Memorial Celebration for Dr. Ralph Proctor Jr. planned at CCAC

PITTSBURGH—The Community College of Allegheny County will celebrate the dynamic life of Dr. Ralph Proctor Jr., educator, author, civil rights activist and nationally recognized expert on African American history, culture and art. The event, open to the CCAC community and the public, will be held on Friday, March 15, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Foerster Student Services Center auditorium on Allegheny Campus. Members of the CCAC community, including Dr. Proctor's colleagues and friends, will join his family for the remembrance ceremony.

A beloved CCAC professor and academic advisor for 23 years, Ralph Proctor was born in the historic Hill District of Pittsburgh. An active participant in the Southern and Pittsburgh-based Civil Rights Movement, he pioneered the use of oral history, using it as the basis for his doctoral dissertation, “Racial Discrimination against Black Teachers and Professionals in the Pittsburgh Public School System.” A veteran of the United States Army, Proctor earned his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. He was among the first Black producers/hosts of one of several local Black-oriented television shows that aired during the turbulent 1960s. He later produced and hosted other local television and radio programs in the Pittsburgh area. His book "Song of the Hill," a memoir and tribute to the special place and culture known in Pittsburgh as "The Hill," is an account of his early life and an intimate portrait of a community that has long been the focus of authors and playwrights.

A former vice president and chief diversity officer of the Community College of Allegheny County, he was a popular professor of Ethnic and Diversity Studies at CCAC. Proctor was also a professor/lecturer at a number of local institutions of higher learning, including the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, Carlow University, Chatham University, La Roche University and Carnegie Mellon University.