Eric Anderson

by Julie Z. Lee

Eric Anderson, professor of history, has published his third book, titled Dangerous Donations: Northern Philanthropy and Southern Black Education, 1902 1930. Co-written by Alfred A. Moss, associate professor of history at the University of Maryland in College Park, the book explores the influence of northern philanthropy on southern black education. Believing they were bettering blacks' opportunities to become active members of southern society, these philanthropic foundations exercised profound influence over both the schools they funded and black education as a whole, ultimately helping shape U.S. race relations, with sometimes surprising implications for public and cultural values.

This fascinating book will prove to be a major contribution to the history field, appealing to students and scholars of African American studies and Southern history, as well as to individuals interested in the history of American education and philanthropy.

This is Anderson's second collaboration with Moss. Their first project involved coediting The Facts of Reconstruction: Essays in Honor of John Hope Franklin.

Dangerous Donations is now available at local bookstores or directly from the University of Missouri Press.