21 Notable alumni of
Alabama A&M University
Updated:
Alabama A&M University is 1962nd in the world, 679th in North America, and 639th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 21 notable alumni from Alabama A&M University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Sun Ra
- Occupations
- music directorwritercomposerinstrumentalistpoet
- Biography
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Le Sony'r Ra, better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances. For much of his career, Ra led The Arkestra, an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up.
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Ruben Studdard
- Occupations
- singer
- Biography
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Ruben Studdard is an American singer and actor. He rose to fame as the winner of the second season of American Idol and received a Grammy Award nomination in 2003 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his recording of "Superstar". In the years following Idol, Studdard has released seven studio albums, including his platinum-selling debut, Soulful, and the top-selling gospel follow-up, I Need an Angel. He is most well known for his recording career, which has produced hits including "Flying Without Wings", "Sorry 2004", and "Change Me", but he has also segued into television and stage work. Most notably, he starred as Fats Waller in a national tour revival of Ain't Misbehavin', which spawned a Grammy-nominated soundtrack.
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Mandela Barnes
- Enrolled in Alabama A&M University
- 2003-2020 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in media studies
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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J. Mandela Barnes is an American politician who served as the 45th lieutenant governor of Wisconsin from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the state representative for the 11th district from 2013 to 2017. Barnes is the first African American to serve as Wisconsin's lieutenant governor.
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Robert Mathis
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Robert Nathan Mathis is an American former professional football player who spent his entire 14-year career as a defensive end and linebacker with the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama A&M Bulldogs and was selected by the Colts in the fifth round of the 2003 NFL draft. A two-time All-Pro and a five-time Pro Bowler, Mathis won the Super Bowl XLI with the Colts in 2006 over the Chicago Bears. He is also the NFL's all-time leader in forced fumbles and strip sacks. The year after retiring, Mathis joined the Colts as an assistant defensive coach.
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John Stallworth
- Occupations
- businesspersonAmerican football player
- Biography
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Johnny Lee Stallworth is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football for the Alabama A&M Bulldogs, and was the Steelers' fourth-round draft pick in 1974. Stallworth played in six AFC championships, and went to four Super Bowls, winning all four. His career statistics included 537 receptions for 8,723 yards and 63 touchdowns. Stallworth's reception total was a franchise record until being surpassed by Hines Ward in 2005. Stallworth played in three Pro Bowls and was the Steelers' two-time MVP. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
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Joseph Lowery
- Occupations
- Christian ministercivil rights advocatehuman rights activist
- Biography
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Joseph Echols Lowery was an American minister in the United Methodist Church and leader in the civil rights movement. He founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr. and others, serving as its vice president, later chairman of the board, and its third president from 1977 to 1997. Lowery participated in most of the major activities of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, and continued his civil rights work into the 21st century. He was called the "Dean of the Civil Rights Movement".
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Cleon Jones
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Cleon Joseph Jones is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left fielder. Jones played most of his career for the New York Mets and in 1969 caught the final out of the "Miracle Mets" World Series Championship over the Baltimore Orioles.
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Robert D. Bullard
- Occupations
- sociologistuniversity teacherecologist
- Biography
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Robert Doyle Bullard is an American academic who is the former Dean of the Barbara Jordan - Mickey Leland School Of Public Affairs (October 2011 – August 2016) and is currently a Distinguished Professor at Texas Southern University. Previously Ware Professor of Sociology and Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University, Bullard is known as the "father of environmental justice". He has been a leading campaigner against environmental racism, as well as the foremost scholar of the problem, and of the Environmental Justice Movement which sprung up in the United States in the 1980s.
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Mickell Gladness
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Mickell Jawaun Gladness is an American professional basketball player, who last played for Arka Gdynia of the Polish Basketball League (PLK). Gladness grew up in Alabama, played college basketball for Lawson State Community College and Alabama A&M University, and he began his professional career in the Netherlands after going undrafted in the 2008 NBA draft. In 2011, Gladness debuted in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Miami Heat.
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Don Calloway
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Donald Calloway is an American attorney and politician from St. Louis, Missouri. He was a Democratic member of the Missouri House of Representatives for the 71st District in St. Louis County.
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Anthony Lanier
- Occupations
- basketball playerAmerican football player
- Biography
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Anthony Lanier II is an American professional football defensive end for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Alabama A&M and was signed by the Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent in 2016.
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Anthony Daniels
- Years
- 1982-.. (age 43)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Anthony Daniels is an American politician and member of the Alabama House of Representatives, representing House District 53 since 2014. Since February 22, 2017, Daniels has served as minority leader in the state House of Representatives, leading the House Democratic Caucus.
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George Edmund Haynes
- Occupations
- social worker
- Biography
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George Edmund Haynes was an American sociology scholar and federal civil servant, a co-founder and first executive director of the National Urban League, serving 1911 to 1918. A graduate of Fisk University, he earned a master's degree at Yale University, and was the first African American to earn a doctorate degree from Columbia University, where he completed one in sociology.
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Laura Hall
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Laura Vandiver Hall is an American politician who currently serves in the Alabama House of Representatives representing House District 19 as a Democrat. Hall was first elected to the Alabama House of Representatives by special election in August 1993. She was re-elected in 1994 until now. She is a retired educator whose tenure in the education field extended for over forty years.
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Jeanette Scissum
- Occupations
- academic
- Biography
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Jeanette Alexander Scissum is an American mathematician, space scientist, and diversity advocate who put forward techniques for improved forecasting of the sunspot cycle.
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Clyde Foster
- Occupations
- mathematician
- Biography
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Clyde Foster was an American scientist and mathematician. He worked for the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and then for NASA, and from 1975 to 1986 was the head of Equal Employment Opportunity at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He is credited with setting up training programs that allowed hundreds of African Americans to get the training necessary for positions and promotions at NASA in Huntsville, when Alabama was segregated and African Americans were denied those opportunities. To that purpose he also helped found a Computer Science program at his alma mater, Alabama A&M University, a historically black university, where he headed the Computer Science program while on loan from NASA. In 1981 he was awarded the Philip A. Hart Award for his "significant contribution toward improving urban and working environments".
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Johnson O. Akinleye
- Biography
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Johnson O. Akinleye was the twelfth chancellor of North Carolina Central University. He was installed as chancellor of the university on June 26, 2017. He retired on June 30, 2024.
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Matthew Mendy
- Occupations
- association football player
- Biography
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Matthew Mendy is a football defender from Gambia, he currently plays for FC Jazz in the Finnish second tier Ykkönen. Mendy was signed by Jazz in August 2014.
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William Henry Steward
- Occupations
- journalistcivil rights advocate
- Biography
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William Henry Steward was a civil rights activist from Louisville, Kentucky. In February 1876, he was appointed the first black letter carrier in Kentucky. He was the leading layman of the General Association of Negro Baptists in Kentucky and played a key role in the founding of Simmons College of Kentucky by the group in 1879. He continued to play an important role in the college during his life. He was also co-founder of the American Baptist, a journal associated with the group, and Steward went on to be the journal's editor. He was a leader in Louisville civic and public life, and played a role in extending educational opportunities in the city to black children. In 1897, his political associations led to his appointment as judge of registration and election for the Fifteenth Precinct of the Ninth Ward, overseeing voter registration for the election. This was the first appointment of an African American to such a position in Kentucky. He was elected president of the Afro-American Press Association in the 1890s He was a close associate of Booker T. Washington, and in the late 1890s and early 1900s, Steward was a prominent member of the National Afro-American Council, which was dominated by Washington. He was president of the council from 1904 to 1905. He was a lifelong opponent of segregation and was frequently involved in anti-Jim Crow law activities. In 1914 he helped found a Louisville branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which he left in 1920 to become a key player in the Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC). He was also a prominent freemason and twice elected Worshipful Master of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky.
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Lisa S. Jones
- Enrolled in Alabama A&M University
- Graduated with Bachelor in Business Administration
- Occupations
- thought leaderdigital marketing expertbusinesspersonchief executive officer
- Biography
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Lisa S. Jones is an American businesswoman and entrepreneur, best known for being the founder of Atlanta-based video email company EyeMail Inc. As both a black and woman-owned business, EyeMail Inc. is classified as a Minority Women Business Enterprise (MWBE). Her company began as a start-up, eventually growing exponentially through partnerships with Microsoft, Delta Air Lines, Time Warner, Porsche North America, the Atlanta Tech Village, PepsiCo and, most notably, The Coca-Cola Company, through which EyeMail Inc. got selected by Microsoft as a premier MWBE supplier in digital marketing. Prior to dedicating herself to entrepreneurship, Jones worked in supplier diversity for telecommunications provider AT&T, and continues to develop a career as a thought leader and public speaker in the matter.
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Shelia Nash-Stevenson
- Occupations
- engineer
- Biography
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Shelia Nash-Stevenson is an American physicist and engineer. Nash-Stevenson was the first Black woman in Alabama to earn a PhD in physics.
