In Memoriam

In Memoriam: Harold K. Brown, 1934-2026

In 1971, Brown took a position in San Diego State University's department of academic affairs, making him the university's first Black administrator. One year later, he established what is now known as the department of Africana studies.

In Memoriam: Mary Evans Sias, 1950-2026

A longtime leader in higher education, Dr. Sias served as president of Kentucky State University from 2004 to 2014. In 2023, she was named interim president of Texas Southern University.

In Memoriam: Castell Vaughn Bryant, 1938-2026

Dr. Bryant was a longtime administrator at several higher education institutions throughout the state of Florida. She was the first woman to serve as interim president of Florida Memorial University and Florida A&M University.

In Memoriam: Gregory V. Murphy, 1956–2026

Dr. Murphy was the first Black man to earn a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee. He taught for more than two decades at Tuskegee University.

In Memoriam: Erroll B. Davis Jr., 1944-2026

Following a successful corporate career, Davis served as chancellor of the University System of Georgia, where he oversaw the state's 35 colleges and universities.

In Memoriam: Odessa Johnson, 1939-2026

Dr. Johnson was a longtime leader in education in the Modesto, California, community. The first African American to teach at Modesto High School, Dr. Johnson founded the Modesto Institute for Continued Learning and served as a regent with the University of California.

In Memoriam: Carl Anthony, 1939-2026

As an undergraduate, Anthony attended Columbia University in New York City, where he was the only African American student enrolled in the Ivy League institution's architecture school. He went on to teach at the University of California, Berkeley.

In Memoriam: Ernst Cebert, 1954-2026

Dr. Cebert served three decades on the faculty at historically Black Alabama A&M University, where he led research programs in bioenergy and industrial crops.

In Memoriam: James T. Johnson, Jr., 1949-2026

Dr. Johnson taught music theory at several institutions through the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area. He was known for founding the Afro American Music Institute, a community program that provides music instruction to students of all ages.

In Memoriam: Faye Gary, 1941-2026

Dr. Gary's career as a nurse, scholar, and educator spanned over five decades, including 23 years at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Her work centered on child and adolescent health, health disparities, and domestic violence.

In Memoriam: Beverly Caffee Glenn, 1948-2025

In the 1990s, Dr. Glenn became the first woman to serve as dean of the School of Education at Howard University. During her career, she also held leadership positions at the National Education Association and George Washington University.

In Memoriam: Baldwin Onuma Okezie, 1931-2026

Dr. Okezie taught food science and nutrition at historically Black Alabama A&M University for 35 years. A native of Nigeria, he frequently collaborated with international research partners on projects relating to food security and agricultural development.

In Memoriam: Elayne Hayes-Anthony, 1952-2026

Before transitioning to academia, Dr. Hayes-Anthony had a successful career in broadcast journalism. Later in life, she taught at Belhaven College and Jackson State University, where she served as acting president in 2023.

In Memoriam: Christine Johnson McPhail, 1946-2026

In 1995, Dr. McPhail was named the first woman and first African American president of Cypress College in California, where she served for three years. Over two decades later, she served as president of historically Black St. Augustine's University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In Memoriam: Elaine Johnson Coates, 1937-2026

In 1955, Coates enrolled as one of seven Black students in her freshman class at the University of Maryland, College Park. She was the only one to persist to graduation, earning her bachelor's degree in 1959 and becoming the university's first Black woman graduate.

In Memoriam: Charles Simmons, 1938-2026

In 1972, Dr. Simmons co-founded what would become Sojourner-Douglas College in Baltimore. Named for Black abolitionist leaders Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass, the college was not officially designated as an HBCU, but enrolled a predominately Black student body. It closed its doors in 2016 after losing its accreditation.

In Memoriam: A. Lynn Bolles, 1949-2026

Dr. Bolles was a longtime professor of women, gender, and sexuality studies at the University of Maryland. Trained as an anthropologist, she was known for her scholarship on the labor experiences of Caribbean women.

In Memoriam: Avel Gordly, 1947-2026

In 1996, Gordly became the first Black women to be elected to the Oregon State Senate. A decade later, she joined the faculty at Portland State University, where she taught in the Black studies department, created legislative internship opportunities for students, and established a center for mental health services.

In Memoriam: Michael Keith Herndon, 1964-2026

A two-time graduate of historically Black Howard University, Dr. Herndon served as director of summer and winter sessions at Virginia Tech from 2008 until his passing.

In Memoriam: Asmarom Legesse, 1931-2026

Dr. Legesse taught anthropology and Black studies at Swarthmore College for over two decades. Throughout his career, he conducted extensive research in Eritrea and advocated for the campaign against South Africa's apartheid system.
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