Leslie Morgan Collins | 1914-2014
Dr. Leslie Morgan Collins, who taught the literature of the Harlem Renaissance as an English professor at Fisk University for 63 years, died Sunday of natural causes. He was 99. "I actually took his class and he taught me a lot about the Harlem Renaissance period, I feel in love with it. I already loved literature of Langston Hughes, but I learned about many more while I attended Fisk and studied with Dr. Collins," says David "Dion" Collier.
Born in Alexandria, La., Dr. Collins started teaching at Fisk University in 1945. He taught courses on composition, black literature and “Paradise Lost” poet John Milton.
But the Harlem Renaissance was his calling card. Even after he retired in 1979, Dr. Collins continued to teach students until 2008 about the flowering of literary and other artistic work by African-Americans, beginning around 1918 and extending into the 1930s. “In the classroom he came alive,” said deGregory, who teaches history at Tennessee State University and runs “HBCUstory,” an effort to preserve stories from historically black colleges.
Always dressed in suit and tie, Dr. Collins routinely called the people he cared for “friend.” A contemporary of Fisk-educated historian John Hope Franklin, he also wrote about the university’s history and reviewed books for The Tennessean. His historical works ranged from postcard-sized synopses of important Fisk figures to a book called “One Hundred Years of Fisk Presidents.”
A memorial service is scheduled for Thursday at noon in Fisk Memorial Chapel.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the L.M. Collins Endowed Scholarship Fund, Fisk University, Office of Institutional Advancement, 1000 17th Ave. North, Nashville, TN 37208.
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