Born in Gastonia, North Carolina, Thomas Sowell was poor. His mother died when he was three, and he lived with his aunt. He moved to Harlem with his family when he was eight years old. While in New York, Sowell attended classes for the gifted at Stuyvesant High School. After leaving high school (and his aunt) in the tenth grade, Sowell worked in a factory for four years. He later earned his high school degree by attending night classes. In 1951, he was drafted to serve in the United States Marine Corps and became a photographer in the Korean War. After Sowell’s service with the Marines ended, he attended Howard University, supported by the G.I. Bill.
A senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Sowell, an African American conservative, is noted for his works on economic and social issues. He is the author of at least 40 books. His book Knowledge and Decisions is perhaps his most important economic book, as he unpacks the implications of a 1945 article by Nobel-winning economist F. A. Hayek, “The Use of Knowledge in Society”—in 448 pages.
Sowell critiques government programs such as affirmative action, busing, and welfare because they do not promote self-reliance. Sowell believes that government programs such as affirmative action actually hurt African Americans’ chances for equality.
In Preferential Policies: An International Perspective, Sowell discusses the result of affirmative action in America. He argues that preferential treatment leads to relaxed standards, and those ultimately lead to groups failing. Liberal African Americans and left-wing whites took offense to Sowell’s arguments and labeled his statements as one-dimensional.
In addition to his research at the Hoover Institution, Sowell wrote a nationally syndicated column that appeared in more than 150 newspapers from Boston to Honolulu. Also, the Hoover Institution Press has published some of his essays in Controversial Essays. Sowell, has taught economics at various colleges and universities, including Cornell, Amherst, and at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has taught the history of ideas at Brandeis University.
Sowell is the recipient of the Francis Boyer Award, the National Humanities Medal, and the Bradley Prize for intellectual achievement.