A professor of American history with a doctorate from Columbia University, he established one of the first programs in black studies in the United States at Colby College.
[1] In 1979, the New York State Board of Education officially apologized to Foner and other teachers and staff who were fired and whose lives were disrupted by the activities of the Rapp-Coudert Committee, which it described as having egregiously violated academic freedom.
Jack Foner attended Eastern District High School and graduated from City College of New York in 1929.
In 1941, Foner was forced out of his teaching job, along with 60 other faculty members, in the wake of an investigation of alleged communist influences in higher education by the New York state legislature's anti-communist Rapp-Coudert Committee.
One of the complaints against Jack Foner was that his teaching devoted excessive attention to the role of African Americans in history.
[citation needed] He declined to testify before the commission and was blacklisted, which meant that he was unable to obtain academic employment for almost three decades.
[1] In 1979, the New York State Board of Higher Education apologized to Foner and others who were investigated and lost jobs due to the activities of the Rapp-Coudert Committee.