Dr. James Handy Boykin

BOYKIN, DR. JAMES HANDY, was the son of Handy Boykin and Lillie Jane Boykin. He was born in Sampson County, North Carolina on October 2, 1914. He passes away on December 5, 2004. Dr. Boykin attended Kittrell College before he served in the army, with distinction. in the South Pacific during World War Two. He obtained his BA at Shaw University (1947). He earned an MA in Sociology at North Carolina Central University (1947-48), followed by a second MA in History at North Carolina College at Durham (1949). Dr. Boykin obtained a third MA in Education at North Carolina A &T (1970) where he held an assistantship and the Hill Foundation Fellowship. This was followed by two summers as a visiting faculty fellow at Columbia University (1971 and 1972), and graduate study at both Syracuse University and NC State University. He was granted his PhD from Heed University in Florida (1974). Dr. Boykin was a member of Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society, and presented numerous papers at a wide variety of social science and history conferences. Dr. Boykin taught at several colleges and universities, including St. Augustine College (NC) (1951-61), where he was acting chairperson of the History Department. He also taught at Southern University (Baton Rouge, LA 1965-67), Florida A&M University (1968-69) Florida Memorial College 1970-1976. He was also a visiting faculty fellow for one year at Columbia University where he did research in Black History. Even after his retirement he lectured part- time at Barry University's Writers Clinic when he was 70 years old, and he continued to do research and write until he became ill. His publications are listed below. Dr. Boykin published his own work. He filled orders from schools, libraries and interested readers that found his works listed in Books in Print. His books circulated widely, including abroad to Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia). In addition to his career as an educator, Dr. Boykin worked as a journalist, and as both an historian and correspondent for a Washington DC radio news service (1937-51). He abstracted over 75 articles for Historical Abstracts, and worked as a crop reporter for the US Department of Agriculture in Wake County, NC (1964-65). Dr. Boykin attended St. James Catholic Church where he was the full time Lector, and later attended St. Phillip Neri Catholic Church until illness prevented him from doing so. He married Ida Henderson on July 21, 1941. Dr. Boykin published his own work. He filled orders from schools, libraries and interested readers that found his works listed in Books in Print. His books circulated widely, including abroad to Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia). In addition to his career as an educator, Dr. Boykin worked as a journalist, and as both an historian and correspondent for a Washington DC radio news service (1937-51). He abstracted over 75 articles for Historical Abstracts, and worked as a crop reporter for the US Department of Agriculture in Wake County, NC (1964-65). Dr. Boykin attended St. James Catholic Church where he was the full time Lector, and later attended St. Phillip Neri Catholic Church until illness prevented him from doing so. He married Ida Henderson on July 21, 1941. Dr. Boykin's publications include: The Negro in North Carolina Prior to 1861 (1958), Foreign Divorce Case Law, The Williams Case (1964), Imperialism Theory and Practice (1967), Inter-Ethnic Death Rate Differential in Florida (1976), World Blacks Self-Help and Achievements (1979), Bata, Bene, and the Peripheral Diaspora (Black Hebrews in the Diaspora) (1980), Black Jews (1982), Thank God for Black Power (1983), Political Intrigue in the Establishment of the Identities of Jesus and Mary (1986), North Carolina in 1861 (1989), The Hebrew Israelite Diaspora, (1992), Essays on Aids: Introduction to the Influence of a Virus on Politics (1994), Black Jews: A Study in Religious Origins (1996), The Quest for Consensus (1997), and Emerging Trilogy: The Rise of Three Great Faiths (2001). His family plans to make arrangements to keep all of his work in print. Please contact Linda Brown at: lkbrown@starpower.net To visit this Guest Book Online, go to www.herald.com/obituaries.