In Memoriam: Tobe Johnson
Tobe Johnson taught at Morehouse College in Atlanta for 59 years before retiring in 2018 from his role as Avalon professor and chair of the political science department. He is the longest-serving faculty member in the school’s 150-year history.
In Memoriam: Carolyn Grubb Williams, 1940-2021
Dr. Williams was named president of Bronx Community College in 1996. She was the first woman to hold the position. She served in that role for 15 years.
In Memoriam: Matthew Walker III, 1965-2021
Dr. Walker joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University in 2011 and held dual appointments as professor of the practice of biomedical engineering in the School of Engineering and professor of radiology and radiological sciences in the School of Medicine. He also was associate director of the Medical Innovators Development Program.
In Memoriam: Karl Von Binns Sr., 1951-2021
Dr. Binns taught in the department of hospitality and tourism management at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore for more than 22 years. He was the first African American to play varsity basketball at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
In Memoriam: Larry E. Davis, 1946-2021
Larry E. Davis was dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh from 2001-2018. He was also the founding director of the Center on Race and Social Problems at the university.
In Memoriam: Edward Leon Robinson Jr., 1970-2021
Edward L. Robinson Jr. was a lecturer in African American studies in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at California State University, Fullerton. He had taught at the university since 2011.
In Memoriam: Nathaniel B. White Jr., 1945-2021
Nathaniel White was one of the first five undergraduate students at Duke University and a former administrator at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
In Memoriam: Robert Daniel Flanigan Jr., 1949-2021
This past December, Danny Flanigan celebrated his fiftieth year on the staff at Spelman College. At the time of hi death, he was executive vice-president, treasurer, and chief investment officer.
In Memoriam: Barbara A. Newsome, 1946-2021
Dr. Newsome joined the faculty at Mississippi Valley State University in 2001 as an assistant professor in the social work department. During her tenure, Dr. Newsome served as the interim chair of the department, internship field coordinator and the director of the master of social work degree program.
In Memoriam: James E. Conyers Sr., 1932-2021
In 1962, James E. Conyers Sr. became the first African American faculty member at what is now Indiana State University. He taught sociology at the university for 28 years.
In Memoriam: Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr., 1935 to 2021
As a young attorney, Jordan worked on the legal battle to desegregate the University of Georgia. He later led the United Negro College Fund and the National Urban League
In Memoriam Ralph Reavis Sr., 1940-2021
Dr. Reavis was the pastor of several churches and taught for more than two decades at Virginia Union University. In 2000, he was named president of his alma mater, now called Virginia University of Lynchburg. He served in that role until 2015.
In Memoriam: Edward W. Crosby, 1932-2021
Dr. Crosby joined the faculty at Kent State University in 1969. There he founded the Institute for African American Affairs, which later became the department of Pan-African studies. He led the Black studies programs at the university for a quarter century.
In Memoriam: James Lee Conyers Jr., 1961-2021
Dr. Conyers, who began his career teaching at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, joined the faculty at the University of Houston in 2002. He has been credited with shaping and transforming the University of Houston’s African American studies program.
In Memoriam: Stephan Mickle, 1944-2021
Judge Mickle taught at the Univerity of Florida College of Law for 38 years. He was the first African American to earn a bachelor's degree and the second African Americans to earn a law degree from the University of Florida.
In Memoriam: Quincy L. Robertson, 1934-2021
Quincy Robinson served on the staff at Paine College in Augusta, Georgia for 32 years, retiring in 1999 as chief financial officer.
In Memoriam: Dollye Mary Emily Robinson, 1927-2020
Robinson began her career at Jackson State University in Mississippi in 1952 as the assistant band director and instructor of music. After a 60-year career at the university, she was named dean emerita in 2012.
In Memoriam: Ira Hicks Jr., 1928-2021
Dr. Hicks served as a vocational instructor for 22 years before joining the faculty at his alma mater Fort Valley State University in 1971.
In Memoriam: Reginald Wilson, 1927-2020
Dr. Wilson taught and was director of the Upward Bound program at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, founded and directed the Black studies program at the University of Detroit Mercy, and was president of Wayne County Community College for 10 years.
In Memoriam: Miriam DeCosta-Willis, 1934-2021
Nearly, a decade after she was not allowed to enroll at what is now the University of Memphis because of the color of her skin, Dr. Decosta-Wilis was hired as the university's first Black faculty member. She also taught at Lemoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Howard University in Washington, D.C., George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
In Memoriam: James Carmichael Renick, 1948-2021
During a long career as a faculty member and administrator in higher education, Dr. Renick served as chancellor of North Carolina A&T State University and the University of Michigan-Dearborn and was provost at Jackson State University in Mississippi.
In Memoriam: Herman Wadsworth Hemingway, 1932-2020
Herman Hemingway, a lawyer, educator, civil rights activist, was the first Black graduate of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He taught for more than two decades at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
In Memoriam: Jacqueline E. Fuller Certion, 1972-2020
Jacqueline Certion was the assistant director of the Foundations for Academic Success Track, or FASTrack, in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Mississippi. In her position, Certion served as an adviser and mentor for thousands of students over the past 19 years.
In Memoriam: Theodore Carter DeLaney Jr., 1943-2020
In 1963, Theodore Carter DeLaney Jr. was hired as a janitor at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. He became a full-time student in 1983. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in history in 1985 at the age of 42. After earning a Ph.D., in 1995, he joined the faculty at the university.
In Memoriam: Walter Harris Jr., 1947-2020
In 2003, Dr. Harris came to Loyola as provost and vice president for academic affairs and served in that capacity through 2008. He was provost at Loyola when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and helped students relocate to universities across the country.
In Memoriam: William E. Moore, 1941-2020
After being the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry at Purdue University, Dr. Moore joined the chemistry faculty at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the late 1960s. He achieved the rank of full professor within five years.
In Memoriam: Leith Patricia Mullings, 1945-2020
After teaching for six years at Columbia University, Dr. Mullings joined the faculty at the City University of New York in 1983. There she eventually became a distinguished professor of anthropology at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center.
In Memoriam: Edward Joseph Perkins, 1928-2020
Edward J. Perkins was the first African Amerian to serve as ambassador to the Republic of South Africa and later taught at the University of Oklahoma.
In Memoriam: Melvin Richardson Todd, 1933-2020
After many years as an administrator in Oklahoma public schools, in 1975, Dr. Todd went to work in the Chancellor's Office of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, eventually becoming vice chancellor for academic affairs.
In Memoriam: Alphonso Walter Grant, 1970-2020
Dr. Grant joined the faculty at the University of Arkansas in 2017 as a visiting professor of art education. He also was affiliated with the African and African American studies, political science, and gender studies programs at the university.
In Memoriam: Roosevelt D. Steptoe, 1934-2020
Dr. Steptoe led the flagship campus of the Southern University System from 1975 to 1982. Later, he served as vice president for academic affairs at Alabama State University in Montgomery.
In Memoriam: Walter Edward Williams, 1936-2020
Walter E. Williams was the conservative economist, syndicated newspaper columnist, and long-time professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He died on December 2, shortly after teaching his last class.
In Memoriam: Millie Ruth McClelland Charles, 1923-2020
Millie Charles was the founder of the School of Social Work at Southern University in New Orleans, Louisiana. She served on the faculty at the university for 40 years.
In Memoriam: Mary Levi Smith, 1936-2020
Mary L. Smith was the first woman to serve as president of historically Black Kentucky State University. Dr. Smith served as the eleventh president of the university from 1991 to 1998.
In Memoriam: Drew Saunders Days III, 1941-2020
Drew S. Days III was the Alfred M. Rankin Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He led the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department during the Carter administration and was Solicitor General of the United States during the Clinton administration.
In Memoriam: David Norton Dinkins, 1927-2020
David Dinkins was the 106th mayor of New York City and the first African American to lead the city. He also was a professor in the practice of public policy at the School of Public and International Affairs at Columbia University.
