Professor Edwin Driver arrived in Amherst in 1948 as one of the first Black teachers hired at a flagship state university in the country.
But the 23-year-old sociology instructor at what would become the University of Massachusetts-Amherst says he was denied pay raises for decades, despite being one of its most published professors.
“There’s a lot of people in Amherst that have not gotten a proper share of things,” the now 96-year-old professor emeritus said at his home in nearby South Hadley recently. “I ended up being the lowest paid professor in the department, but also its most productive.”
Current and former Black residents may one day be compensated for their hardships.
Scroll down for more from UB
