Academia

Juneteenth 2022
A Celebration of Black Achievers (Click Here)

Chronology

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

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

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

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

1869 Fannie 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.

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

1892 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.

1898 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.

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

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

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

1921 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.

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

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

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

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

1935 Jessie Jarue Mark an educator, was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in Botany from Iowa State University in 1935.

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

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

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

1940 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.

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

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

1947 Marie Maynard Daly (1921 - 2003), an educator, was the firstto earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Columbia University in 1947.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1979 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.

1981 Jewel Plummer Cobb (b. 1924), an educator, was the first to become president of a major west coast university, California State University at Fullerton in1981.

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

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

2001 Ruth J. Simmons (b. July 3, 1945), an educator and academia administrator, was the first to become president of Brown University in 2001.

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

2012 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.

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