In Memoriam

Williams Spriggs began his academic career teaching at North Carolina A&T State University and then at Norfolk State University in Virginia. In 2005, Dr. Spriggs joined the faculty at Howard University, where he chaired the economics department until 2009. He then served as assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Labor during the Obama administration. He returned to Howard and was named chief economist at the AFL-CIO in 2012.

Dr. Smith joined the faculty of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California in 2002. Earlier, he served as the director of primary research for Ruder Finn Public Relations in New York City.

Dr. Smith joined the faculty of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California in 2002. Earlier, he served as the director of primary research for Ruder Finn Public Relations in New York City.

Powell was the first woman and the first African Americans to serve as superintendent of the Cincinnati public school system, the third largest in the state of Ohio. She later taught at George Washington University.

Kennedy began his career as a teacher and later assistant principal in the Mobile County Public School System. In 1968, he was one of the first African Americans to join the faculty at the University of Southern Alabama.

In 1975, Lilly Adams-Dudley joined the staff at Canisius College as a language arts specialist. She retired in 2018 as the director of Canisius Opportunity Programs for Education (COPE) which provided scholarships, mentoring, and tutoring for students from underrepresented groups.

Randall Robinson was a lawyer, civil rights activist, and educator. He was one of America's leading voices in opposition to South African apartheid. He taught at Pennsylvania State University from 2008 to 2016.

Wayne Shorter was a pioneering jazz musician, composer, and a former member of the faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles. He won 12 Grammy Awards (the last one in 2022), the 2017 Polar Music Prize, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2018.

While a senior at Spelman College in Atlanta, Pope along with a young Julian Bond wrote "An Appeal for Human Rights," which laid the groundwork for the formation of civil rights protests by college students in Atlanta.

Dr. Hill joined the faculty at the University of San Francisco in 1970 as an instructor in English and ethnic studies. Dr. Hill retired as a full professor in 2015 after teaching at the University of San Francisco for 45 years.

Professor Bracey was a leading figure in the fields of African American studies and U.S. history. He joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts in 1972 and helped create one of the nation’s first doctoral programs in African American studies.

Dr. Gaston-Johansson was a member of the University of Nebraska Medical Center faculty from 1985 to 1993. She joined the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in 1993. In 1998, Professor Gaston-Johansson became the first Black woman to become a tenured professor at Johns Hopkins University.

After serving as a lecturer at UCLA, Dr. Daniel began teaching at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1992. He was named an assistant professor of sociology in 1998. He was promoted to associate professor in 200e and to full professor in 2009.

In 1978, Wiley J. Henderson accepted a position as an associate professor of biology at Alabama A&M University where he taught for the next 42 years.

In 1973, Dr. Lovett joined the faculty at Tennessee State University, a historically Black educational institution in Nashville. In addition to teaching history for more than 30 years, Dr. Lovett served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the university.

Charles S. Harris was the former athletic director at the University of Pennsylvania, Arizona State University, and Averett University in Virginia, and the former commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. He was the first African American to serve as the athletic director at an Ivy League school.

A native of Freetown, Sierra Leone, Professor Broderick came to the United States in 1959 to attend what is now Otterbein University in Ohio. He later taught at North Carolina A&T State University, the University of Wisconsin, and universities in Brazil and Africa.