Herbert Adolphus Miller

Portrait of Herbert Adolphus MillerHerbert Adolphus Miller (Tuftonboro, New Hampshire, June 5, 1875 - Black Mountain, North Carolina, May 7, 1951) was an American sociologist known for his research on race and immigration. He was dismissed from a Professor position at Ohio State University due to his defense of race mixing and his criticisms of the British empire in India and Japan's empire in Korea. He was a collaborator of sociologists W. I. Thomas and Robert E. Park.

Miller graduated with a PhD from Harvard University in 1905, completing a dissertation under the supervision of Josiah Royce and William James. In 1931, there was a push to fire Miller for critical comments he had made about the British and Japanese empires, as well as his refusal to condemn students in one of his courses for dancing with students of another race during a visit to another school.

From 1933 to 1940, he taught sociology at Bryn Mawr. He subsequently taught at Temple University, Beloit College, Pennsylvania State University and Black Mountain College.

He was active in the settlement movement, in particular in Chicago. A critic of eugenics, he argued that differences among races were rooted in prejudice rather than biology. He was a supporter of black civil rights, as well as advocated for the self-determination of Central and Eastern European nations during World War I. In 1912, he argued that growing nationalism among dominated people in Europe would spark a war.

Personal life He was married to Elizabeth Cravath, the daughter of Erastus Milo Cravath.