This is the impact I felt with Black Rednecks and White Liberals.

It’s not often that a reader opens a work of non-fiction and the words written on the first page has such an impact that it smacks the reader so hard the reader has to rub his/her cheek to soothe the blow. Since 1980 he has been a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he holds a fellowship named after Rose and Milton Friedman. Sowell has taught Economics at Howard University, Cornell University, Brandeis University, and UCLA. After arriving at Columbia and learning that Stigler had moved to Chicago, he followed him there. Sowell initially chose Columbia University because he wanted to study under George Stigler. He received a Master of Arts in Economics from Columbia University, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Chicago. He transfered to Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Due to prior experience in photography, he worked in a photography unit.Īfter his discharge, Sowell passed the GED examination and enrolled at Howard University. He was drafted in 1951, during the Korean War, and assigned to the US Marine Corps. He applied to enter the Civil Service and was eventually accepted, moving to Washington DC. He worked at various jobs to support himself, including in a machine shop and as a delivery man for Western Union. Sowell went to Stuyvesant High School, but dropped out at 17 because of financial difficulties and a deteriorating home environment. He moved to Harlem, New York City with his mother's sister (whom he believed was his mother) his father had died before he was born.

Sowell was born in North Carolina, where, he recounted in his autobiography, A Personal Odyssey, his encounters with Caucasians were so limited he didn't believe that 'yellow' was a hair color. In 2002 he was awarded the National Humanities Medal for prolific scholarship melding history, economics, and political science. In 1990, he won the Francis Boyer Award, presented by the American Enterprise Institute. He is currently a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

He often writes from an economically laissez-faire perspective. Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social commentator, and author of dozens of books.

Black red necks and white liberals