List of Spelman College people
The list of Spelman College people includes notable alumnae and faculty of Spelman College.
| Name | Class year | Notability | Reference(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stacey Abrams | 1995 | Politician, House Minority Leader for the Georgia General Assembly and State Representative for the 89th House District; first African-American woman in the U.S. to win a major party's nomination for governor | |
| Adrienne Adams | 1982 | First African-American speaker of the New York City Council | |
| Erika Anderson | 2012 | Engineer, noted advocate for women of color in STEM | |
| Tina McElroy Ansa | 1971 | Author, Baby of the Family, Ugly Ways, The Hand I Fan With, and You Know Better | [1] |
| Blanche Armwood | 1906 | Educator, activist; first African-American woman in the state of Florida to graduate from an accredited law school; Armwood High School in Tampa, FL is named in her honor | |
| AverySunshine | 1998 | Singer and pianist | |
| Brenda S. Banks | 1971 | Archivist, Deputy Director of the Georgia Department of Archives and History and founder of Banks Archives Consultants | [2] |
| Mary Barksdale | 1942 | Past president, Jack and Jill | |
| Loretta Copeland Biggs | 1976 | Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina | |
| Janet Bragg | 1931 | Aviation pioneer; first African-American woman to obtain a commercial pilot license | |
| Rosalind G. Brewer | 1984 | Chief Executive Officer, Walgreens; Chief Operating Officer, Starbucks; Executive Vice President, Walmart Stores, Inc. and President Walmart Stores South, USA; Board of Directors, Lockheed Martin | |
| Ada E. Brown | 1996 | First African-American woman federal judge in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas | |
| Linda Goode Bryant | 1981 | Documentary filmmaker, Flag Wars; Peabody Award winner and 2004 Guggenheim Fellow | |
| Selena Sloan Butler | 1888 | Founder of first black parent-teacher organization, the National Congress for Colored Parents & Teachers; co-founder of the National Parent-Teacher Association | |
| Sheila L. Chamberlain | 1981 | Pilot, lawyer | |
| Pearl Cleage | 1971 | Novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and journalist | [1] |
| Lisa Cook | 1986 | First African-American woman to be confirmed as a Federal Reserve governor | [3] |
| Taylor Darling | 2004 | Elected official from the 18th district of the New York State Assembly | |
| Cassi Davis | 1988 | Actress, House of Payne | |
| Ethel McGhee Davis | 1919 | Student Adviser and Dean of Women at Spelman College | |
| Ruth A. Davis | 1966 | 24th Director General of the United States Foreign Service; director, Foreign Service Institute and two-time recipient of the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service | |
| Phire Dawson | 2008 | "Barker's Beauty" on The Price Is Right | |
| Mattiwilda Dobbs | 1937 | Opera singer; served on the Board of Directors for the Metropolitan Opera and the National Endowment for the Arts | [1] |
| Marian Wright Edelman | 1960 | Founder of the Children's Defense Fund; MacArthur Fellow; Heinz Award; Presidential Medal of Freedom | [1] |
| Christine King Farris | 1948 | Public speaker and educator who taught at Spelman College, eldest and last living sibling of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. | |
| Eleanor Ison Franklin | 1948 | Medical physiologist and endocrinologist | |
| Tia Fuller | 1998 | Saxophonist, composer, and educator | |
| Nora A. Gordon | 1888 | Began the tradition of Spelman missionary work to Africa[4] | |
| Beverly Guy-Sheftall | 1966 | Author, feminist scholar, founder of Women's Research and Resource Center at Spelman College | |
| Evelynn M. Hammonds | 1976 | Dean of Harvard College, Professor of the History of Science and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University | |
| Marcelite J. Harris | 1964 | First African-American woman to obtain the rank of General in the United States Air Force | |
| Paula Hicks-Hudson | 1973 | First African-American female mayor of Toledo, Ohio | |
| Pamela Gunter-Smith | 1973 | First African-American president of York College of Pennsylvania | |
| Varnette Honeywood | 1972 | Creator of the Little Bill character | [1] |
| Clara Ann Howard | 1887 | Baptist missionary in Africa, longtime Spelman staff | |
| Alexine Clement Jackson | 1956 | Chair, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and former National President of the YWCA | |
| Adrienne-Joi Johnson | 1988 | Actress, House Party, Baby Boy | |
| Bernette Joshua Johnson | 1964 | First African-American and second female Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court | [5] |
| Clara Stanton Jones | 1934 | First African-American president of the American Library Association | |
| Tayari Jones | 1991 | Award-winning author of An American Marriage and English professor at Emory University | |
| Bettina Judd | 2005 | Artist and poet | [6] |
| Annie Brown Kennedy | 1945 | Politician and lawyer; first Black woman to serve in the North Carolina House of Representatives | [7] |
| Alberta Williams King | (high school) | Mother of Martin Luther King Jr. | |
| Bernice King | 1986 | President, SCLC, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. | |
| Audrey F. Manley | 1955 | President Emerita of Spelman College, former Assistant Surgeon General of the United States, former Acting Surgeon General of the United States | |
| Marian Mereba | 2011 | Singer, songwriter, and producer | |
| Harriet Mitchell Murphy | 1949 | First African-American female judge in Texas | [8] |
| Tanya Walton Pratt | 1981 | Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana | |
| Deborah Prothrow-Stith | 1975 | First female Commissioner of Public Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Professor at Harvard School of Public Health | [1] |
| Keshia Knight Pulliam | 2001 | Actress The Cosby Show, House of Payne | |
| Reisha Raney | CEO of Encyde Corporation and first black women to serve as a Maryland state officer in the Daughters of the American Revolution | ||
| Tanika Ray | 1994 | Actress and television personality | [9] |
| Bernice Johnson Reagon | 1970 | Founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock; MacArthur Fellow; Professor Emeritus American University Curator Emeritus, Smithsonian Institution National Museum American History; National Humanities Medal; Heinz Award | [1] |
| LaTanya Richardson | 1971 | Actress (The Fighting Temptations, Losing Isaiah, Malcolm X) and wife of actor Samuel L. Jackson | [1] |
| Rubye Robinson | 1963 | Civil rights activist, Executive Secretary of SNCC | |
| Shaun Robinson | 1984 | Co-anchor, Access Hollywood; former host, TV One Access | |
| Esther Rolle | attended | Actress, Good Times | |
| Dovey Johnson Roundtree | 1938 | Trial attorney, military veteran, AMEC minister, and civil rights pioneer; landmark case: Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company | |
| Eva Rutland | 1937 | Author, When We Were Colored: A Mother's Story; winner of the 2000 Golden Pen Lifetime Achievement Award, and author of more than 20 romance novels | |
| Kiron Skinner | 1981 | College professor and former Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State | |
| Brenda V. Smith | 1980 | Law professor, American University; appointed by Nancy Pelosi to the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission | |
| Daphne L. Smith | 1980 | First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics from MIT | |
| Maxine Smith | 1949 | Academic, civil rights activist, and school board official | [10] |
| Hemlocke Springs | 2021 | Singer, songwriter, and producer | |
| Sharmell Sullivan | 1990 | Miss Black America 1991, "TNA Knockout", and wife of professional wrestler Booker T | |
| Sue Bailey Thurman | 1920 | Founder and first chairperson, National Council of Negro Women's National Library | |
| Alice Walker | attended | Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, The Color Purple | [1] |
| Talitha Washington | 1996 | African-American mathematician and STEM activist | |
| Rolonda Watts | 1980 | Journalist, actor, writer, former talk show host | |
| Ella Gaines Yates | 1949 | First African-American director of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System |
Notable faculty
- Alma Jean Billingslea (born 1946), civil rights activist and author
- Sylvia Bozeman (born 1947), mathematician and educator
- Ayoka Chenzira (born 1953), director, producer, writer, and animator
- Pearl Cleage (born 1948), author
- Jelani Cobb (born 1969), writer, author, educator
- Julie Dash (born 1952), filmmaker[11]
- Etta Zuber Falconer (1933–2002), educator and mathematician
- Christine King Farris (born 1927), author, sister of Martin Luther King Jr.
- Shirley Franklin (born 1945), former Atlanta mayor
- Cornelia Gillyard (born 1941), chair of the chemistry department
- Beverly Guy-Sheftall (born 1946), black feminist scholar
- Marionette Holmes, economist
- Joyce Johnson (born Joyce Finch), concert pianist and college organist
- Sophia B. Jones (1857–1932), first African-American faculty member, organized nursing program
- Shirley McBay (born 1935), founder of the Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network
- LaVon Mercer (born 1959), American-Israeli basketball player
- Opal J. Moore (born 1953), educator and poet
- Glenda Price, former president of Marygrove College
- Angelino Viceisza, economist
- Howard Zinn (1922–2010), historian
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Spelman College". The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press. Retrieved January 30, 2008.
- ^ "Brenda Banks obituary". Legacy.com.
- ^ "Alumna Lisa D. Cook Confirmed as Federal Reserve Governor".
- ^ Weisenfeld, Judith; Newman, Richard (23 April 2014). This Far By Faith: Readings in African-American Women's Religious Biography. New York, New York: Routledge. p. 224. ISBN 978-1-136-66351-2.
- ^ "Bernette Joshua Johnson". intelius.com. Retrieved July 19, 2015.
- ^ "Bettina Judd — Department of Women's Studies at Univ. of Maryland". wmst.umd.edu. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
- ^ Hinton, John (2023-01-17). "Annie Brown Kennedy, first Black woman to serve in the N.C. General Assembly and prominent attorney, dies at 98". Winston-Salem Journal. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
- ^ "Harriet Murphy". diversity.utexas.edu. 14 April 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
- ^ https://www.encyde.com/reisha-raney
- ^ "Maxine A. Smith NAACP Collection". Digital Library of Georgia. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
- ^ "Groundbreaking Filmmaker Julie Dash Joins Spelman as Distinguished Professor". Spelman College. September 2017. Retrieved 2019-12-19.