Rodney Higgins

Higgins was born in 1911 and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. This made him central to the development of political science and other social sciences at Southern University, which awarded its first degree in political science in 1948. Higgins is also the namesake of the Rodney Higgins Best Faculty Paper Award given annually by the National Conference of Black Political Scientists. Higgins was particularly noted as a teacher and as an advisor, and several prominent political scientists identified him as the person who first made them consider studying politics. Lucius Barker, and Shelby F. Lewis. Higgins died in 1964. He remained chair of the political science department at Southern University until his death. ==References==