About Sonja Haynes Stone
Sonja Haynes Stone was born in Chicago in 1938. She earned a B.A. in social science from Sarah Lawrence College in New York in 1959. Stone worked as a
case worker for the Cook County, Illinois, Department of Public Aid and as the community services coordinator for Los Angeles. She earned an M.A. in social work in 1967 from Atlanta University and an M.A. in social and ethical philosophy from the University of Illinois in 1971. In 1975, she received a Ph.D.
in history and philosophy of education from Northwestern University.
As a graduate student, Stone did extensive work with the Northeastern Illinois University Department of Inner City Studies, acting at various times as its director, chairman, and as assistant professor. She came to UNC-CH in 1974 as an assistant professor and was the director of the Curriculum in Afro-American studies until 1979. She was named an associate professor in 1984.
Founder and former director of the Southeastern Black Press Institute, Stone served on numerous committees related to the black movement and wrote extensively on the subject. In 1981, the NAACP named her Woman of the Year. An admired teacher, she won the Favorite Faculty Award from the Class of 1990. That same year, she was the first recipient of the Outstanding Black Faculty Award from the UNC-CH General Alumni Association. Her many other honors included the Black Student Movement’s 1983 Faculty Award, its 1980 Award for Excellent Academic Achievement, the 1982 N.C. Alumni and Friends Coalition Award for Achievement in Higher Education and the 1978 National Council for Black Studies Dedicated Service Award. As a graduate student, Stone did extensive work with the Northeastern Illinois University Department of Inner City Studies, acting at various times as its director, chairman, and assistant professor. She came to UNC-CH in 1974 as an assistant professor and was the director of the Curriculum in Afro-American studies until 1979. She was named an associate professor in 1984.
Stone was the adviser to the Black Student Movement from 1974 to 1980 and was active in promoting the minority presence on campus and expanding the Afro-American studies curriculum. She was a member of the Black Cultural Center Planning Committee and the Campus Y advisory board, among others. Additionally, Stone was a member of various professional and honorary organizations, including the National Council for Black Studies, the NAACP, the Women’s Equity Action League, and the N.C. Association of Educators. Stone died in 1991. She is survived by two children, Precious (M.A. ’90) and Robert.