Draft:Robert Marcellus Hughes

Robert Marcellus Hughes (1930 – 1998) was an African American civic leader who championed the cause of providing inner city youth of Springfield, Massachusetts with tutoring and mentoring services and founded Northern Educational Services.

Early life
Robert "Bob" Hughes was born in 1930 in Houston, Texas. He was the son of Sadie Hawkins and Pluria Hughes. Bob Hughes spent his school years in San Antonio, Texas, where he attended the Paul Lawrence Dunbar School and later graduated from Phyllis Wheatley High School. Following high school graduation, he moved from Texas to Berkeley, California for college study and joined the U.S. Air Force Reserves. In 1950, he was called for active military duty and served during the Korean War. Due to an eye injury and the beginnings of his battle with multiple sclerosis, he was later honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force as a disabled veteran.

After his discharge from the Air Force, Bob made his way to New York City to visit his famous cousin, the poet Langston Hughes. While there, Langston encouraged him to finish his college studies at McGill University in Canada. He took Langston's advice, but while driving north, stopped briefly in Putney, Vermont, and while there happened to meet Walter Hendricks, the President of Windham College, who convinced him to abandon his trip to Canada and enrol at Windham. Hughes accepted the invitation and pursued his college study in Putney, Vermont. In 1960, he received a B.F.A. degree from Windham College with a major in art history and arts management.

Professional life
In 1960, Hughes became an administrative assistant at the Putney School, a private secondary school near the college. It was there that he met Amy Stoddard, his future wife whom he married in 1969. He left the Putney School in 1962 to move first to Hartford, Connecticut, working briefly for Hartford's North End Community Action Project, and then to Springfield, Massachusetts. Benjamin Swan, local politician, State Representative and NAACP leader welcomed Bob and give him encouragement.

In 1963, Hughes founded Northern Educational Services, a volunteer social service organization to employ local college students to tutor and mentor inner-city African-American children in the Springfield Public Schools.

In 1967, Hughes left Northern Educational Services and began working for Kerygma Foundation of Sturbridge, Massachusetts where his job was to travel to Black colleges in the South and recruit students for professional jobs in the Northeast.

In 1969, he left Kerygma to found Resource Placement and Development, Inc. to do minority recruitment and professional job placement.

Awards and Recognition

 * 1965: Man of the Year recognition by Springfield Jaycees.
 * 1965: Honored by the Springfield Urban League for outstanding service in human relations and education.
 * 1995: Korean War Veteran Awardee of the Congressional Black Caucus Veterans Braintrust Task Force for his community service.
 * 1997: Eye on the Prize Award given by WGBY Channel 57 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
 * Posthumous African Hall Steering Committee Award for leadership.
 * 1999: Honored by naming the Robert M. Hughes Academy Charter Public School after him.