Academic Historian

Jacob U’Mofe Gordon, Emeritus Professor, University of Kansas; Kwame Nkrumah Endowed Chair, University of Ghana (2012-2015); Senior Fulbright Scholar. Jake was born in Nigeria and came to the U.S. on a scholarship to attend Bethune-Cookman College graduating with a B.A. (Honors). M.A, Howard University. PhD, Michigan State University. At the University of Kansas, he helped established the Department of African and African American Studies in 1970. He was the first Black professor awarded the distinction of Professor Emeritus from KU. For more than 50 years in higher education, he devoted his career to research, teaching, and public service in African Studies and the Black Experience in the Diaspora. He is the author or co-author of over 30 books, including Africa and the African Diaspora: The American Story (2020), Double Heritage: A Memoir (2019), African Presidential Leaders (2018), African Studies in a Globalized World (2017), Revisiting Kwame Nkrumah: Pathways for the Future (2016), Trends in African Studies (2016), African Traditional Leadership: Past, Present and Future (2014), Winning the Future for Africa and the Diaspora (2011), African Studies for the 21st Century (2004), The African Presence in Black America (2004), and Black Leadership for Social Change (2000).

Dr. Gordon has traveled throughout Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, South and North Americas. He serves as Historian of the B-CU National Alumni Assn.; Founding Member of the African Studies Association of Africa; International Bullying Prevention Association Board of Directors; Advisory Board of the African American Studies Program at the University of Florida; Chair of the Alachua County African American History Task Force; Vice President of the United Nations Association.