S. Allen Counter

Samuel Allen Counter Jr. was born in Americus, Georgia. His mother, Anne (née Johnson), was a nurse and his father managed businesses, but died prematurely of a heart attack. Counter grew up in south Florida in the segregated town of Boynton Beach and attended his first civil rights protest as the youngest participant at a "swim-in" at a white-only beach.{{Cite news|url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/07/remembering-s-allen-counter/|title=Remembering S. Allen Counter|last=Dane|first=Rachael|date=July 13, 2017|work=Harvard Gazette|access-date=July 14, 2017|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201000338/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/07/remembering-s-allen-counter/|url-status=live}}

Counter studied biology and sensory physiology as an undergraduate at Tennessee State University, then earned his doctorate in electrophysiology from Case Western University.{{cite news|last1=Hevesi|first1=Dennis|title=Explorer Denies Taking Top Post At Evers College|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/30/nyregion/explorer-denies-taking-top-post-at-evers-college.html|accessdate=July 13, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=June 30, 1988|archive-date=February 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201000256/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/30/nyregion/explorer-denies-taking-top-post-at-evers-college.html|url-status=live}} He later earned a PhD from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

Counter joined the Harvard faculty in 1970,{{cite news|last1=Schudel|first1=Matt|title=S. Allen Counter, who found descendants of U.S. explorers in Greenland, dies at 73|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/s-allen-counter-who-found-descendants-of-us-explorers-in-greenland-dies-at-73/2017/07/12/76d81ce0-6727-11e7-8eb5-cbccc2e7bfbf_story.html|accessdate=July 13, 2017|newspaper=Washington Post|date=July 12, 2017|archive-date=February 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201000357/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/s-allen-counter-who-found-descendants-of-us-explorers-in-greenland-dies-at-73/2017/07/12/76d81ce0-6727-11e7-8eb5-cbccc2e7bfbf_story.html|url-status=live}} first serving as a postdoctoral fellow and assistant neurophysiologist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. As a neuroscientist, his research focused on nerve, muscle and auditory physiology as well as diagnosis of brain injury.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2017/07/13/allen-counter-professor-found-explorers-descendants-decades-later/TV2ZJRK4ZrLriJ6EXYXVtK/story.html|title=S. Allen Counter, 73; professor found explorers' descendants decades later|last=Marquand|first=Bryan|date=July 13, 2017|work=Boston Globe|access-date=2017-07-13}} In 1970, the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare named Counter to National Institute of Mental Health's National Advisory Mental Health Council.

In 1981 Counter worked with Harvard President Derek Bok, Dean Henry Rosovsky, and Reverend Peter Gomes to create the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, for which Counter became the founding director.{{cite news|title=HARVARD SETS UP FOUNDATION FOR RACIAL ISSUES|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/09/us/harvard-sets-up-foundation-for-racial-issues.html|accessdate=July 13, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=August 9, 1981|archive-date=February 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201000256/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/09/us/harvard-sets-up-foundation-for-racial-issues.html|url-status=live}} He remained director until his death in 2017.

In addition to his work at Harvard, Counter was also adjunct professor of neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and served as Consul General of Sweden in Boston and New England.

Counter was also known for his achievements as an explorer. In 1971, he located a group of people living in the rain forest in northern Brazil, Suriname and French Guiana; the group was descended from African slaves. Suriname was long inhabited by various indigenous people before being invaded and contested by European powers from the 16th century, eventually coming under Dutch rule in the late 17th century. As the chief sugar colony during the Dutch colonial period, it was primarily a plantation economy dependent on African slaves and, following the abolition of slavery in 1863, indentured servants from Asia. Suriname was ruled by the Dutch-chartered company Society of Suriname between 1683 and 1795.{{cite news|last1=Weiss|first1=Samuel|title=CUNY Names New Leaders Of 2 Colleges|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/28/nyregion/cuny-names-new-leaders-of-2-colleges.html|accessdate=July 13, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=June 28, 1988|archive-date=May 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510054341/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/28/nyregion/cuny-names-new-leaders-of-2-colleges.html|url-status=live}} In 1986, Counter was approached by an Inuk who claimed, without adducing any evidence, to be the child of Matthew A. Henson who subsequently introduced Counter to another Inuk who claimed, again without evidence, to be the child of Robert E. Peary.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/12/us/new-discovery-on-north-pole-explorers-heralds-a-reunion.html|title=NEW DISCOVERY ON NORTH POLE (EXPLORERS) HERALDS A REUNION|date=October 12, 1986|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-07-13|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2018-05-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510054318/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/12/us/new-discovery-on-north-pole-explorers-heralds-a-reunion.html|url-status=live}} Counter was elected to The Explorers Club in 1989.{{Cite news|url=http://baystatebanner.com/news/2013/nov/20/harvards-dr-s-allen-counter-honored-club-new-york/|title=Harvard's Dr. S. Allen Counter honored by Club of New York|date=November 20, 2013|work=Bay State Banner|access-date=2017-07-14|archive-date=2013-11-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131125052330/http://baystatebanner.com/news/2013/nov/20/harvards-dr-s-allen-counter-honored-club-new-york/|url-status=live}}

Counter designed Arthur Ashe's memorial at Woodland Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, dedicated on what would have been Ashe's 50th birthday on July 10, 1993.{{cite news|title=SPORTS PEOPLE: TENNIS; A Weekend Tribute to Ashe|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/10/sports/sports-people-tennis-a-weekend-tribute-to-ashe.html|accessdate=July 13, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=July 10, 1993|archive-date=May 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526085541/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/10/sports/sports-people-tennis-a-weekend-tribute-to-ashe.html|url-status=live}}

In 2012, Counter was knighted by Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden.

In 2013, Counter was awarded the Explorers Club's Lowell Thomas Award, recognizing "the principle of just dealing and right action in field exploration."{{Cite web|url=https://explorers.org/about/the_2013_lowell_thomas_awardees|title=The 2013 Lowell Thomas Awardees|website=explorers.org|access-date=2017-07-14|archive-date=2021-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201000258/https://explorers.org/about/the_2013_lowell_thomas_awardees|url-status=live}}

• I Sought My Brother: An Afro-American Reunion with David L. Evans (MIT Press, 1981; accompaniment to 1978 PBS special by Evans and Allen){{cite news|last1=Harding|first1=Vincent|title=A remarkable search for roots; I Sought My Brother: An Afro-American Reunion, by S. Allen Counter and David L. Evans.Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press. 276 pp.$19.95.|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0312/031264.html|accessdate=July 13, 2017|work=Christian Science Monitor|date=March 12, 1982|archive-date=February 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201000343/https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0312/031264.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Bruckner|first1=D.J.R.|title=Nonfiction in Brief|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/20/books/nonfiction-in-brief-139372.html?pagewanted=all|accessdate=July 13, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=December 20, 1981|archive-date=February 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201000332/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/20/books/nonfiction-in-brief-139372.html?pagewanted=all|url-status=live}}{{Cite journal|last=Price|first=Richard|date=August 1, 1982|title=I Sought My Brother: An Afro-American Reunion. S. ALLEN COUNTER and DAVID L. EVANS|journal=American Ethnologist|language=en|volume=9|issue=3|pages=608–609|doi=10.1525/ae.1982.9.3.02a00330|issn=1548-1425|doi-access=}}
• North Pole Legacy: Black, White and Eskimo (University of Massachusetts Press, 1991){{cite news|title=Nonfiction Book Review: North Pole Legacy: Black, White and Eskimo by S. Allen Counter, Author University of Massachusetts Press $25 (222p) ISBN 978-0-87023-736-2|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-87023-736-2|accessdate=July 13, 2017|work=Publishers Weekly|date=March 4, 1991|language=en|archive-date=February 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201000333/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-87023-736-2|url-status=live}}
• North Pole Promise: Black, White, and Inuit Friends (Bauhan Publishing, Peterborough, NH, 2017 $19.95 (144p) {{ISBN|978-087233-246-1}}){{Cite news|url=http://www.bauhanpublishing.com/north-pole-promise/|title=North Pole Promise|work=Bauhan Publishing|access-date=2017-07-14|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518052442/http://www.bauhanpublishing.com/north-pole-promise/|url-status=live}}

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• {{IMDb name|1658775|Credited as Allen Counter}}
• {{IMDb name|5798943|Credited as S. Allen Counter}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Counter, Allen}}

Category:1944 births

Category:2017 deaths

Category:21st-century African-American scientists

Category:American neuroscientists

Category:American polar explorers

Category:Case Western Reserve University alumni

Category:Harvard University administrators

Category:Harvard Medical School faculty

Category:Academic staff of the Karolinska Institute

Category:People from Americus, Georgia

Category:People from Boynton Beach, Florida

Category:Tennessee State University alumni

Category:20th-century African-American people

Category:21st-century African-American people