69 Notable alumni of
Fisk University
Fisk University is 822nd in the world, 309th in North America, and 288th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 69 notable alumni from Fisk 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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W. E. B. Du Bois
- Occupations
- social workerphilosopherpoeteconomistopinion journalist
- Biography
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William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. After completing graduate work at the Friedrich Wilhelm University (in Berlin, Germany) and Harvard University, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology, and economics at Atlanta University. Du Bois was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
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Ida B. Wells
- Occupations
- writerjournalisthuman rights activistsociologistsuffragist
- Biography
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Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Wells dedicated her career to combating prejudice and violence, advocating for African-American equality—especially that of women—and was a prominent Black figure.
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John Lewis
- Enrolled in Fisk University
- In 1967 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- chairpersonpoliticianmember of parliamenthuman rights activist
- Biography
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John Robert Lewis was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966, and was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington. Fulfilling many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States, in 1965 Lewis led the first of three Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge where, in an incident which became known as Bloody Sunday, state troopers and police attacked Lewis and the other marchers.
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Marion Barry
- Occupations
- politicianhuman rights activist
- Biography
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Marion Shepilov Barry was an American politician who served as mayor of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1991 and 1995 to 1999. A Democrat, Barry had served three tenures on the Council of the District of Columbia, representing as an at-large member from 1975 to 1979, in Ward 8 from 1993 to 1995, and again from 2005 to 2014.
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Kym Whitley
- Occupations
- composervoice actorsingercomedianfilm actor
- Biography
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Kym Elizabeth Whitley is an American comedian and actress. She is best known for her roles on television sitcoms, such as My Brother and Me, Sparks, Animal Practice, The Boondocks, Young & Hungry, The Parkers, The Cleveland Show, and Black Dynamite. Whitley was nominated for a 2004 BET Comedy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Box Office Movie for her role as Ormandy in the 2003 comedy film Deliver Us From Eva.
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Nikki Giovanni
- Occupations
- teacherwriterpoet
- Biography
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Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. is an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. One of the world's most well-known African-American poets, her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recordings, and nonfiction essays, and covers topics ranging from race and social issues to children's literature. She has won numerous awards, including the Langston Hughes Medal and the NAACP Image Award. She has been nominated for a Grammy Award for her poetry album, The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection. Additionally, she has been named as one of Oprah Winfrey's 25 "Living Legends".
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James Weldon Johnson
- Occupations
- songwriterwriterjuristlawyerpolitician
- Biography
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James Weldon Johnson was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he started working in 1917. In 1920, he was chosen as executive secretary of the organization, effectively the operating officer. He served in that position from 1920 to 1930. Johnson established his reputation as a writer, and was known during the Harlem Renaissance for his poems, novel, and anthologies collecting both poems and spirituals of black culture. He wrote the lyrics for "Lift Every Voice and Sing", which later became known as the Negro National Anthem, the music being written by his younger brother, composer J. Rosamond Johnson.
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Frederica Wilson
- Enrolled in Fisk University
- In 1963 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- head teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Frederica Smith Wilson is an American politician who has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 2011, representing Florida's 24th congressional district. Located in South Florida, Wilson's congressional district, numbered as the 17th during her first term, covers a large swath of eastern Miami-Dade County and a sliver of southern Broward County. The district contains most of Miami's majority-black precincts, as well as parts of Opa-locka, North Miami, Hollywood, and Miramar. Wilson gained national attention in 2012 for her comments on the death of Trayvon Martin.
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Alcee Hastings
- Enrolled in Fisk University
- In 1958 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Alcee Lamar Hastings was an American politician and judge from the state of Florida.
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Alma Powell
- Biography
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Alma Vivian Powell is an American audiologist and the widow of military and political figure Colin Powell, whom she married on August 25, 1962.
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Diane Nash
- Occupations
- human rights activist
- Biography
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Diane Judith Nash is an American civil rights activist, and a leader and strategist of the student wing of the Civil Rights Movement.
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Mandisa
- Occupations
- composersinger
- Biography
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Mandisa Lynn Hundley, known professionally as Mandisa, is an American gospel and contemporary Christian recording artist. Her career began as a contestant in the fifth season of American Idol, in which she finished in ninth place. She is the fifth American Idol alumna to win a Grammy Award, for her album Overcomer in the Best Contemporary Christian Music Album category.
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Lil Hardin Armstrong
- Occupations
- jazz musicianpianistsingerbandleaderconductor
- Biography
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Lillian Hardin Armstrong was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader. She was the second wife of Louis Armstrong, with whom she collaborated on many recordings in the 1920s.
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Nella Larsen
- Enrolled in Fisk University
- Studied in 1907
- Occupations
- novelistnurselibrarianwriter
- Biography
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Nellallitea "Nella" Larsen was an American novelist. Working as a nurse and a librarian, she published two novels, Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929), and a few short stories. Though her literary output was scant, she earned recognition by her contemporaries.
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Roland Hayes
- Occupations
- tenorcomposer
- Biography
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Roland Wiltse Hayes was an American lyric tenor and composer. Critics lauded his abilities and linguistic skills demonstrated with songs in French, German, and Italian. Hayes's predecessors as well-known African-American concert artists including Sissieretta Jones and Marie Selika were not recorded. Along with Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson, Hayes was one of the first to break this barrier in the classical repertoire when in 1939 he recorded with Columbia.
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John Hope Franklin
- Enrolled in Fisk University
- In 1935 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- professoruniversity teacherwriterhistorian
- Biography
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John Hope Franklin was an American historian of the United States and former president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Historical Association. Franklin is best known for his work From Slavery to Freedom, first published in 1947, and continually updated. More than three million copies have been sold. In 1995, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
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Constance Baker Motley
- Occupations
- lawyerjudgepolitician
- Biography
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Constance Baker Motley was an American jurist and politician, who served as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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Otis Boykin
- Occupations
- inventorscientist
- Biography
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Otis Frank Boykin was an American inventor and engineer. His inventions include electrical resistors used in computing, missile guidance, and pacemakers.
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George Padmore
- Occupations
- journalistpoliticianwriterhistorian
- Biography
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George Padmore, born Malcolm Ivan Meredith Nurse, was a leading Pan-Africanist, journalist, and author. He left his native Trinidad in 1924 to study medicine in the United States, where he also joined the Communist Party.
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Jimmie Lunceford
- Occupations
- saxophonistcomposerbandleaderjazz musicianconductor
- Biography
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James Melvin Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.
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Judith Jamison
- Occupations
- choreographerdancer
- Biography
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Judith Ann Jamison is an American dancer and choreographer. She is the artistic director emerita of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
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Mary Frances Berry
- Occupations
- historianactivistuniversity teacherwriterlawyer
- Biography
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Mary Frances Berry is an American historian, writer, lawyer, activist and professor who focuses on U.S. constitutional and legal, African-American history. Berry is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought where she teaches American legal history at the Department of History, School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the former chairwoman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Previously, Berry was provost of the College of Behavioral and Social Science at University of Maryland, College Park, and was the first African American chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
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Malia Cohen
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Malia M. Cohen is an American politician serving as the 33rd controller of California since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Cohen previously served as a member of the California State Board of Equalization from the 2nd district from 2019 to 2023 and as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from District 10 from 2011 to 2019.
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Ethel Ayler
- Occupations
- actorfilm actortelevision actorstage actor
- Biography
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Ethyl Spraggins Ayler was an American character actress with a career spanning over five decades.
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Hazel R. O'Leary
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Hazel Reid O'Leary is an American lawyer, politician and university administrator who served as the 7th United States secretary of energy from 1993 to 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, O'Leary was the first woman and first African American to hold that post. She also served as the 14th president of Fisk University from 2004 to 2013, a historically black college and her alma mater. O'Leary's tenure at Fisk came amid financial difficulty for the school, during which time she increased enrollment and contentiously used the school's art collection to raise funds.
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Robert McFerrin
- Occupations
- opera singersinger
- Biography
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Robert Keith McFerrin Sr. was an American operatic baritone and the first African-American man to sing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. His voice was described by critic Albert Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times as "a baritone of beautiful quality, even in all registers, and with a top that partakes of something of a tenor's ringing brilliance." He was the father of Grammy Award-winning vocalist Robert McFerrin Jr., better known as Bobby McFerrin.
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David Levering Lewis
- Enrolled in Fisk University
- Studied in 1956
- Occupations
- biographeruniversity teacherwriterhistorian
- Biography
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David Levering Lewis is an American historian, a Julius Silver University Professor, and a professor of history at New York University. He is twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, for part one and part two of his biography of W. E. B. Du Bois (in 1994 and 2001, respectively). He is the first author to win Pulitzer Prizes for biography for two successive volumes on the same subject.
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Johnnetta B. Cole
- Enrolled in Fisk University
- Studied in 1952-1953
- Occupations
- academic administratoranthropologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Johnnetta Betsch Cole is an American anthropologist, educator, museum director, and college president. Cole was the first female African-American president of Spelman College, a historically black college, serving from 1987 to 1997. She was president of Bennett College from 2002 to 2007. During 2009–2017 she was Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art.
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Charles Diggs
- Occupations
- politicianfuneral director
- Biography
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Charles Coles Diggs Jr. was an American politician from the U.S. state of Michigan who served in the state senate and U.S. House of Representatives. He was the first African American elected to Congress from Michigan.
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Minnie M. Cox
- Occupations
- teacherbusinesspersonpostmaster
- Biography
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Minnie M. Cox (1869–1933) was an American teacher who was appointed the first Black postmaster in Mississippi, following closely behind Anna M. Dumas, who was appointed to the same position in 1872 in Covington, Louisiana. Though she made national headlines after President Theodore Roosevelt refused to release her from her position after threats of violence from whites in Indianola, Cox was dedicated to equal rights in Mississippi. Responding to the disparities in resources available to Black citizens for banking and insurance, she opened her own bank and insurance companies to protect their assets.
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William Levi Dawson
- Enrolled in Fisk University
- Studied in 1909
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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William Levi Dawson was an American politician and lawyer who represented a Chicago, Illinois district for more than 27 years in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1943 to his death in office in 1970. In 1949, he became the first African American to chair a congressional committee.
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Wade H. McCree
- Occupations
- lawyerjudgeuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Wade Hampton McCree Jr. was an American legal scholar and judge. He was the first African American appointed as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the second African-American United States Solicitor General in the history of the United States. He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan Law School after leaving government service in 1981, and taught there until the time of his death.
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Charles H. Wesley
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teacherhistorian
- Biography
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Charles Harris Wesley was an American historian, educator, minister, and author. He published more than 15 books on African-American history, taught for decades at Howard University, and served as president of Wilberforce University, and founding president of Central State University, both in Ohio.
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Willie Smith
- Occupations
- saxophonistclarinetistjazz musician
- Biography
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William McLeish Smith was an American saxophonist and one of the major alto saxophone players of the swing era. He also played clarinet and sang.
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Vivienne Malone-Mayes
- Occupations
- mathematician
- Biography
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Vivienne Lucille Malone-Mayes was an American mathematician and professor. Malone-Mayes studied properties of functions, as well as methods of teaching mathematics. She was the fifth African-American woman to gain a PhD in mathematics in the United States, and the first African-American member of the faculty of Baylor University.
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Eliza Ann Grier
- Occupations
- obstetriciangynaecologistphysician
- Biography
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Eliza Anna Grier was an American physician and the first African American woman licensed to practice medicine in the U.S. state of Georgia.
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Carolyn Parker
- Occupations
- physicistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Carolyn Beatrice Parker was a physicist who worked from 1943 to 1947 on the Dayton Project, the polonium research and development arm of the Manhattan Project. She was one of a small number of African American scientists and technicians on the Manhattan Project. She then became an assistant professor in physics at Fisk University.
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Louis George Gregory
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
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Louis George Gregory was a prominent American member of the Baháʼí Faith who was devoted to its expansion in the United States and elsewhere. He traveled especially in the South to spread the word about it. In 1922 he was the first African American elected to the nine-member National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada. He was repeatedly re-elected to that position, leading a generation and more of followers. He also worked to prosyletize the faith to Central and South America.
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John Wesley Work, Jr
- Occupations
- songwriterfolk song collectormusicologist
- Biography
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John Wesley Work Jr. was the first African-American collector of folk songs and spirituals, and also a choral director, educationalist and songwriter. He is now sometimes known as John Wesley Work II, to distinguish him from his son, John Wesley Work III.
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Cora Brown
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Cora Mae Brown, was the first African-American woman elected (rather than appointed) to a state senate in the United States. She won her seat in the Michigan State Senate in 1952. Brown was a Democrat who represented Detroit.
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Victor O. Frazer
- Years
- 1943-.. (age 80)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Victor O. Frazer is a Saint Thomian lawyer and former politician, having served as the 3rd elected Delegate from the United States Virgin Islands to the United States House of Representatives. He was born in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. He attended Fisk University and the Howard University Law School. He was admitted to the bar in New York, Maryland, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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Tuajuanda Jordan
- Enrolled in Fisk University
- Graduated with Bachelor of Science in chemistry
- Occupations
- academic administratorbiochemist
- Biography
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Tuajuanda C. Jordan has served as the seventh president of St. Mary’s College of Maryland since July 1, 2014. From 2006 to 2011, Jordan served as director of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science Education Alliance program, where she launched the SEA-PHAGES program. This program has been implemented at more than 100 institutions and resulted in numerous scientific and pedagogical publications. Prior to joining St. Mary’s College, Jordan also held a number of leadership positions in higher education, including dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of chemistry at Lewis & Clark College in Oregon, and associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences at Xavier University of Louisiana.
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Jasper Alston Atkins
- Years
- 1898-1982 (aged 84)
- Biography
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Jasper Alston Atkins was an attorney, activist, and educator.
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Alfred Oscar Coffin
- Years
- 1861-1933 (aged 72)
- Occupations
- biologist
- Biography
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Alfred Oscar Coffin was a professor of mathematics and Romance language. He is best known for being the first African American to obtain a PhD in biology.
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Jennie Jackson
- Occupations
- singer
- Biography
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Jennie Jackson was an American singer and voice teacher. She was one of the original members of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, an African-American a cappella ensemble. She toured with the group from 1871 to 1877. In 1891 she formed her own sextet, the Jennie Jackson Concert Company.
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John Houston Burrus
- Occupations
- activist
- Biography
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John Houston Burrus was an educator in Nashville, Tennessee and Lorman, Mississippi. He was a member of the first class of students at Fisk University in Nashville and when that class graduated became among the first group of African-Americans to graduate from a liberal arts college south of the Mason–Dixon line. He was a professor of mathematics at Fisk and in 1883 became the second president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, a position he held until 1893.
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Elwood Robinson
- Occupations
- academic administratorpsychologist
- Biography
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Elwood L. Robinson is an American academic, university administrator and clinical psychologist currently serving as the 13th Chancellor of Winston-Salem State University. He previously served as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Cambridge College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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David Abner Jr
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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David Abner Jr. was an American educator. He was the first president of Guadalupe College and then of Conroe College.
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Bert Cumby
- Occupations
- military personnel
- Biography
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Bert Cumby was a United States military intelligence officer who served as head of research of the U.S. Army's Military Intelligence Corps and led the debriefing of repatriated American prisoners of war (POWs) during the Korean War. In 1956 he testified to a United States Senate committee regarding an international communist conspiracy he alleged was underway, the objective of which was the admission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China. According to Cumby, this was to be partially accomplished through the brainwashing of American POWs prior to their repatriation to the United States; they would, in turn, create a nucleus of domestic support for China-friendly policies within the U.S.
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Thomas W. Talley
- Occupations
- folkloristchemist
- Biography
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Thomas Washington Talley was a chemistry professor at Fisk University and a collector of African American folk songs.
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Wilhelmina Ruth Delco
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Wilhelmina Ruth Delco is an American politician who served in the Texas House of Representatives. She was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 1986.
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Samuel A. McElwee
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
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Samuel A. McElwee was a lawyer and politician in the United States. He was born enslaved in 1857 in Haywood County, Tennessee. His parents were Robert and Georgianna McElwee. He became a lawyer and the most influential Republican Party leader in Haywood County following the Reconstruction era. He served in the Tennessee General Assembly from 1883 to 1888. He was the first African American to serve three terms in legislature and also the first one to be nominated as the Speaker of the House.
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James J. Durham
- Occupations
- Christian minister
- Biography
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James J. Durham was a Baptist minister in South Carolina and the founder of Morris College in 1908. He was a member of the board at Morehouse College and an officer in state and national Baptist conventions.
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Rahn Coleman
- Occupations
- oboistcomposerrecord producerviolinistpianist
- Biography
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Ronald Edward "Rahn" Coleman is an American record producer, musical director, arranger, orchestrator, composer, vocal coach, and pianist. Coleman was born in San Francisco, California, and grew up in nearby Oakland, where he attended public school and began studying piano at age 4. He has also played oboe, clarinet, violin, English horn and pipe organ.
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Irvin C. Miller
- Occupations
- actorplaywright
- Biography
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Irvin Colloden Miller was an American actor, playwright, and vaudeville show writer and producer. He was responsible for successful theater shows including Broadway Rastus (1921), Liza (1922), Dinah (1923), which introduced the wildly popular black bottom dance, and Desires of 1927 starring Adelaide Hall. For thirty years he directed the popular review, Brown Skin Models, influenced by the Ziegfeld Follies but exclusively using black performers. "In the 1920s and 1930s, he was arguably the most well-established and successful producer of black musical comedy."
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Arnett E. Girardeau
- Occupations
- dentistpolitician
- Biography
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Arnett Elysus Girardeau Sr. was an American dentist and former politician in the state of Florida.
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Minnie Tate
- Years
- 1857-1899 (aged 42)
- Occupations
- singer
- Biography
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Minnie Tate was the youngest original member of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, based in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Mary Eliza Walker Crump
- Years
- 1857-1928 (aged 71)
- Occupations
- singer
- Biography
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Mary Eliza Walker Crump was an African-American contralto singer and manager, one of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers.
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W. H. Lanier
- Biography
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William Henry Lanier was a prominent educator in Mississippi during the late 19th century and early 20th century.
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Henry H. Proctor
- Occupations
- minister
- Biography
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Henry Hugh Proctor was a minister of the First Congregational Church in Atlanta, the second-oldest African American Congregational church in the United States. He was also an author and lecturer.
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Thomas J. Calloway
- Years
- 1866-1930 (aged 64)
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
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Thomas Junius Calloway was an African-American journalist, educator and lawyer.
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Irene McCoy Gaines
- Occupations
- social workersuffragistcivil rights advocate
- Biography
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Irene McCoy Gaines was an American social worker and civil rights activist who fought against segregation throughout her adult life.
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Georgia Gordon Taylor
- Occupations
- singer
- Biography
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Georgia Gordon Taylor was an American soprano singer from the U.S. state of Tennessee. She was the leader of the "Original Fisk Jubilee Singers".
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Ramona Edelin
- Occupations
- consultantacademicactivist
- Biography
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Ramona Hoage Edelin is an American academic, activist and consultant. Edelin is credited with introducing the term "African American" into the general vernacular. She has been named one of the most influential Black Americans by Ebony. Today, she serves as executive director of the DC Association of Charter Schools.
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Millicent Lownes-Jackson
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Millicent Gray Lownes-Jackson is an American professor and author. She became the dean of the college of business at Tennessee State University on July 1, 2013. She is the founder of the non-profit organizations Interdenominational Services Organization of America, Inc. and The World Institute for Sustainable Education and Research (The WISER Group).
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Mame Stewart Josenberger
- Years
- 1868-1964 (aged 96)
- Occupations
- educatorbusinessperson
- Biography
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Mame Stewart Josenberger was an American educator, businesswoman, and clubwoman, based in Arkansas for most of her career.
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Althea Brown Edmiston
- Occupations
- missionary
- Biography
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Althea Maria Brown Edmiston was an African-American teacher and Presbyterian missionary, working in the Belgian Congo for more than thirty years. She compiled the first dictionary and grammar for Bushong, the language of the Kuba Kingdom.
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Lena Terrell Jackson
- Years
- 1865-1943 (aged 78)
- Biography
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Lena Terrell Jackson was an American educator. She taught Latin to African-American students in Nashville, Tennessee for over fifty years.
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Bilikiss Adebiyi
- Occupations
- entrepreneur
- Biography
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Bilikiss Adebiyi or Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola is a Nigerian entrepreneur who founded the Lagos-based recycling company 'Wecyclers'. She is currently the Director General of the Lagos State Records and Archives Bureau and Managing Director of the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK). She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund.
