Early Life Influences
Dr. Ronald Akers was born on January 7, 1939 in New Albany Indiana, a city of about 36,000 people today. It is situated directly across the Ohio River, northwest of Louisville, KY. It is noted for opening the first public high school in the state. Prior to the civil war, over half the state's wealthiest people lived in New Albany. It also serves as one of Abraham Lincoln's national cemetery sites.
His family lived a modest life, his extended family held either retail or factory jobs. His childhood home was located about a half a block from the city dump. That was at a time when garbage and other refuse was literally dumped over the hill toward the river, not covered up in a landfill. It is a small example of how poverty in that time period had a much more pronounced effect on daily life.
He noted that fact in a 1997 interview and said that he believed that his modest upbringing influenced his earliest awareness and sensitivity to social injustice. He believed that getting his education would be the means by which he could help society fix some of its' problems. This is interesting given the city's historical success in both terms of wealth and education.
Education was greatly appreciated and regularly emphasized by his parents, though he and his brother were the first to obtain an education beyond a high school diploma. His parents wanted him and his brother to have more than they had in life and believed that education was the means to achieving that goal. But, because his family was very poor, he had to apply for scholarships to pay for his education.
His family lived a modest life, his extended family held either retail or factory jobs. His childhood home was located about a half a block from the city dump. That was at a time when garbage and other refuse was literally dumped over the hill toward the river, not covered up in a landfill. It is a small example of how poverty in that time period had a much more pronounced effect on daily life.
He noted that fact in a 1997 interview and said that he believed that his modest upbringing influenced his earliest awareness and sensitivity to social injustice. He believed that getting his education would be the means by which he could help society fix some of its' problems. This is interesting given the city's historical success in both terms of wealth and education.
Education was greatly appreciated and regularly emphasized by his parents, though he and his brother were the first to obtain an education beyond a high school diploma. His parents wanted him and his brother to have more than they had in life and believed that education was the means to achieving that goal. But, because his family was very poor, he had to apply for scholarships to pay for his education.