He was born Cornel Ronald West on 2nd June in the year 1953. He took birth in a place called Tulsa in Oklahoma in the United States. His father’s name was Clifton Louis West Jr., and he used to work with the Department of Defense as a general contractor. His mother was an elementary school teacher and later on went to become the principal. Her name was Irene.
In the year 1970, he completed his schooling and went to the prestigious Harvard University for further studies. From there, he graduated magna cum laude in Near Eastern languages and civilization.
After this, he got into another prestigious institution called Princeton University to complete his Ph.D. degree. In the year 1980, he earned a Ph.D. degree in philosophy, and by this, he created history by becoming the first African-American to get a Ph.D. degree from the institution.
