Percy Bates
Educational psychologist Percy Bates was born July 8, 1932 in Pensacola, Florida. Raised by his mother, Gladys Travis Bates, he attended Spencer Bibbs Elementary School and Booker T. Washington High School. After moving to Detroit, Bates ran track and played football at Hamtramack High School, and he graduated from there in 1950. Entering the United States Army in 1952, Bates served at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, where he sang with fellow soldier and pianist Earl Grant. After earning his B.S. degree in biology from Central Michigan University in 1958, Bates received his M.A. in vocational rehabilitation in 1961 from Wayne State University and his Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Michigan in 1968.
In 1968, during a strike of black students demanding black faculty at the University of Michigan, Bates was promoted to assistant professor of education. At the University of Michigan’s School of Education, Bates served as assistant division director of curriculum, teaching and psychological studies and as director of programs for educational opportunity. He later became deputy assistant secretary of special education in the United States Department of Education.
Bates is a member of the Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of Michigan. He is also very active in University of Michigan’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee. A founding board member and former chairman of the Higher Education Commission of the National Alliance of Black School Educators, Bates has received numerous awards. Bates lives in Ann Arbor with his wife Cheryl.
A2005.020
Male
1/19/2005
Bates
Married
Booker T. Washington High School
Spencer Bibbs Elementary School
Spencer Bibbs Academy
Hamtramck High School
Central Michigan University
Wayne State University
University of Michigan
No
Percy
Pensacola
BAT06
Fall
Florida
None
You Bet.

Michigan
7/8/1932
Detroit
United States
Banana Cream Pie
Education professor Percy Bates (1932 - ) served as assistant division director of curriculum, teaching and psychological studies and as director of programs for educational opportunity at the University of Michigan’s School of Education. Bates was also a member of the Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of Michigan, and has served in the United States Department of Education.
University of Michigan
U.S. Department of Education
Boys Training School
Ypsilanti Public Schools, Program in Educable Mentally Impaired
Detroit Public Schools
Green
Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of Percy Bates' interview
Tape: 1 Story: 2 - Percy Bates lists his favorites
Tape: 1 Story: 3 - Percy Bates describes his maternal family history
Tape: 1 Story: 4 - Percy Bates talks about his mother
Tape: 1 Story: 5 - Percy Bates describes his paternal family history, pt. 1
Tape: 1 Story: 6 - Percy Bates describes his paternal family history, pt. 2
Tape: 1 Story: 7 - Percy Bates talks about his father
Tape: 1 Story: 8 - Percy Bates describes his earliest childhood memory
Tape: 1 Story: 9 - Percy Bates describes the sights, sounds, and smells of his childhood
Tape: 2 Story: 1 - Percy Bates talks about his childhood in Pensacola
Tape: 2 Story: 2 - Percy Bates describes church and the music of his childhood
Tape: 2 Story: 3 - Percy Bates describes Spencer Bibbs Elementary School
Tape: 2 Story: 4 - Percy Bates describes his experience in segregated schools and reflects on the pitfalls of school integration
Tape: 2 Story: 5 - Percy Bates remembers being well-behaved in school from a young age
Tape: 2 Story: 6 - Percy Bates talks about moving to Detroit, Michigan
Tape: 2 Story: 7 - Percy Bates describes his neighborhood in Detroit
Tape: 3 Story: 1 - Percy Bates talks about his activities at Hamtramck High School, Hamtramck, Michigan
Tape: 3 Story: 2 - Percy Bates recalls an English teacher who cared about him
Tape: 3 Story: 3 - Percy Bates talks about expectations around college
Tape: 3 Story: 4 - Percy Bates talks about his job in the U.S. Army base in El Paso, Texas
Tape: 3 Story: 5 - Percy Bates describes starting college
Tape: 3 Story: 6 - Percy Bates remembers his friendship with musician Earl Grant
Tape: 3 Story: 7 - Percy Bates describes his short-lived singing career
Tape: 3 Story: 8 - Percy Bates remembers becoming an A student at Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan
Tape: 3 Story: 9 - Percy Bates remembers the support of Bernard Meltzer
Tape: 3 Story: 10 - Percy Bates describes his decision to get a PhD in psychology
Tape: 3 Story: 11 - Percy Bates talks about receiving support from his mother, Gladys Travis Bates
Tape: 4 Story: 1 - Percy Bates talks about his Ph.D. dissertation on motivation, pt. 1
Tape: 4 Story: 2 - Percy Bates talks about his Ph.D. dissertation on motivation, pt. 2
Tape: 4 Story: 3 - Percy Bates talks about the ways black people have been socially conditioned
Tape: 4 Story: 4 - Percy Bates talks about the importance of questioning assumptions in learning
Tape: 4 Story: 5 - Percy Bates describes his career path from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan to U.S. Department of Education
Tape: 4 Story: 6 - Percy Bates describes the demands of the Black Action Movement at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tape: 5 Story: 1 - Percy Bates describes the peaceful Black Action Movement negotiations at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tape: 5 Story: 2 - Percy Bates talks about his position for the U.S. Department of Education
Tape: 5 Story: 3 - Percy Bates describes his position as NCAA representative from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tape: 5 Story: 4 - Percy Bates talks about the difficult choices of student athletes
Tape: 5 Story: 5 - Percy Bates describes the financial situation of college athletes
Tape: 5 Story: 6 - Percy Bates describes his concerns for the African American community
Tape: 5 Story: 7 - Percy Bates talks about his disagreement with Bill Cosby's remarks
Tape: 5 Story: 8 - Percy Bates reflects upon his life
Tape: 5 Story: 9 - Percy Bates talks about being the longest serving African American faculty member at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tape: 5 Story: 10 - Percy Bates reflects upon his legacy
Tape: 5 Story: 11 - Percy Bates talks about affirmative action at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tape: 5 Story: 12 - Percy Bates talks about his family
Tape: 6 Story: 1 - Percy Bates describes how he would like to be remembered
Tape: 6 Story: 2 - Percy Bates narrates his photographs
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