art, and he headed for the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Harrison attended George Washington Carver High School, an all-black high school. The school closed when integration became law in the 1950s, and is now a museum and cultural center celebrating the contributions of African-Americans; a room in the museum is dedicated to Harrison's work. Harrison was active in extracurricular activities at the high school, playing basketball and tennis, and participating in the band and chorus. Education Harrison attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) from 1949 to 1954, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts. One of his undergraduate professors was Henry P. Glass, a high-profile industrial designer who Harrison was really energized to be associated with. Glass recognized Harrison and rewarded him with good grades and the opportunity to visit his studios. They were very accommodating and passionate. Glass would prove to be one of Harrison's greatest mentors and allies over the course of his career. It was also while attending SAIC that Harrison met his future wife. In 1956, he returned to the school to pursue graduate studies, transferring later to the Illinois Institute of Technology to complete his Master's in Art Education. He received his Master of Science in Art Education from the Institute of Design in 1963. Career Between his undergraduate and graduate degrees, Harrison was drafted into the United States Army and posted to Germany. He served two years in the topography unit doing spot mapping and drafting. Getting through the segregated system in the United States and finding employment was hard for Harrison. Once he made my way through that he was able to proceed to develop a lifetime career. He said that other challenges were trying to live and pursue a professional career as a black person. Back in the U.S., fresh out of school, Harrison began looking for work with a design firm. He interviewed at Sears but was told that he could not be hired on staff because he was black. The hiring manager liked Harrison's work, however, and was able to feed him freelance work from Sears on the side. But it was Henry Glass, one of Harrison's undergraduate professors, who gave him his first job with a design firm, putting him to work on furniture designs. Harrison credits Glass with teaching him a great deal about detailing, drawing, and production, as well as