In Memoriam: Valerie Jean Boyd, 1963-2022
Valerie Boyd was an award-winning author and served as the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Distinguished Writer in Residence and director of the master of fine arts in narrative nonfiction program at the University of Georgia.
In Memoriam: Clarence Shelly, 1931-2022
In 1968, Clarence Shelly was hired as the inaugural director of the Special Education Opportunities Program at the University of Illinois, one of the nation’s earliest and largest recruitment efforts of Black and students of color.
In Memoriam: Paul Carter Harrison, 1936-2021
Professor Harrison taught theater at Howard University, California State University Sacramento, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and finally Columbia College in Chicago where he taught for more than a quarter century until his retirement in 2002.
In Memoriam: Edward Daryl Irons, 1923-2022
Dr. Irons, the second Black person to earn a doctorate at Harvard Business School, was the founding dean of the business school at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He later served as dean of the business school at Clark Atlanta University from 1990 to 1995.
In Memoriam: Rayford Lee Harris Sr., 1924-2022
Harris taught industrial arts in the Richmond public school system, before joining the faculty at Virginia State in 1959. At Virginia State, he directed the industrial arts and technical education teacher training program. For 32 years, he prepared school teachers in woodworking, metalworking, and other industrial arts.
In Memoriam: Kenya Siana Flash, 1980-2021
Kenya Siana Flash was the librarian for political science, global information, and government information at the Marx Science and Social Science Library on the campus of Yale University.
In Memoriam: Gwendolyn Gordon, 1980-2021
Dr. Gordon was an assistant professor in the department of legal studies and business ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a secondary appointment in the School of Arts and Sciences’ department of anthropology. She held degrees from three different Ivy League universities.
In Memoriam: Charles Johnson, 1927-2021
Dr. Charles Johnson joined Duke in 1970 as the first Black faculty member in the School of Medicine and the first Black physician on the faculty of Duke University. He served on the faculty of the School of Medicine for 26 years until his retirement in 1996.
In Memoriam: Desmond Mpilo Tutu, 1931-2021
Desmond Tutu, the Anglican archbishop who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his efforts to dismantle apartheid in South Africa, died in Cape Town on December 26. He was 90 years old and had suffered from cancer.
In Memoriam: Shirley Ann Mathis McBay, 1935-2021
After attending segregated public schools, Dr. McBay enrolled in college at the age of 15. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Georgia. Dr. McBay had a long career in academia at Spelman College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In Memoriam: Tyler Stovall, 1954-2021
Tyler Stovall was a renowned historian of modern Europe, professor, and dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Fordham University. From 2014 to 2020, he was dean of humanities at the University of California, Santa Cruz
In Memoriam: bell hooks, 1952-2021
The leading feminist scholar bell hooks, the Distinguished Professor in Residence in Appalachian Studies at Berea College in Kentucky, died at her home in Berea on December 15 at the age of 69.
In Memoriam: Albert Odontoh Richardson, 1946-2021
A native of Ghana, Albert Richardson was a professor emeritus of computer and electrical engineering at California State University, Chico. He joined the faculty there in 1989 and was named professor emeritus in 2012.
In Memoriam: Julius Sherrod Scott, 1955-2021
Professor Scott earned a Ph.D. in history at Duke University in 1986, where his dissertation concerned communications between groups of free and enslaved Africans throughout the Atlantic World that were facilitated by travelers on ships between ports in the New World. The dissertation was finally published as a book in 2018.
In Memoriam: Kariamu Welsh, 1949-2021
After studying as a Fulbright scholar in Africa, Welsh joined the faculty at Temple University in 1985. She earned a doctorate in dance history at New York University and joined the dance faculty at Temple in 1999.
In Memoriam: Walter L. Smith, 1935-2021
Dr. Smith served as dean of Hillsborough Community College in Tampa before being named president of Roxbury Community College in Massachusetts in 1974. He was appointed president of Florida A&M University in 1977 and served in that role until 1985.
In Memoriam: Clifford E. Reid, 1945-2021
Clifford E. Reid was the Charles A. Dana Professor of Economics, Emeritus at Colby College. He taught at Grinnell College in Iowa for 16 years before joining the faculty at Colby College in 1987. He taught there for 22 years.
In Memoriam: Millie Louise Bown Russell, 1926-2021
The granddaughter of enslaved African Americans, Dr. Russell was the first Black student to enroll in the medical technology program at Seattle University. She earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the university in 1948 and later had a long career as an administrator and lecturer at the University of Washington.
In Memoriam: Teresa Ann Miller, 1962-2021
Teresa A. Miller was senior vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and chief diversity officer for the State University of New York. Earlier, Miller was a tenured professor of law at the University at Buffalo, specializing in immigration law, criminal procedure, and prisoner law.
In Memoriam: Colin Luther Powell , 1937-2021
Colin Powell was the first African American to serve as Secretary of State, National Security Adviser, and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 1997, he founded the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies at City College of New York. In 2013, the Center was transformed into the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership.
In Memoriam: Robert Lewis Albright, 1944-2021
Robert L. Albright served as the eleventh president of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 1983-1994.
In Memoriam: Charles Wade Mills, 1951-2021
Since 2016, Charles W. Mills was the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Earlier, he served as the John Evans Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
In Memoriam: Albert J. Raboteau, 1943-2021
Albert Raboteau, the Henry W. Putnam Professor of Religion Emeritus at Princeton University, joined the faculty at the university in 1982. He served as chair of the department of religion from 1987 to 1992 and as dean of the Graduate School from 1992 to 1993.
In Memoriam: Julie Elena Stokes-Thomas, 1952-2021
Dr. Stokes-Thomas joined the faculty at California State University, Fullerton as a full-time lecturer in African American studies and psychology in 1995. She taught there for the next 18 years.
In Memoriam: Wendell Carl Baker, 1946-2021
In 1976, Dr. Baker joined the faculty at Prairie View A&M University, where he taught agricultural science. He also was the manager of the university's farm. He taught at the university until 1984 and then devoted his full time to the Baker Veterinary Clinic, which he had opened in Prairie View in 1978.
In Memoriam: Harold Alonza Franklin, 1932-2021
On January 4, 1964, Harold Franklin enrolled at Auburn University as a graduate student in history. He was the first Black student to enroll at Auburn. After completing his studies, he was not allowed to defend his master's degree thesis and was not awarded his degree. This injustice was not corrected until 2020.
In Memoriam: Patricia V. Richie
Patricia Richie began working at then Palm Beach Community College in 1994 as director of continuing studies and was promoted three years later to dean of Career and Technical Education, becoming the college’s first African American female dean.
In Memoriam: Genevieve Madeline Knight, 1939-2021
Dr. Knight taught at Hampton University in Virginia from 1963 to 1966 and from 1970 to 1985. She then taught mathematics at Coppin State University in Baltimore for more than two decades.
In Memoriam: Hardy T. Frye, 1939-2021
After earning a master's degree and a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Frye accepted an appointment at Yale as an assistant professor in 1976, where he taught for one year. He later served on the faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz for more than two decades.
In Memoriam: Twitty Junius Styles, 1927-2021
Dr. Styles taught at Union College from 1965 to 1997. In 1971, he was the first African-American faculty member to earn tenure. An immunologist by training, he specialized in infectious diseases, particularly parasitology and immunity to parasitic infections.
In Memoriam: JoAnne Adams Lofton, 1937-2021
A native of Forsyth, Georgia, Lofton's grandfather was the founder of what is now Grambling State University in Louisiana. She served as a faculty member and administrator for the University of Nebraska-Omaha for more than 30 years.
In Memoriam: Ulysses S. Doss, 1933 to 2021
In 1968 Dr. Doss founded the Black studies program at the University of Montana. At the time, it was only the second Black studies program west of the Mississippi River, according to the university.
In Memoriam: Marie Alexandria Malveaux, 1928-2021
Malveaux worked as a teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District and as a social worker with the San Francisco Department of Social Services. Then in 1973, she was hired as an assistant professor of social work at the University of Mississippi. She was only the second African American to teach at the university.
In Memoriam: Leon Leroy Haley Jr., 1964-2021
Dr. Haley joined the faculty at the University of Florida in 2017 as dean of the College of Medicine-Jacksonville. He was the first African American to hold that position. Dr. Haley also was a professor of emergency medicine and vice president for health affairs for the University of Florida.
In Memoriam: Robert Parris Moses, 1935-2021
After winning a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Award" in 1982, Dr. Moses used the fellowship money to begin the Algebra Project, which uses mathematics as an organizing tool for quality education for all children in America involving their parents, teachers, and the community to boost mathematics proficiency.
In Memoriam: Douthard R. Butler, 1934-2021
Dr. Butler, who held a doctorate in public administration from George Mason University, taught undergraduate courses in government at the university for 20 years. He retired from teaching in December 2020.
