Sociology professor and civic Activist Harry Edwards was born in 1942 in East St. Louis, Illinois to Harry and Adelaide Edwards. Edwards grew up in East St. Louis, Illinois as the second child in a Family of eight children. He attended the newly integrated East St. Louis Senior Senior High School where he excelled in Sports. After graduating from high school in 1960, Edwards moved to Califonia where he attended Fresno City College. Edwards then transferred to San Jose State University where he majored in Sociology and graduated summa cum laude with his B.A. Degree in sociology in 1964. In 1966, Edwards went on to receive his M.A. degree in sociology from Cornell University where he was awarded the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. In 1970, he received his Ph.D. degree in sociology from Cornell University where he helped to found United Black Students for Action and the Olympic Project for Human Rights. ^[1]