Scholar's 'light' guided students

Coastal Empire | Local News
Jan Skutch | Saturday, August 26, 2006


Louis Hill Pratt graduated with honors from Savannah State College in 1958.

He went on to a long career as an English professor at Florida A&M University and as a scholar.

The Savannah native died July 19.He was 68.

But to retired Savannah State professor Luetta C. Milledge, he provided proof her efforts as a teacher were not in vain.

Pulling a volume titled "Conversations with James Baldwin"from her personal library, Milledge said Pratt went on to become a nationally recognized expert on the black author.

Pratt's inscription in the book he co-edited spoke to her.

"To Luetta C. Milledge, whose Lamp has given Light to thousands of live of others - especially my own, Love Louis."

It was dated June 8, 1989.

Milledge, who retired from Savannah State after more than 39 years, said the success of her former student was what was so fulfilling about her career.

"The idea is the thing we worked in is being carried on," she said. "I've taught thousands. You never really know."

"He was very scholarly. One of the most promising of our English majors."Milledge recalled Friday of the man she taught all four years at the school.

Richard Shinhoster recalled that during his early career, he and Pratt taught at Sol C. Johnson High School in 1968-69 - just before integration.

"He was an outstanding teacher," Shinhoster recalled.

The two were "very good friends," he said, and traveled to Europe with their wives on his first trip there.

Pratt left Savannah to pursue his doctorate at Florida State University, Shinhoster said.

Pratt received his doctorate in English in 1974.

For more than 35 years, he served on the faculty at Florida A&M University's Department of Languages and literature. He received professor emeritus status there in 2005.

He was a Fulbright-Hays Scholar in 2002 when he toured the People's Republic of China and was a member of the Fulbright Scholars Association.

He became a scholar on black literature, especially Baldwin.

He was a life member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, which he instituted at Savannah State in 1956.

He was a member of the Savannah State University National Alumni Associaton

Pratt was buried in the Culley's Meadow Wood Memorial Park in Tallahassee, Fla.

Remembrances may be sent to the Louis Hill Pratt Scholarship Fund, c/o Tallahassee State Bank, 2720 W. Tennessee St., Tallahassee, FL 32304.

Indeed, a true scholar and pathfinder.