Allen B. Ballard

Allen B. Ballard (also known as Allen Butler Ballard, Jr.) has been a writer of both fiction and non-fiction books,

A civil rights pioneer throughout his academic career, Ballard was one of the first African American students at Kenyon College and he was the first African American Assistant Dean (1966–1967)

Early life Born on November 1, 1930, in Philadelphia, Ballard was raised in Philadelphia. In 1973, Ballard wrote of his struggle to integrate Kenyon: "We were, in fact, forced to suppress our natural inner selves.... For eighteen hours a day our manners, speech, style, and walking were on trial before white America....Social life revolved around fraternities from which we were automatically excluded. The cumulative toll, both physically and academically, was heavy." After graduating from Kenyon in 1952 and then serving in the Army, including a tour at Supreme Allied Headquarters in Paris, Ballard enrolled in Harvard University's Soviet Union Regional Studies Program in 1955 as only its second Black student. In 1961, Ballard completed his doctoral dissertation and earned his Ph.D.

Leading the SEEK program Ballard, together with Psychologist Leslie Berger, was a principal founder of the City University SEEK Program, an affirmative action admissions, teaching, and student support program that launched at City College as a pilot program in 1965 with 113 students. In October 1966, Ballard was appointed to be the first African American Assistant Dean at City College. By the Fall of 1968, SEEK had grown to support over active 1800 students across CUNY, with an annual budget of $3.5 million. Close to 40% of the 1965–1967 City College SEEK students graduated by 1972.

Selected bibliography The Education of Black Folk: The Afro-American Struggle For Knowledge in White America. (non-fiction) (1973) New York: Harper & Row, 1973. One More Day’s Journey: The Story of a Family and a People. (nonfiction), McGraw, 1984. Where I’m Bound. (novel), Simon & Schuster, 2000. Breaching Jericho's Walls: A Twentieth Century African American Life. (non-fiction) Albany: SUNY, 2011.