Cyril Edwin Black

Cyril Edwin Black (September 10, 1915, Bryson City, North Carolina – July 18, 1989, Princeton, New Jersey) was a professor of history and international affairs, specializing in the modern history of Eastern Europe and, in particular, Russian history since 1700.

Biography The son of Floyd Henson Black, president of Istanbul's Robert College, and Zarafinka Kirova Black, a native of Bulgaria, Cyril E. Black grew up in Turkey and Bulgaria. The family moved from Istanbul to Sofia, Bulgaria in 1926. Cyril E. Black received secondary education at the American College of Sofia and then returned to the United States to attend Duke University. After study from 1934 to 1935 at Besançon's University of Franche-Comté and in the summer of 1935 at the University of Berlin, he graduated in 1936 with a bachelor's degree from Duke University. At Harvard University he graduated with a master's degree in 1937 and a Ph.D. in 1941. In autumn 1945 Black was in Bulgaria, Romania, and the Soviet Union as adviser to the Etheridge Mission that was sent to report on the implementation of the Yalta Declaration. Black, along with other officials, was later charged with espionage by the Bulgarian government, but he dismissed the charge as "a complete fabrication." Black was promoted to full professor in 1954. From 1968 to 1986 he was the director of the Center of International Studies. In addition to modern Russian history he taught courses on comparative modernization and comparative modernization. At Princeton University he held from 1961 to 1970 the Duke Professorship of Modern History, He retired as professor emeritus in 1986.

Black was the co-author or co-editor of a number of monographs and collections concerning Russia and the Soviet Union, world politics, and the international legal order. His papers are at the Princeton University Library. Upon his death he was survived by his widow, a son, a daughter, and a granddaughter.

Books authored by C. E. Black

Understanding Soviet Politics: The Perspective of Russian History (1986)

Books edited or coauthored by C. E. Black Challenge in Eastern Europe (1954); Rewriting Russian History (1956); Soviet Interpretation of Russia’s Past (1956); American Teaching About Russia (1959); The Transformation of Russian Society: Aspects of Social Change Since 1861 (1960); Communism and Revolution: The Strategic Uses of Political Violence (1964); The Modernization of Japan and Russia (1975).