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Service information is posted on our website
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Pharnal Longus
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Pharnal Longus
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Born in Washington DC on Dec. 26, 1938
Departed on Sep. 9, 2007 and resided in Salem, MA.
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Friday, Sep. 14, 2007
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| Service: |
Saturday, Sep. 15, 2007
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Please click on the links above for locations, times, maps, and directions.
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Pharnal Longus touched the lives of so many people. The more you knew him, the sadder it is to learn that he passed away last Thursday, September 6th, 2007. A man of immense presence and wisdom Pharnal was born on December 26th, 1938 and grew up in Southeast Washington, D.C. in the Carollsburg Dwelling public housing project. Pharnal attended Randall Jr. High and Dunbar High in D.C. where he became aware of the relationship between race, crime and poverty. He used this experience along with his parents Lawrence and Mary Longus’ lessons about his strong black heritage to begin his lifelong journey to help the black community and bring about social change.
Pharnal carried his passion to West Virginia State College and formed strong ties with his brothers in the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and received a bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 1961. After serving two years in the military at Fort Ord in California and Fort Sam Houston in Texas, Pharnal continued his education at Howard University and Harvard University where he received his MSW and PhD in Social Psychology respectively. Always a student of higher learning Pharnal shared his wealth of knowledge as a professor at Boston State College and Salem State College, teaching African American Studies, Social Psychology and Social Work. At Salem State Pharnal paved the way for the school of Social Work to become an MSW accredited program and taught a course called Race, Class & Ethnicity. He created the summer Institute on UnDoing Racism in 1990 and incorporated the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond based out of New Orleans. Out of the Institute grew the High School Workshop on Race, Class & Ethnicity in 1992. He succeeded in his goals of bringing together different groups of people in the community to talk and learn about race, racism and how to heal our society.
With his engaging personality and tireless effort Pharnal opened up his classroom to the community. He founded the Soccer Jamboree, Labor Day Soccer Tournament, the Community Development Youth Basketball Tournament and the YMCA Chess Tournament in Salem along with coaching Pop Warner football, youth soccer and youth basketball. During the 60s he was involved with CORE, SNCC and the Southeast Settlement House in D.C., and founded a group in D.C. called Rebels with a Cause to politically empower young blacks. In Salem he formed the Salem House of Youth, which he used to run seminars, host chess and math tournaments and lead mentoring programs. Two projects Pharnal had been recently working on were the Academy of UnDoing Racism established at Simmons College School of Continuing Education in the summer of 2006 and the organization ERACE (Eliminating Racism And Creating Equality) which facilitates groups that have an interest in undoing racism. Pharnal never hesitated to take bold action when he saw a chance for progress and the work he did in the community will survive him.
Despite how much Pharnal gave of himself to his work and the community he always devoted time to himself and his family. He was an international man who loved to travel. During his life he backpacked through Europe, traveled in South and Central America and returned to his roots with his immediate and extended family in Africa. When he was not traveling he loved to read and immerse himself in the world. He created a family history in 1977 connecting the four families – Whitley, Cotton, Taylor, Joyner – that form his clan and worked to bring the clan together for family reunions. He brought patience, optimism and love to the family and will be dearly missed.
Pharnal retired from Salem State College in June of 2002 yet continued to run community based programs. Upon retirement from the Salem State School of Social Work, the Pharnal Longus Community Service Scholarship fund was established to award students who have displayed excellence in community service. Even during his years of illness Pharnal continued to inspire people with his strength of spirit, determination in carrying out his message and growing spirituality.
Pharnal has been a faithful member of Zion Baptist Church in Lynn, MA since 1988. He loved to run black history and Kwanzaa programs and formed a youth mentorship program there. His wake will be held at Zion on Friday September 14, 2007 from 2-4pm and 7-9pm and the funeral celebration of his life will be Saturday September 15, 2007 at 10am.
A truly righteous person, Pharnal leaves behind a wife, Luz Marina Barreto-Longus, two sons, Salim Felipe and Omar Sekou, and a host of close family and friends. His last words were “always be encouraging and inspiring.”
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