In Memoriam: Joe. A. Hairston, 1948-2019
Dr. Hairston was the first African American to lead the Baltimore County school system. After 12 years as superintendent, Dr. Hairston taught educational leadership and policy at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
In Memoriam: Bill Wilson, 1940-2019
Bill Wilson was the first African American elected to the city council in St. Paul, Minnesota, founder of the Higher Ground Academy, and former administrator at the University of Minnesota.
In Memoriam: Ivery Dwight Clifton, 1943-2020
Ivery Clifton was a professor emeritus in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia. In 1994, he was the first African American in the university's history to serve in the role of dean.
In Memoriam: Josephine McCann Posey
In 1984 Dr. Posey became the first woman to serve as the dean of the School of Education and Psychology at Alcorn State University. In addition to her duties as university historian, she also served as interim vice president for academic affairs, special assistant to the president at Alcorn, and department chair.
In Memoriam: Roger Pulliam, 1942-2020
Dr. Pulliam joined the staff at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1989. During his tenure, he served as assistant vice chancellor of academic support services, director of advancement and interim chief diversity officer.
In Memoriam: Katherine Williams Phillips, 1972-2020
Katherine W. Phillips was the Reuben Mark Professor of Organizational Character and the director of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics at the business school at Columbia University in New York City.
In Memoriam: Ida Stephens Owens, 1939-2020
Ida Stephens Owens was one of the first African Americans to earn a Ph.D. at Duke University. Dr. Owens was the first scientist to determine genetic defects in children with Crigler-Najjar diseases, a rare disorder often causing brain damage in infants.
In Memoriam: John F. Merchant, 1933-2020
John Merchant, an attorney who taught at both Fairfield University and Sacred Heart University, both in Connecticut, was the first Black graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law.
In Memoriam: Joseph Echols Lowery, 1921-2020
Joseph Lowery, often referred to as the "Dean of the Civil Rights Movement," held a doctorate from the Chicago Ecumenical Institute. In 2002, the Joseph E. Lowery Institute for Justice & Human Rights was founded at Clark Atlanta University.
In Memoriam: Ralph C. Gomes, 1937-2020
Dr. Gomes began his career in 1971 at Howard University as a lecturer in what was then the department of sociology and anthropology. He served on the faculty for 49 years.
In Memoriam: Richard L. Marquess-Barry, 1940-2020
In 1965 Richard Marquess-Barry entered the Virginia Episcopal Theological Seminary. He was the only Black student enrolled at the seminary at that time. He went on to become a priest and educator.
In Memoriam: Denise Michelle Chapman Montgomery, 1959-2020
Dr. Montgomery was the founding dean of the College of Health Sciences at Alabama State University. Earlier in her career, she taught at Langston University in Oklahoma and Florida A&M University.
In Memoriam: Cheryl Ann Wall, 1948-2020
Professor Cheryl Wall focused on African-American literature, American literature, and feminist criticism. She first joined the faculty at Rutgers University in 1972. and had planned on retiring this year.
In Memoriam: David Clyde Driskell, 1931-2020
In 1977, Driskell joined the faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park. He taught there until his retirement in 1998. In 2001, the university established the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora.
In Memoriam: Lenard Wells, 1950-2020
Dr. Wells began teaching criminal justice at the University of Memphis in 2013. Before coming to Memphis, he was appointed by the governor to serve as the Parole Board Chief in Wisconsin. He also served as a lieutenant with the Milwaukee Police Department for 27 years.
In Memoriam: Ellis Louis Marsalis, 1934-2020
Ellis Marsalis, a jazz pianist, the patriarch of jazz's royal family, and a former professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and the University of New Orleans, died on April 1 from complications of the COVID-19 virus.
In Memoriam: Alicia Lawrence, 1983-2020
Alicia Lawrence was deputy dean and executive director of residential life and housing at Barnard College in New York City. Before joining the staff at Barnard, Lawrence held administrative posts at Rutgers University, Montclair State University, and Ohio University.
In Memoriam: Augustus Leonard Jones Sr. 1946-2020
Gus Jones was director of the Success Reading Center at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina. He also led the college's alumni association and served on the college's board of trustees.
In Memoriam: Pellom McDaniels III, 1968-2020
After a long career in the National Football League, Pellomm McDaniels III earned master's and doctoral degrees and taught at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Emory University. At the time of his death, he was curator of African American collections at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory.
In Memoriam: Thomas E.H. Conway, 1949-2020
Dr. Conway had a 45-year career with the University of North Carolina System. He was named interim chancellor of Elizabeth City State University in 2016 and the position was made permanent in 2017. Dr. Conway retired at the end of the 2017-18 academic year.
In Memoriam: Alyce Chenault Gullattee, 1928-2020
Dr. Gullattee was appointed to the Howard University faculty in 1970 as a psychiatrist in the department of neuropsychiatry. Over the next half-century she played a large role in the education and training of literally thousands of physicians, including a significant percentage of the African American physicians practicing in this country.
In Memoriam: Conrad Worrill, 1941-2020
Dr. Worrill joined the faculty of the department of inner city studies at Northeastern Illinois University in 1976. He also served as the director of the university’s Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies. He retired in 2016 after serving on the faculty for 50 year.
In Memoriam: Albert Nathaniel Whiting, 1917-2020
In 1966, Dr. Whiting was named the fourth president of what is now North Carolina Central University in Durham. He served the university for more than 15 years as president and chancellor.
In Memorim: Leedell Wallace Neyland, 1921-2020
Leedell Neyland was the former dean of Arts and Sciences, provost, and professor emeritus of history at Florida A&M University. As a member of the U.S. Navy, he participated in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day.
In Memoriam: Thomas Franklin Freeman, 1919-2020
After a short term as a visiting professor at Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he taught Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. Freeman began his career at what is now Texas Southern University in 1949 as a professor of philosophy. He remained affiliated with the university for more than 70 years.
In Memoriam: Ken Riley, 1947-2020
Ken Riley was a four-year starting quarterback for Florida A&M University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar nominee. After playing in the National Football League for 15 seasons, he returned to his alma mater as head football coach and later as director of athletics.
In Memoriam: Paul L. Gaines, 1932-2020
In 1958, Gaines earned a master's degree in counseling at what is now Bridgewater State University and that same year joined the staff at the educational institution as assistant to the president for minority affairs and affirmative action.
In Memoriam: Lucius Jefferson Barker, 1928-2020
Dr. Barker, a political scientist, began his academic career at the University of Illinois. He taught at the University of Illinois, Southern University in Louisiana, and Washington University in St. Louis. Professor Barker taught at Stanford University from 1990 until retiring in 2006 as the William Bennett Munro Professor of Political Science, Emeritus.
In Memoriam: Ronald Eugene Chavers, 1931-2020
A native of Urbana, Ohio, Dr. Chavers had African American and Native American ancestry. He was a professor of cultural and symbolic studies, affiliated with the Intercultural Open University in The Netherlands.
In Memoriam: Arthur Sanderson Paul, 1950-2020
Beginning in 1981, Dr. Paul served at Howard University as a faculty member in the College of Engineering, Architecture, and Computer Science. He remained on the faculty for 38 years. Professor Paul also served as interim associate provost for research at Howard.
In Memoriam: John Robert Lewis, 1940-2020
Congressman Lewis was one of the original Freedom Riders. He chaired the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington in 1963. In 1965 he was beaten on the Edmond Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on Bloody Sunday.
In Memoriam: Frederic D. McKenzie, 1964-2020
Dr. McKenzie’s research focused on medical modeling and simulation, human behavior representation, and simulation architectures often focusing on aspects of scientific visualization and virtual reality. He held seven U.S. patents.
In Memoriam: Elijah Walter Miles, 1934-2020
Dr. Miles joined the faculty at San Diego State University in 1966. At that time he was the only African American on the university's faculty. This earned him the nickname "The Godfather of Black Faculty."
In Memoriam: Cordy Tindell Vivian, 1924-2020
Cordy T. Vivian was former chaplain and dean of the Divinity School at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, and a key member of Martin Luther King Jr.'s inner circle during the civil rights movement.
In Memoriam: Gus T. Ridgel, 1925-2020
Dr. Ridgel was a member of Concerned Student 1950, the first group of African-American students admitted to the University of Missouri. He was admitted to the graduate program in economics in 1950 after civil rights groups won a court ruling desegregating the university. He earned a master's degree a year later.
In Memoriam: Marie Marcelle Buteau Racine, 1934-2020
In 1969, Dr. Racine, a native of Haiti, joined the foreign languages faculty at Federal City College, which later became part of the University of the District of Columbia. She taught there until her retirement n 2013.
