Educational administrator Lyman Beecher Brooks, the first president of Norfolk State University, was born on May 27, 1910, in Blakes, Virginia, to a farmer and pianist, John Robert Brooks, and Mary Anna Burrell Brooks, a schoolteacher, and graduate of Virginia Union University. He began reading … Read MoreLyman Beecher Brooks (1910-1984)
Educational administrator Albert Walter Dent was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 25, 1904, to Daisy Dent. Information was not available regarding his father. He had two sisters. Dent graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1926. … Read MoreAlbert Walter Dent (1904-1984)
Elizabeth Duncan Koontz was the first African American president of the National Education Association (NEA) which at that point was an 820,000-member Association of Classroom Teachers. Koontz was born on June 3, 1919, in Salisbury, North Carolina. Her parents were Samuel E. Duncan, former president … Read MoreElizabeth Duncan Koontz (1919-1989)
Former University President Ivory Vance Nelson was born on June 11th, 1934 in Curtiss, Louisiana. Not much is available about Nelson’s youth. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Curtiss in 1951 at the age of 16 and then enlisted in the U.S. … Read MoreIvory V. Nelson (1934- )
Dr. Irving Pressley McPhail was a professor, mentor, President of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc (NACME), and most recently President of Saint Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina. Irving McPhail was born on March 27, 1949 in Harlem, New York. He … Read MoreIrving Pressley McPhail (1949-2020)
“Image Ownership: Flacourtphile (CC BY-SA 4.0)” Rodney D. Bennett is the current president of the University of Southern Mississippi. He is the institution’s tenth president and the first African American president of a predominantly white college or university in Mississippi. His presidency was announced February … Read MoreRodney D. Bennet ( 1966- )
Jewel Plumber Cobb, a cell biologist and cancer researcher, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on January 17, 1924, to Frank V. Plummer, a physician, and Carriebel (Cole) Plummer, a physical education teacher. An only child, Jewel Plummer began reading her father’s scientific journals to supplement … Read MoreJewel Plummer Cobb (1924- )
After witnessing poverty and discrimination in Depression-era Georgia, Louis Wade Sullivan committed his career to education and public service, rising to become Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George H.W. Bush. He also was the founder and long-time president of Morehouse College School … Read MoreLouis Wade Sullivan (1933- )
Lieutenant General Julius Wesley Becton Jr. was born on June 29, 1926 to Julius and Rose Becton in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. His father worked as a janitor in their apartment building. His mother was a housekeeper and laundress. In December 1943, Julius Becton joined the … Read MoreJulius W. Becton Jr. (1926- )
