List of Fisk University alumni

Following is a list of notable alumni from Fisk University.

Name Class year Notability Reference(s)
Lil Hardin Armstrong 1915 jazz pianist/composer, second wife of Louis Armstrong
Marion Barry 1960 former mayor of Washington, D.C.
Mary Frances Berry former Chair, United States Commission on Civil Rights; former Chancellor University of Colorado at Boulder
John Betsch 1967 jazz percussionist
Otis Boykin 1942 inventor, control device for the heart pacemaker
St. Elmo Brady first African American to earn a doctorate in Chemistry
Virginia E. Walker Broughton 1875, 1878 author and Baptist missionary [1][2][3]
Cora Brown first African-American woman elected to a state senate
James Dallas Burrus 1875 educator
John Houston Burrus 1875 educator
Henry Alvin Cameron 1896 educator, decorated World War I veteran
Elizabeth Hortense (Golden) Canady past national president of Delta Sigma Theta sorority
Alfred O. Coffin first African American to earn a doctorate in zoology
Malia Cohen 2001 San Francisco District 10 Supervisor 2010 – Present
Johnnetta B. Cole anthropologist, former President of Spelman College and Bennett College
Neal Craig 1971 NFL Cornerback for Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, and Cleveland Browns
Minnie Lee Crosthwaite community organizer, women's activist, and social worker
Minnie Lou Crosthwaite teacher, college administrator, activist
Arthur Cunningham 1951 musical composer, studied at Juilliard and Columbia University
William L. Dawson (politician) 1909 U.S. Congressman (1943–1970)
Charles Diggs United States House of Representatives Michigan (1955–1980)
Mahala Ashley Dickerson 1935 first black female attorney in the state of Alabama and first black president of the National Association of Women Lawyers
Rel Dowdell 1993 acclaimed filmmaker
W. E. B. Du Bois 1888 sociologist, scholar, first African-American to earn a PhD from Harvard
James J. Durham 1880, 1885 Founder of Morris College
Althea Brown Edmiston 1901 Presbyterian missionary in Belgian Congo
Venida Evans 1969 actress, best known for IKEA commercials
Etta Zuber Falconer 1953 first African-American woman to receive a PhD in mathematics; former Chair, mathematics department at Spelman College
John Hope Franklin 1935 historian, professor, scholar, author of landmark text From Slavery to Freedom
Victor O. Frazer United States House of Representatives (1995–1997)
Alonzo Fulgham former acting chief and operating officer of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Vivian Gadsden 1978 psychologist at University of Pennsylvania [4]
Nikki Giovanni 1967 poet, author, professor, scholar
Louis George Gregory posthumously, a Hand of the Cause in Bahá'í Faith
Eliza Ann Grier 1891 first African-American female physician in Georgia
Alcee Hastings U.S. Congressman and former U.S. district court judge
Roland Hayes concert singer
Perry Wilbon Howard Assistant U.S. Attorney General under President Herbert Hoover
Elmer Imes 1903 renowned physicist and second African-American to earn a PhD in Physics
Esther Cooper Jackson 1940 Founding editor of Freedomways Journal
Lena Terrell Jackson 1885 educator in Nashville for over 50 years
Leonard Jackson 1952 Actor, Five on the Black Hand Side; The Color Purple
Robert James former NFL all-pro cornerback
Judith Jamison pioneering dancer and choreographer; former artistic Director, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Ben Jobe 1956 legendary basketball coach, Southern University
Joyce Johnson 1953 Organist and Professor Emerita of music at Spelman College in Atlanta
Lewis Wade Jones 1931 sociologist; Julius Rosenwald Foundation Fellow at Columbia University
Ella Mae Johnson 1921 at age 105 years old, Ella Mae Johnson traveled to Washington, DC to attend the inauguration of Barack Obama
Mame Stewart Josenberger 1888 businesswoman and club woman in Arkansas
Anne Gamble Kennedy 1941 Pianist, professor, and piano accompanist for the Fisk Jubilee Singers
Matthew Kennedy 1947 Pianist, professor, and former director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers
Mathew Knowles 1974 father and former manager of Beyoncé, founder and owner of Music World Entertainment, and adjunct professor at Texas Southern University
John Angelo Lester 1895 Professor Emeritus of Physiology, Meharry Medical College
Nella Larsen 1908 novelist, Harlem Renaissance era
Julius Lester 1960 author of children's books and former professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
David Levering Lewis 1956 two-time Pulitzer Prize Winner
John Lewis 1967 Congressman, civil rights activist, former President of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Hettie Simmons Love 1943 first African-American to earn an MBA at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania
Jimmie Lunceford 1925 famous bandleader in the swing era
Aubrey Lyles 1903 vaudeville performer
Hugh Ellwood Macbeth Sr. 1905 civil rights attorney who fought against the incarceration of Japanese Americans
Ariana Austin Makonnen philanthropist and member of the Ethiopian Imperial Family
Patti J. Malone 1880 Fisk Jubilee Singer
Mandisa 2001 Grammy Award-winning and Dove Award-nominated Christian contemporary singer/songwriter, ninth-place finalist in the fifth season (2006) of American Idol
Louis E. Martin 1933 Godfather of Black Politics
Fatima Massaquoi 1936 pioneering Liberian educator [5]
Jedidah Isler 2007 Isler became the first African-American woman to receive a PhD in Astrophysics from Yale University in 2014 [6]
Wade H. McCree 1941 second African-American United States Solicitor General; Justice, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Samuel A. McElwee 1883 State Senator during the Reconstruction Era and the first African American elected three times to the Tennessee General Assembly
Robert McFerrin first African American male to sing at the Metropolitan Opera and father of Bobby McFerrin
Leslie Meek 1987 Administrative Law Judge, wife of Congressman Kendrick Meek
Theo Mitchell 1960 Senator, South Carolina General Assembly
Undine Smith Moore first Fisk graduate to receive a scholarship to Juilliard, Pulitzer Prize Nominee
Constance Baker Motley 1941–1942 first African-American woman elected to the New York State Senate
Diane Nash founding member of SNCC
Rachel B. Noel politician; first African-American to serve on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education
Hon. Hazel O'Leary former U.S. Secretary of Energy
J. O. Patterson Jr. 1958 first African American to occupy the office of Mayor of Memphis. Tennessee State Representative, State Senator, Memphis Councilman, Jurisdictional Bishop in the Church of God in Christ
Helen Phillips 1928 first African-American to perform with the Metropolitan Opera Chorus
Annette Lewis Phinazee 1939 first black woman to earn a doctorate in library sciences from Columbia University
Alma Powell wife of Gen. Colin Powell
Louis W. Roberts 1913 microwave physicist, chief of the Microwave Laboratory at NASA's Electronics Research Center and director of the United States Department of Transportation's John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center [7]
Cecelia Cabaniss Saunders 1903 director of Harlem YWCA, 1914-1947
Lorenzo Dow Turner 1910 linguist and Chair, African Studies at Roosevelt University
A. Maceo Walker 1930 businessman, Universal Life Insurance, Tri-State Bank
Ron Walters 1963 scholar of African-American politics, Chair, Afro-American Studies Brandeis University
Margaret Murray Washington 1890 Lady Principal of Tuskegee Institute and third wife of Booker T. Washington
Teresa N. Washington 1993 academic, author, activist
Ida B. Wells American civil rights activist and women's suffrage advocate
Charles H. Wesley 1911 President of Wilberforce University from 1942 to 1947, and President of Central State College from 1947–1965; third African-American to receive a PhD from Harvard
Kym Whitley actress, comedian
Frederica Wilson 1963 U.S. Representative for Florida's 17th congressional district
Tom Wilson (producer) 1953 music producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan and Frank Zappa
Frank Yerby 1938 first African-American to publish a best-selling novel

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Carter, Tomeiko Ashford, editor (2010). Virginia Broughton: The Life and Writings of a Missionary, The University of Tennessee Press, page xxxix. ISBN 978-1572336964
  2. ^ "Biographies". Digital.nypl.org. Retrieved 2012-12-09.
  3. ^ Carter, Tomeiko Ashford; Smith, Jessie Carney (2010). Virginia Broughton: The Life and Writings of a Missionary. The University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 978-1-57233-709-1. Project MUSE book 1351.[page needed]
  4. ^ "Vivian L. Gadsden". University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.
  5. ^ Massaquoi, Fatima (2013). Introduction to The Autobiography of an African Princess. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-137-10250-8.
  6. ^ "Jedidah Isler First African-American Woman To Receive A Yale PhD In Astrophysics". scienceworldreport.com. October 18, 2015. Retrieved 2016-12-26.
  7. ^ "Louis Wright Roberts, Dr". Who's Who Among African Americans. Gale. 2005.
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