Page 8 The Skanner May 25, 2016
News
Dr. William Couch, Reed’s First Black Professor, Dead at 101
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NOEL EDLIN
D
r. William Couch,
Jr,
distinguished
African American
academic,
musi-
cian and military officer,
died at the age of 101 on
May 6, 2016 in Weston,
Florida. He was a prom-
inent African American
who lived an extraordi-
nary life that touched
many people around the
globe.
He was born one of five
children in Morganville,
Kentucky on Dec. 7, 1914.
His father was an orphan
adopted by a White den-
tist in Indiana shortly
before the turn of the
19th century. When Dr.
Couch was about three
years old, his father lost
his business and the fam-
ily moved to Chicago.
In Chicago, Dr. Couch
was a musical prodigy
whose conspicuous intel-
lect attracted the atten-
tion of Inez Cunningham
Stark, a wealthy Chica-
goan who discovered
the Pulitzer Prize poet
(and friend of Dr. Couch),
Gwendolyn Brooks. Cun-
ningham created a stir in
Dr. Couch’s south Chica-
go neighborhood when
she picked him up at his
home in her private lim-
ousine to introduce him
Prof. Couch early in his career
to her poetry circles.
Dr. Couch became a
professional jazz mu-
sician in his teens and
was befriended by Louis
Armstrong, who invited
him and his trumpet to
play at several leading
Chicago jazz clubs. Dr.
Couch was studying mu-
sic at Roosevelt College
(now university) but took
a break to pursue music
professionally when Nat
King Cole hired him to
play in his band. During
his time in the music
business he met many
famous black musicians
and performers includ-
ing Cab Calloway, Ethel
Waters, Dorothy Do-
Prof. Couch with colleagues Cecilia Tenney [French 1921–63],
Vera Krivoshein [Russian 1949–72], & Alan Logan [German
1953–60]
negan and his first wife
Lillian Cowan, who is
perhaps best known for
performing on Broad-
way in Gershwin’s Porgy
and Bess.
After Dr. Couch and
Ms. Cowan were mar-
ried, he completed his
B.A. degree at Roosevelt.
Their marriage ended
when Dr. Couch joined
the Army soon after his
27th birthday on Decem-
ber 7, 1941.
Dr. Couch graduated
from Officer Candidate
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School and became one
of the first black combat
infantry officers in the
nation’s history, eventu-
ally commanding a mil-
itary police battalion on
“
a White woman. From
1948-51 he taught English
at Jackson State Teachers
College in Mississippi
and soon after, entered
the University of Chica-
go’s doctoral program in
English literature on a
Rockefeller fellowship.
After Dr. Couch re-
ceived his Ph.D., in 1953
he was appointed to the
Literature and Languag-
es department at Reed
College in Portland, Or-
egon, where he became
the school’s first Afri-
can-American
faculty
member. Reed recruited
him only because he in-
sisted that the University
of Chicago send his re-
sume to other than Black
colleges. That resume,
evidently, did not identi-
fy him as African Amer-
ican, which may explain
the surprise of some of
his new colleagues when
important contribution
to society teaching Black
kids in the South than
White kids at an elite col-
lege in the North.
In fact, Dr. Couch spent
the rest of his pioneering
40-year academic career
at historically Black col-
leges and universities,
including West Virginia
State College, Jackson
State College, Bennett
College, Southern Uni-
versity, North Carolina
Central University, Fed-
eral City College (now the
University of the District
of Columbia), Howard
University, and Bowie
State. He was a senior
administrator at Feder-
al City College where he
co-founded the Lorton
Prison College Program
with his distinguished
colleague Dr. Andress
Taylor.
During his academic
That resume, evidently, did not identify him
as African American, which may explain the
surprise of some of his new colleagues when
he arrived for his first faculty meeting
Iwo Jima.
After the war, Dr Couch
lived in New York where
he participated in its lit-
erary circles and became
a best friend of Ralph El-
lison.
Dr. Couch was offered
a teaching position at a
prestigious white north-
ern college but its presi-
dent rescinded the offer
because he suspected
Dr. Couch was dating
he arrived for his first
faculty meeting. When
Dr. Couch left Reed, pres-
ident Frank Loxely Grif-
fin presented him with
his own University of
Chicago Ph.D hood.
He was influenced to
leave by a representa-
tive of Bennett College
in Greensboro, N.C..who
visited Portland to re-
cruit him and suggested
he could make a more
career, Dr. Couch pub-
lished scholarly articles
and an important book,
New Black Playwrights,
An Anthology (Louisiana
State University Press,
1968) which he dedicated
to W.E.B. DuBois.
He married Ola Criss,
D.Ed, who soon began
a 20 year career in the
State Department.
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INGREDIENTS
4 porterhouse (bone-in loin)
pork chops, about 3/4-inch thick
1/3 cup table salt, OR sea salt
1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons dried thyme, OR
2 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 1/2 cups chilled hard apple cider,
(1 12-oz bottle) OR apple cider
1 1/2 cups ice water
2 teaspoons red hot pepper
sauce, such as Tabasco, divided
RECIPE(S) AND PHOTO(S) COURTESY OF NATIONAL PORK BOARD. FOR MORE
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COOKING DIRECTIONS
In a small saucepan, stir 1 cup water with salt, 1/3 cup of maple syrup, and dried
thyme over medium heat until salt dissolves and water is hot, but not boiling.
Remove from heat. Add cider, ice water and 1 teaspoon hot sauce and stir until
ice dissolves to create brine.
Put chops in a self-sealing plastic bag, pour in brine, and seal bag. Refrigerate 1
to 2 hours, no longer. In small bowl, mix remaining 1/4 cup syrup and 1 teaspoon
hot sauce; set aside.
Prepare a grill to medium-high heat (about 450 degrees F.). Remove chops from
brine and pat dry with paper towels. Grill chops over direct heat until the inter-
nal temperature reaches between 145 degrees F. (medium rare) and 160 degrees F.
(medium), on a meat thermometer, 4 to 5 minutes per side. During the last 2 min-
utes, brush chops on both sides with remaining syrup mixture. Remove chops
from the grill and let rest for 3 minutes.
Serves 4
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
If you like, you can substitute dried rosemary or sage for thyme, or combine all
three. You can also substitute 3/4 cup each apple juice and dry white wine or apple
cider for hard apple cider. A sweet potato salad and fresh succotash would be nice
side dishes for these chops.