They Demanded Courageously

Eric Perkins

Dr. William “Eric” Perkins (BA’70) was a philosophy major at Northwestern University. He earned a PhD in History from the City University of New York. He held positions as a Faculty Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois College House at the University of Pennsylvania and as an Adjunct Professor of Communications at Hunter College, City University of New York. Dr. Perkins was a pioneering scholar in the study of Black youth culture and Hip Hop culture. His influential book, Droppin’ Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture, was published in 1996. Perkins passed away in 2011.