In Memoriam

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.

In Memoriam: Norman C. Francis, 1931-2026

Norman C. Francis served as president of historically Black Xavier University of Louisiana for nearly five decades. When he retired in 2015, he was the longest-tenured university president in the United States.

In Memoriam: Ione Vargus, 1930-2025

In 1978, Dr. Vargus was named dean of Temple University's School of Social Administration, making her the university's first African American and first woman to serve as an academic dean. She was an expert on family reunions, particularly the importance of such events in African American culture.

In Memoriam: Ernest Morrell, 1971-2026

At the time of his passing, Dr. Morrell was serving as the the Coyle Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. A renowned literacy studies scholar, Dr. Morrell advocated for literacy as a means of social justice, empowering youth to access information, exercise informed citizenship, and participate fully in civic and cultural life.

In Memoriam: Clarence Christian, 1944-2026

Throughout his career, Dr. Christian taught at numerous institutions, including his undergraduate alma mater LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Mississippi State University, and Rhodes College, where he was the institution's first Black professor.

In Memoriam: Angella Dorothea Ferguson, 1925-2026

Dr. Ferguson was a professor of pediatrics at Howard University in Washington, D.C. for nearly four decades. In addition to her work as an administrator for the College of Medicine, she studied the growth and development of children, with a particular focus on sick cell anemia.

In Memoriam: Gloria Jean Wade-Gayles, 1937-2026

Dr. Wade-Gayles taught English and women's studies at Spelman College in Atlanta for over four decades. Her scholarship centered on African American women's literature.

In Memoriam: Victor Emmanuel Laroche, 1959-2026

At the time of his passing, Larcohe had been serving as university chaplain and special assistant to the president for Catholic identity at Xavier University of Louisiana.

In Memoriam: Gerald Deas, 1931-2026

Dr. Deas earned his medical degree from the State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University, where he was one of three African Americans in his graduating class. He later spent several decades teaching preventative medicine at the university.

In Memoriam: Awotunde Judyie Ella Al-Bilali

Professor Al-Bilal was the first Black woman to earn the rank of full professor in the department of theater at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she was also affiliated with the Honors Program and the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies.

In Memoriam: Marvalene Hughes, 1937-2026

Dr. Hughes served as the first woman and first African American president of California State University, Stanislaus. She then became the first woman president of Dillard University in Louisiana, where she oversaw major recovery efforts after the HBCU's campus was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

In Memoriam: Mildred Bernice Gauthier Gallot, 1937-2025

Dr. Gallot dedicated her entire professional career to her alma mater, Grambling State University in Louisiana. A scholar of African American history, she authored A History of Grambling State University, which analyzed funding disparities between historically Black colleges and universities and predominately White institutions.

In Memoriam: Edith Renfrow Smith, 1914-2026

The first Black woman to graduate from Grinnell College in Iowa, Smith was born just weeks before the start of World War I. She recently passed away on January 2 at the age of 111.

In Memoriam: Richard Wayne Beckford, 1966-2025

For over three decades, Dr. Beckford served as an educator and band director with several schools. Since early 2020, he served as director of bands for Florida Memorial University, where he founded the HBCU's ROAR Marching Band.
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