In Memoriam: Roy Emile Alfredo Innis, 1934-2017
Roy Innis was an outspoken Black nationalist, civil rights icon, and national director of the Congress of Racial Equality.
In Memoriam: Willie Roy Evans, 1937-2017
When the University at Buffalo was invited to play in the 1958 Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Florida, it was told it would have to leave its star African American running back home. The team unanimously voted to decline the invitation.
In Memoriam: Charles Dwight Lahr
C. Dwight Lahr was a professor of mathematics emeritus at Dartmouth College. Dr. Lahr was the first African American to be named a tenured professor of mathematics in the Ivy League.
In Memoriam: Jewell Plummer Cobb, 1924-2017
In 1981, Professor Cobb was appointed president of California State University, Fullerton. She was the first African American women to lead a major university west of the Mississippi River.
In Memoriam: Margaret W. Lewis, 1932-2016
Dr. Margaret Lewis began her career in 1958 as a staff nurse at the former Florida A&M University Hospital. She joined the faculty at the university in 1959. She later served as dean of the university's School of Nursing.
In Memoriam: Dovi J. Afesi, 1945-2016
A native of Ghana, Dr. Afesi was a professor of history at Greenfield Community College in Massachusetts. Earlier in his career, he was an assistant professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
In Memoriam: Hope Lewis, 1962-2016
Hope Lewis was a professor at the Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, where she had served on the faculty for a quarter century. Earlier, she was an attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In Memoriam: Madelon Delany Stent
Madelon Delany Stent served as vice president for academic affairs at the University of the District of Columbia and was a professor emerita of education at the City College of New York.
In Memoriam: Harold R. Benson, 1944-2016
Dr. Benson directed the land grant program at Kentucky State University for 36 years. He directed the university's extension program during that period and from 1985 to his retirement in 2011 he also directed the research program.
In Memoriam: Wayne Everett Crumwell
In 1968, Wayne Crumwell became the first African American to graduate from Davidson College in North Carolina. He later earned a law degree at Duke, opened a private law practice, and served as a faculty member at North Carolina Central University.
In Memoriam: Debra Saunders-White, 1957-2016
Debra Saunders-White, the 11th chancellor of North Carolina Central University in Durham, died on November 26. Dr. Saunders-White was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2015 and took a medical leave of absence in August 2016.
In Memoriam: Gwendolyn Ifill, 1955-2016
Gwen Ifill was a celebrated newspaper reporter and pioneering PBS television anchor who moderated two vice presidential debates. A graduate of Simmons College, Ifill held honorary degrees from 20 institutions of higher learning.
In Memoriam: David Nganga Mburu, 1965-2016
A native of Kenya, Dr. Mburu taught courses in the language of Kiswahili and popular culture in East Africa at the University of Kansas. Earlier, he taught at California State University, Sacramento.
In Memoriam: Lennette Johnson Ivy, 1953-2016
Professor Ivy joined the faculty at the University of Mississippi in 1990. She served as clinical supervisor in speech pathology, an assistant and associate professor, and chair of the department of communication sciences and disorders.
In Memoriam: Herbert Rogers Kent, 1928-2016
Herb Kent was a radio personality in Chicago for more than 70 years and taught at Chicago State University for more than a decade. He made his last radio broadcast on the morning of his death.
In Memoriam: Ogretta Ann Humphries Vaughn McNeil, 1932-2016
Dr. McNeil was was the first African American woman to serve on the faculty at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. She also was the first woman tenure-track faculty member in the psychology department at the college.
In Memoriam: Edgar L. Berry
Edgar L. Berry was interim vice president for student affairs at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. Earlier he served as vice president for student affairs at Texas College in Tyler, Texas.
In Memoriam: Velma L. Blackwell
Dr. Blackwell joined the staff at Tuskegee University in 1969 and remained employed by the university until her retirement in 2008. She held many positions at the university including associate provost, director of student relations, vice president for development, and director of the Center for Continuing Education.
In Memoriam: June Brown, 1927-2016
Dr. Brown joined the faculty at the University of Southern California in 1969. She taught in the School of Social Work's master's and doctoral degree programs and served as chair of what is now the department of children, youth and families. In 1987, Dr. Brown was named assistant dean for academic affairs.
In Memoriam: Gloria Naylor, 1950-2016
Naylor, who taught creative writing at several universities, was best known for her her 1982 novel The Women of Brewster Place, for which she won the National Book Award for the best first novel.
In Memoriam: Daniel O. Bernstine, 1947-2016
Daniel O. Bernstine was president of the Law School Admission Council. Earlier in his career, he served for 10 years as president of Portland State University in Oregon.
In Memoriam: Lancelot C. A. Thompson, 1925-2016
Dr. Thompson joined the faculty at the University of Toledo in 1958. For four years, he was the only Black faculty member at the university. In 1968, Dr. Thompson was appointed vice president of student affairs, a post he held for 20 years.
In Memoriam: Samuel A. Floyd Jr., 1937-2016
Samuel Floyd Jr. was the founder of the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College in Chicago and the founder of the Black Music Research Journal.
In Memoriam: Joyce O. Jenkins, 1949-2016
Joyce O. Jenkins was the director of the Center for Teaching and e-Learning at Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock. Prior to joining the staff at Arkansas Baptist College in 2012, Dr. Jenkins had a 26-year career at Fort Valley State University in Georgia.
In Memoriam: Robert Colbert, 1950-2016
Robert Colbert was an associate professor and director of the counseling program in the department of educational psychology in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut.
In Memoriam: Joyce Carol Thomas, 1938-2016
Joyce Carol Thomas, the author of more than 30 children's books and a former college professor, won the National Book Award and the American Book Award in 1983. She taught at several higher educational institutions including Purdue University and the University of Tennessee.
In Memoriam: Edwin Smith, 1950-2016
Edwin Smith was the Leon Benwell Professor of Law, International Relations, and Political Science at the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern, California. He was the first African American tenured faculty member at the law school.
In Memoriam: Stella Mason Parson, 1929-2016
Stella Mason Parson, a long-time educator, was the first Black woman to earn a college degree in the state of Nevada. She taught in Las Vegas public schools for 33 years.
In Memoriam: James Alan McPherson, 1943-2016
In 1978, Professor McPherson was the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. At the time of his death he was professor emeritus at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
In Memoriam: James F. Tucker, 1925-2016
Dr. Tucker served as president of Virginia State from 1968 to 1970 and then served on the economics faculty and was the director of the Center for Economic Education at Virginia Tech from 1970 to 1974.
In Memoriam: Michael Robert Williams, 1952-2016
Dr. Michael Williams joined the faculty at Cleveland State University in 1985 as an assistant professor of social work. In 2004, he was named director of the Black studies program at the university and remained in that post until his death.
In Memoriam: Ronald E. Harris, 1960-2016
At Chicago State, Harris founded the Teaching and Educating Men of Black Origin program and the Continuing the Journey Conference for Black male high school students. He was the director of the African American Male Resource Center.
In Memoriam: Roscoe Conkling Brown Jr., 1922-2016
Roscoe C. Brown Jr. was a Tuskegee Airman who was former president of Bronx Community College in New York and a former professor at New York University and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York.
In Memoriam: Joseph Pree Ramsey Jr., 1951-2016
Joseph Ramsey Jr. was former director of athletics and former chair of the Sports Hall of Fame at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee.
In Memoriam: Austin Chesterfield Clarke, 1934-2016
Clarke was a native of Barbados. He came to Canada in 1955 to study at the University of Toronto. The author of 11 novels, he taught at Yale University, Duke University, and the University of Texas.
In Memoriam: Cedric James Robinson, 1940-2016
Professor Cedric James Robinson joined the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1978. He chaired both the department of Black studies and the department of political science.
