Arthur L. Hardge

Arthur L. Hardge (April 8, 1927 – October 29, 1983) was an American civil rights movement leader, a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and a University of Rhode Island administrator. In 1968, he became Rhode Island's first African American cabinet member when Governor John Chafee appointed him to serve as director of the Rhode Island Department of Community Affairs.

Early life and activism Hardge was born on April 8, 1927, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Rev. Elias Hardge and Clara Edith (Smith) Hardge. In 1929, the family moved to Jersey City, New Jersey, where Arthur graduated high school. He attended New York University before transferring to Morgan State College in Baltimore, Maryland, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree.

In 1961, Hardge became active in the civil rights movement and a Freedom Rider. After participating in a sit-in at a segregated restaurant located in the Tallahassee Municipal Airport, he and nine other clergymen were sentenced to sixty days on a Florida chain gang. After a lengthy appeals process that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, the men served ten days in jail before a judge ordered their release in 1964.

Hardge was the University of Rhode Island's first African American administrator. He also served as a special assistant to the president.

Hardge died from heart disease in 1983 at the age of 56. His son, Marc Hardge (born 1964), was a talent development coordinator at URI as of 2016.