Lucy Stanton

Lucy Stanton (1831 – 1910), an abolitionist and feminist, was the first to receive a four-year college degree from Oberlin College in 1850.

Charlotte Forten Grimke

Charlotte Forten Grimke (1837 – 1914), an educator, poet, and Abolitionist was the first teacher in the world to work with white students atthe Salem Public School in 1855.

Sarah Jane Woodson Early

Sarah Jane Woodson Early (1825 – 1907), an educator, abolitionist, and feminist, was the first to become a college professor at Wilberforce University in 1859.

Mary Jane Patterson

Mary Jane Patterson (1840 – 1894), an educator, was the first to receive a B.A. Degree from Oberlin College in 1862.

Fanny Jackson Coppin

Fanny Jackson Coppin (1837 – 1913), an educator and missionary, was the first to receive the title of Principal at the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia in 1869.

Lucy Craft Laney

Lucy Craft Laney (1854 – 1993), a famous educator, was the founder of the first school for black children in Augusta, GA in 1883.

Anna Julia Cooper

Anna Julia Cooper (1858 – 1964), a distinguished scholar, author, and pioneering black feminist, was the first to publish a black feminist analysis, A Voice from the South in 1892.

Mary Church Terrell

Mary Church Terrell (1863 – 1954), an educator and activist, was the first president of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896, and was the first to serve on the Washington, DC School Board in 1898.

Mary Annette Anderson

Mary Annette Anderson (1874 – 1922), an American professor, was the first to be inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society in 1899.

Ethel Hedgeman Lyle

Ethel Hedgeman Lyle (1887 – 1950), an educator, often referred to as the “guiding light” (principal founder) of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. the first Greek Letter organization founded by and for African American college trained women in 1908, at Howard University and was the first to receive a Teacher’s Life Certificate from the State Department of Education.

Georgiana Simpson

Georgiana Simpson (1866 – 1944), an educator, was the first to receive a Ph.D. in German from the University of Chicago in 1921.

Eva Dykes

Eva Dykes (1893 – 1986), an educator, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in English-Philosophy from Radcliff College in 1921.

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1898 – 1989), a lawyer and civil rights activist, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1921. Additionally, she was the first National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Virginal Proctor Powell

Virginal Proctor Powell (1897 – 1991), an educator, was the first to earn a degree in Library Science from Carnegie Library School in 1923.

Dorothy B. Porter

Dorothy B. Porter (1905 – 1995), an educator was the first to earn a Masters in Library Science from Columbia University in 1932.

Beverly Prosser

Beverly Prosser (1895 – 1934), an educator, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Cincinnati in 1933.

Ruth Ella Moore

Ruth Ella Moore (1903 – 1994), an educator and scientist, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in Bacteriology from Ohio State in 1933.

Jesse Jarue Mark

Jesse Jarue Mark, Sr.(b. 1905), an educator, was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in Botany from Iowa State University in 1935.

Flemmie Kitttrell

Flemmie Kitttrell (1904 – 1980), an educator, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition from Cornell University in 1936.

Anna Johnson Julian

Anna Johnson Julian (1901 – 1994), an educator, was the first to receive a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1937.

Roger Arliner Young

Roger Arliner Young (1889 – 1964), an educator and scientist, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1940.

Merze Tate

Merze Tate (1905 – 1996), an educator, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in Government and International Relations from Harvard University in 1941.

Ruth Smith Lloyd

Ruth Smith Lloyd (b.1917), an educator, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in Anatomy from Western Reserve University in 1941.

Margurite Thomas Williams

Margurite Thomas Williams(1895 – 1991), an educator and was the first to earn a Ph.D. in Zoology from a Catholic University in 1942.

Marie Maynard Daley

Marie Maynard Daley (1921 – 2003), an educator, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Columbia University in 1947.

Manet Fowler

Manet Fowler (1916 – 2004), an educator, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Cornell in 1952.

Jewel Prestage

Jewel Prestage (1931 - ), an educator, was the first to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in Political Science in 1953.

Elizabeth Duncan Koontz

Elizabeth Duncan Koontz (1919 – 1989), an educator, was the first to be elected president of the National Education Association in 1968.

Willie Hobbs Moore

Willie Hobbs Moore (1934 – 1994), an educator, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Michigan in 1972.

Barbara Sizemore

Barbara Sizemore (1927 – 2004), an educator, was the first superintendent to head a major school system, Washington, DC in 1973.

Mary Frances Berry

Mary Frances Berry (b. 1938), an educator was the first African-American woman to become chancellor of the University of Colorado in 1976.

Clara Stanton Jones

Clara Stanton Jones (1913 – 2012), a librarian, was the first to become president of the American Library Association in 1976.

Jennie R. Patrick

Jennie R. Patrick (b. 1949), an educator and chemical engineer, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1979.

Jewel Plummer Cobb

Jewel Plummer Cobb (b. 1924), an educator, was the first to become president of a major west coast university, California State University at Fullerton in 1981. (Chicago Connection)

Niara Sudarkasa

Niara Sudarkasa (b. 1938), an Africanist, anthropologist, and educator, was the first to serve as president of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania is 1986.

Johnetta Cole

Johnetta Cole (b. 1936), an educator, anthropologist, and museum director, was the first to become president of Spellman College, (all female college) in 1987.

Ruth J. Simmons

Ruth J. Simmons (b. 1945)), an educator and academia administrator, was the first to become president of Brown University in 2001.

Paulette McCrae

Paulette McCrae, an academic administrator and cancer researcher, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Yale University in 2007.

Kyla McMullen

Kyla McMullen, an educator and engineer, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2012.

Glenda (Baskin) Glover

Glenda (Baskin) Glover, a Ph.D., J.D., CPA, was the first female to be elected president of Tennessee State University in 2013; she is also a graduate from TSU.