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.
In Memoriam: Gary Lynn Harris, 1953-2020
Gary L. Harris was professor of electrical engineering, former dean of the Graduate School and associate provost for research at Howard University. He was one of the first two African Americans to earn a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Cornell University.
In Memoriam: Jacqueline Rosemarie Satchell, 1968-2020
A native of Jamaica, Jacqueline Rosemarie Satchell was an assistant professor of medicine and a leading clinician-educator in the Yale Section of General Internal Medicine and Veterans Administration's Connecticut Healthcare System.
In Memoriam: James S. Jackson, 1944-2020
James S. Jackson was the Daniel Katz Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, at the University of Michigan. He also held appointments as a professor of Afro-American and African studies and as a research professor at the Institute for Social Research at the university.
In Memoriam: Mary Turner Harper, 1935-2020
After teaching in the public schools, Dr. Turner joined the faculty at Barber-Scotia College in Concord, North Carolina, and Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte. In 1971, she was the first African American to join the English department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
In Memoriam: Carolyn Sundy, 1951-2020
More than 40 years ago, Dr. Sundy joined the staff at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College to head up the college's Upward Bound program.
In Memoriam: Viralene Johnson Coleman, 1928-2020
Professor Coleman served for 37 years as an English and literature teacher at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. In 1969, she was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
In Memoriam: Russell Boone, 1921-2020
In 1960, Russell Boone was appointed director of university bands at Mississippi Valley State University. During his tenure, the band was the first ensemble from a historically Black college or university to play in the Rose Bowl parade. The band also played in the inaugural parade for President Richard Nixon in 1969.
In Memoriam: Stanley Lawrence Crouch, 1945-2020
A native of Los Angeles, Crouch joined the English department faculty at Pomona College in 1967 at the age of 22. He went on to become one of the most famous and controversial jazz critics in the nation.
In Memoriam: Frederick Charles Tillis, 1930-2020
Frederick C. Tillis was professor emeritus of music and former director of the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His more than 100 compositions include works for piano and voice, orchestra and chorus, solo, and chamber music.
In Memoriam: Woodson H. Hopewell Jr., 1954-2020
Over a 44-year career at Hampton, Woodson Hopewell served as assistant director of student activities, director of student activities, and dean of men. In 2015, Hopewell was appointed dean of judicial affairs and housing.
In Memoriam: Jacqueline Elizabeth McCauley, 1947-2020
In 1965, Jackie McCauley enrolled at Rice University along with Charles Edwards Freeman. They were the first African American undergraduate students at the university. She was the first black high school student in Texas to be named a National Merit Scholar.
In Memoriam; Robert Lee Williams II, 1930-2020
Robert Lee Williams II was the founding director of the Black studies program at Washington University in St. Louis. He is credited with creating the term “Ebonics,” a combination of the words ebony and phonics.
In Memoriam: Clara Isabel Adams, 1933-2020
Clara Adams was a member of the faculty and an administrator at Morgan State University in Baltimore for nearly 60 years. She was also the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Massachusetts.
In Memoriam: Courtney W. Stevenson 1914-2020
Courtney Stevenson, a long-time faculty member at Delaware State University died on August 5 at Bayhealth Medical Center in Dover, DE.
