Alum Edgar Toppin Helped Create Black History Month

In 1976, with the nation’s bicentennial as a backdrop, Edgar Toppin ’55 PhD, president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), worked with President Gerald Ford to establish the country’s first Black History Month. There was perhaps no one better than Toppin — one of America’s most preeminent experts and advocates for black history — to lead the way in its formation.

Edgar Toppin

The son of parents from Bermuda and the Caribbean, Toppin was born in Harlem and grew up poor during the Great Depression but graduated from Howard University with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. At Northwestern he pursued a doctorate in history and met his future wife, Antoinette Lomax, along the way.

The academic life appealed to Toppin, who joined Virginia State University in 1964, the beginning of a career that would endure for decades and distinguish him as one of African American history’s earliest advocates. He later served as dean of VSU’s Graduate School, starting in 1979, and provost and vice president of academic affairs from 1987 to 1989.

Toppin wrote about African American history, the Civil War and Reconstruction and published 10 books. His other works included the 15-part Christian Science Monitor series “Blacks in America” and his televised series Americans from Africa, which both appeared in the 1960s.  

For his leadership Toppin was named a Distinguished Virginian by Gov. Linwood Holton and honored by Virginia State, earning the Outstanding College Faculty Award in 1995 and becoming distinguished professor emeritus in 2003.

Toppin died in December 2004 at age 76.