerHarvard University

Samuel Allen Counter Jr. (July 8, 1944 – July 12, 2017) was a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and inaugural director of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations.[1]

Early life[edit]

Samuel Allen Counter Jr. was born in Americus, Georgia. His mother, Anne (née Johnson), was a nurse and his father managed businesses, but died prematurely of a heart attack. Counter grew up in south Florida in the segregated town of Boynton Beach and attended his first civil rights protest as the youngest participant at a "swim-in" at a white-only beach.[2]

Counter studied biology and sensory physiology as an undergraduate at Tennessee State University,[2] then earned his doctorate in electrophysiology from Case Western University.[3] He later earned a PhD from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.[2]

Career[edit]

Counter joined the Harvard faculty in 1970,[4] first serving as a postdoctoral fellow and assistant neurophysiologist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.[2] As a neuroscientist, his research focused on nerve, muscle and auditory physiology as well as diagnosis of brain injury.[5] In 1970, the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare named Counter to National Institute of Mental Health's National Advisory Mental Health Council.[2]

In 1981 Counter worked with Harvard President Derek Bok, Dean Henry Rosovsky, and Reverend Peter Gomes to create the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, for which Counter became the founding director.[6] He remained director until his death in 2017.[5]

In addition to his work at Harvard, Counter was also adjunct professor of neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and served as Consul General of Sweden in Boston and New England.[7]

Counter was also known for his achievements as an explorer. In 1971, he located a group of people living in the rain forest in northern Brazil, Suriname and French Guiana; the group was descended from African slaves. Suriname was long inhabited by various indigenous people before being invaded and contested by European powers from the 16th century, eventually coming under Dutch rule in the late 17th century. As the chief sugar colony during the Dutch colonial period, it was primarily a plantation economy dependent on African slaves and, following the abolition of slavery in 1863, indentured servants from Asia. Suriname was ruled by the Dutch-chartered company Society of Suriname between 1683 and 1795.[8] In 1986, Counter was approached by an Inuit who claimed, without adducing any evidence, to be the child of Matthew A. Henson who subsequently introduced Counter to another Inuit who claimed, again without evidence, to be the child of Robert E. Peary.[9] Counter was elected to The Explorers Club in 1989.[7]

Counter designed Arthur Ashe's memorial at Woodland Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, dedicated on what would have been Ashe's 50th birthday on July 10, 1993.[10]

Awards and honors[edit]

In 2012, Counter was knighted by Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden.[7]

In 2013, Counter was awarded the Explorers Club's Lowell Thomas Award,[7] recognizing "the principle of just dealing and right action in field exploration."[11]

Works[edit]

  • I Sought My Brother: An Afro-American Reunion with David L. Evans (MIT Press, 1981; accompaniment to 1978 PBS special by Evans and Allen)[12][13][14]
  • North Pole Legacy: Black, White and Eskimo (University of Massachusetts Press, 1991)[15]
  • North Pole Promise: Black, White, and Inuit Friends (Bauhan Publishing, Peterborough, NH, 2017 $19.95 (144p) ISBN 978-087233-246-1)[2][16]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Reimers, Fernando (July 12, 2017). "Allen Counter, Global Citizen". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Dane, Rachael (July 13, 2017). "Remembering S. Allen Counter". Harvard Gazette. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  3. ^ Hevesi, Dennis (June 30, 1988). "Explorer Denies Taking Top Post At Evers College". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  4. ^ Schudel, Matt (July 12, 2017). "S. Allen Counter, who found descendants of U.S. explorers in Greenland, dies at 73". Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Marquand, Bryan (July 13, 2017). "S. Allen Counter, 73; professor found explorers' descendants decades later". Boston Globe. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  6. ^ "HARVARD SETS UP FOUNDATION FOR RACIAL ISSUES". The New York Times. August 9, 1981. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c d "Harvard's Dr. S. Allen Counter honored by Club of New York". Bay State Banner. November 20, 2013. Archived from the original on November 25, 2013. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  8. ^ Weiss, Samuel (June 28, 1988). "CUNY Names New Leaders Of 2 Colleges". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 10, 2018. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  9. ^ "NEW DISCOVERY ON NORTH POLE (EXPLORERS) HERALDS A REUNION". The New York Times. October 12, 1986. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 10, 2018. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  10. ^ "SPORTS PEOPLE: TENNIS; A Weekend Tribute to Ashe". The New York Times. July 10, 1993. Archived from the original on May 26, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  11. ^ "The 2013 Lowell Thomas Awardees". explorers.org. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  12. ^ Harding, Vincent (March 12, 1982). "A remarkable search for roots; I Sought My Brother: An Afro-American Reunion, by S. Allen Counter and David L. Evans.Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press. 276 pp.$19.95". Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  13. ^ Bruckner, D.J.R. (December 20, 1981). "Nonfiction in Brief". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  14. ^ Price, Richard (August 1, 1982). "I Sought My Brother: An Afro-American Reunion. S. ALLEN COUNTER and DAVID L. EVANS". American Ethnologist. 9 (3): 608–609. doi:10.1525/ae.1982.9.3.02a00330. ISSN 1548-1425.
  15. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: North Pole Legacy: Black, White and Eskimo by S. Allen Counter, Author University of Massachusetts Press $25 (222p) ISBN 978-0-87023-736-2". Publishers Weekly. March 4, 1991. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  16. ^ "North Pole Promise". Bauhan Publishing. Archived from the original on May 18, 2017. Retrieved July 14, 2017.

External links[edit]

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