50 Notable alumni of
Southern University and A&M College
Updated:
Southern University and A&M College is 1103rd in the world, 399th in North America, and 373rd in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 50 notable alumni from Southern University and A&M College sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Common
- Occupations
- writerrapperactorpoetfilm producer
- Biography
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Lonnie Rashid Lynn, known professionally as Common (formerly known as Common Sense), is an American rapper and actor. He is the recipient of three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award. At the age of 20, he signed with the independent label Relativity Records to release his debut studio album Can I Borrow a Dollar? (1992) along with its follow-ups, Resurrection (1994) and One Day It'll All Make Sense (1997). He maintained an underground following into the late 1990s, and achieved mainstream success through his work with the Black music collective, Soulquarians.
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Randy Jackson
- Occupations
- businesspersonradio personalitycomposertalent managerrecord producer
- Biography
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Randall Darius Jackson is an American record executive, television presenter and musician, best known as a judge on American Idol from 2002 to 2013.
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Avery Johnson
- Occupations
- basketball playerbasketball coach
- Biography
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Avery DeWitt Johnson is an American basketball television commentator and former player and coach who most recently served as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team. He is currently an NBA and college basketball analyst for CBS Sports.
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David Banner
- Occupations
- musicianrecord producersingerpoetcomposer
- Biography
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Lavell William Crump, better known by his stage name David Banner, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor.
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Lou Brock
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Louis Clark Brock was an American professional baseball left fielder. He began his 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the 1961 Chicago Cubs but spent most of it as a left fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. An All-Star for six seasons, Brock was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985 in his first year of eligibility and was inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014.
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Bob Love
- Enrolled in Southern University and A&M College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Science in nutritional science
- Occupations
- basketball playermotivational speaker
- Biography
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Robert Earl Love was an American professional basketball player who spent the prime of his career with the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls. A versatile forward who could shoot with either his left or right hand, Love later worked as the Bulls' director of community affairs and goodwill ambassador. Love was nicknamed "Butterbean", which dates back to his boyhood when he was fond of the legume.
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Russel L. Honoré
- Enrolled in Southern University and A&M College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Science in vocational agriculture
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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Russel Luke Honoré is a retired lieutenant general and who served as the 33rd commanding general of the U.S. First Army at Fort Gillem, Georgia. He is best known for serving as commander of Joint Task Force Katrina responsible for coordinating military relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina–affected areas across the Gulf Coast and as the 2nd Infantry Division's commander while stationed in South Korea. He served until his retirement from the Army on January 11, 2008. Honoré is sometimes known as "The Ragin' Cajun".
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Harold Carmichael
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Lee Harold Carmichael is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles (1971–1983) and one year for the Dallas Cowboys (1984). Carmichael was the director of player development and alumni for the Eagles from 1998 to 2014, and a fan engagement liaison from 2014 to 2015.
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Aeneas Williams
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Aeneas Demetrius Williams is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback and safety who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He played college football for the Southern Jaguars and was selected in the third round of the 1991 NFL draft by the Phoenix Cardinals, where he spent 10 seasons. During his final four seasons, he was a member of the St. Louis Rams. Williams received eight Pro Bowl selections and three first-team All-Pro honors, as well as being on the second NFL 1990s All-Decade Team. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
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Sid Williams
- Occupations
- diplomatAmerican football player
- Biography
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Sidney Williams is an American former diplomat and American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Cleveland Browns, Washington Redskins, Baltimore Colts, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football at Southern University.
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Elbert Guillory
- Occupations
- businesspersonpoliticianlawyer
- Biography
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Elbert Lee Guillory is an American politician who is a former member of the Louisiana State Senate. A Republican, he represented District 24, including his native Opelousas, and several rural precincts, from May 2, 2009, when he won a special election, until January 11, 2016, when his full term to which he was elected in 2011 ended. Guillory previously served from 2006 to 2009 as state representative for District 40. Guillory was a candidate in Louisiana's 6th congressional district in the 2024 election.
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José De León
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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José Eugenio De León Domenech is a Puerto Rican professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, and Minnesota Twins.
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Murphy J. Foster
- Enrolled in Southern University and A&M College
- Graduated with Juris Doctor
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Murphy James Foster Jr. was an American businessman and politician who served as the 53rd governor of Louisiana from 1996 to 2004.
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Fred Lewis
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Frederick Deshaun Lewis is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He made his debut on September 1, 2006, with the San Francisco Giants. He is the cousin of former Major League outfielder Matt Lawton. He lived in Chatham, New Jersey for a brief time before moving to Toronto.
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Cleo Fields
- Enrolled in Southern University and A&M College
- In 1984 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- In 1987 graduated with Juris Doctor
- Occupations
- entrepreneurpoliticianlawyer
- Biography
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Cleo C. Fields is an American attorney and politician who serves in the United States House of Representatives, currently representing Louisiana's 6th congressional district. He previously represented Louisiana's 4th congressional district from 1993 to 1997 and ran unsuccessfully for governor of Louisiana in 1995. He has served as a member of the Louisiana State Senate on three different occasions. Fields is a member of the Democratic Party.
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Kip Holden
- Occupations
- politicianjournalistlawyer
- Biography
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Melvin Lee "Kip" Holden, is an American politician who served from 2005 to 2016 as the Democratic Mayor-President of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. The parish includes the state capital of Baton Rouge and smaller suburban cities such as Baker, Central City, and Zachary.
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Willie Davenport
- Occupations
- bobsledderathletics competitor
- Biography
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William "Willie" D. Davenport was an American sprint runner.
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Rod Milburn
- Occupations
- hurdler
- Biography
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Rodney "Rod" Milburn Jr. was an American athlete who won gold at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich in the 110m hurdles.
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Kidd Jordan
- Occupations
- music educatorsaxophonist
- Biography
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Edward "Kidd" Jordan was an American jazz saxophonist and music educator from New Orleans, Louisiana. He taught at Southern University at New Orleans from 1974 to 2006.
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Danny Johnson
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Danny Johnson is an American professional football cornerback. He played college football at Southern and was signed by Washington as an undrafted free agent in 2018.
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Bennie Adams
- Occupations
- basketball playerbasketball official
- Biography
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Bennie Adams is an American professional basketball referee in the National Basketball Association.
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Bunny Greenhouse
- Occupations
- military personnel
- Biography
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Bunnatine H. Greenhouse is a former chief contracting officer Senior Executive Service (Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting (PARC)) of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. On June 27, 2005, she testified to a Congressional panel, alleging specific instances of waste, fraud, and other abuses and irregularities by Halliburton with regard to its operations in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. She described one of the Halliburton contracts (secret, no-bid contracts awarded to Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR)—a subsidiary of Halliburton) as "the most blatant and improper contract abuse I have witnessed during the course of my professional career".
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William J. Jefferson
- Enrolled in Southern University and A&M College
- In 1969 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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William Jennings Jefferson is an American former politician from Louisiana whose career ended after his corruption scandal and conviction. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine terms from 1991 to 2009 as a member of the Democratic Party. He represented Louisiana's 2nd congressional district, which includes much of the greater New Orleans area. He was elected as the state's first black congressman since the end of Reconstruction.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones
- Occupations
- baseball playerhead coachacademic administrator
- Biography
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Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones Sr., known as Prez Jones, was an American educator and administrator. He served as the second president of Grambling State University, a historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana, from 1936 until 1977. He also coached the Grambling State Tigers baseball team, and was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame.
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Robert Holmes
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Robert Earl Holmes was an American football running back who played collegiately at Southern University and professionally in the American Football League (AFL) for the Kansas City Chiefs, and in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chiefs, the Houston Oilers, and the San Diego Chargers. He was an AFL All-Star in 1969, and played with the Chiefs in their defeat of the Oakland Raiders in the 1969 AFL Championship Game and in their crushing of the NFL's champion Minnesota Vikings in the fourth and final AFL-NFL World Championship Game. He joined the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) during the 1976 season, playing 5 regular season games and the Western Final. Several years later, he returned to Regina to live. He died on April 14, 2018, at the age of 72.
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Sherian Cadoria
- Enrolled in Southern University and A&M College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Science in business education
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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Sherian Grace Cadoria is a retired United States Army officer. She became the first African-American woman to achieve general officer rank in the regular United States Army on promotion to brigadier general in 1985. She was the highest ranking black woman in the military at the time of her retirement in 1990. Cadoria is a 1961 graduate of Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Education, and holds a Master of Arts degree in Social Work from the University of Oklahoma. Initially in the Women's Army Corps, she transferred to the Military Police Corps in the 1970s.
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Joe N. Ballard
- Enrolled in Southern University and A&M College
- Graduated with bachelor's degree in electrical engineering
- Occupations
- military personnel
- Biography
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Lieutenant General Joe Nathan Ballard is a former U.S. Army officer who fought in the Vietnam War, and who served as Chief of Engineers, the first African-American to serve in this role.
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Robert L. Williams
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
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Robert Lee Williams was an American lawyer, judge, and the third governor of Oklahoma. Williams played a role in the drafting of the Oklahoma Constitution and served as the first Oklahoma Supreme Court chief justice. He also served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. As third Governor, Williams oversaw the state's response to the recent United States Supreme Court's ruling against Jim Crow laws and its involvement in the First World War (1914/1917-1918). He instituted the Oklahoma State Board of Affairs (later reorganized into the current Oklahoma Department of Central Services) which provided central purchasing services to various state departments, agencies, boards and bureaus. Due to his direct administrative role and concentration of power, Governor Williams counteracted the previous loss of executive power and disagreements with the Oklahoma Legislature under previous second Governor Lee Cruce (1863-1933, served 1911-1915).
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Chuck Espy
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Henry William "Chuck" Espy III is an American politician serving since 2017 as mayor of Clarksdale, Mississippi. He was a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from 2000 to 2016.
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Eric Skrmetta
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
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Eric Frederick Skrmetta is an American politician who represents District 1 (largely surburban New Orleans, eastern Florida Parishes, and River Parishes) on the Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC), an influential regulatory agency which was the political springboard for former governors Huey Long, Jimmie Davis, and John McKeithen. Skrmetta is a member of the Republican Party.
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David Bolen
- Occupations
- diplomatsprinter
- Biography
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David Benjamin Bolen was an American track and field athlete, Olympian, diplomat and businessman.
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Shawn Wilson
- Enrolled in Southern University and A&M College
- Graduated with Master of Arts in public administration
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Shawn D. Wilson is an American politician and transportation official who served as the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development from 2016 to 2023. Wilson unsuccessfully ran for governor of Louisiana in 2023 and came in second place to Republican Jeff Landry in a jungle primary receiving 25.9% of the vote.
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Arthur Miley
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Arthur Miley is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at Southern University for the SU Jaguars. In 2014, Miley was named First-team All-SWAC. He has also spent time with the Miami Dolphins, Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts, Saskatchewan Roughriders, and San Antonio Commanders.
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Dorothy A. Brown
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Dorothy Ann Rabb Brown Cook, also known as Dorothy Brown is an American lawyer and politician affiliated with the Democratic Party who served as the clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County from 2000 through 2020.
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Reggie Williams
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Reginald Dewayne Williams is an American baseball coach and former outfielder, who most recently was the head baseball coach of the Alcorn State Braves. He played college baseball at Southern from 1979 to 1982 and played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 4 seasons from 1985 to 1988.
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Carla Cotwright-Williams
- Years
- 1973-.. (age 52)
- Occupations
- mathematician
- Biography
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Carla Denise Cotwright-Williams is an American mathematician who works as a Technical Director and Data Scientist for the United States Department of Defense. She was the second African-American woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics at the University of Mississippi.
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Al Beauchamp
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Alfred Beauchamp is a former professional American football linebacker.
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Isiah Leggett
- Occupations
- politicianofficial
- Biography
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Isiah "Ike" Leggett is an American politician from the U.S. state of Maryland and former executive of Montgomery County, Maryland. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
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Michael L. Vaughn
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Michael L. Vaughn is an American politician who represented District 24 as a Democrat in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2003 until his resignation in 2017.
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Lee Richard
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Lee Edward "BeeBee" Richard was a Major League Baseball player.
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Anthony Henderson
- Enrolled in Southern University and A&M College
- Studied in 1984-1989
- Occupations
- military personnel
- Biography
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Anthony M. Henderson is a major general in the United States Marine Corps and is currently serving as the Commanding General, Marine Corps Training Command.
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Clarence Acox, Jr
- Years
- 1947-.. (age 78)
- Occupations
- teacherjazz musician
- Biography
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Clarence Acox is an American band director and jazz drummer. He is a native of New Orleans, and has been heard in a variety of settings in the Pacific Northwest.
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Joe Pittman
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Joseph Wayne Pittman was a backup infielder/outfielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Houston Astros, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants in parts of three seasons spanning 1981–1984. Listed at 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m), 180 pounds (82 kg), Pittman batted and threw right handed. He was dubbed 'Shoes'.
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Dewon Day
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Amos Dewon Day is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher who was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays. He was then taken by the White Sox via the Rule 5 draft in 2005. He had two brief stints with the Chicago White Sox in 2007, sandwiched around a trip to the disabled list. Day appeared in 13 games over a two-month span in which he often struggled, posting an ERA of 11.25 and recording more walks than strikeouts.
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Michelle Amos
- Occupations
- scientistelectrical engineer
- Biography
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Michelle Amos is an electronics design engineer at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center. Amos joined NASA in 1990 as an electronics design engineer. She currently designs electrical systems and control equipment in KSC's Advanced Technology Development Center and works on a support team for the International Space Station configuring and documenting its electrical configurations. She is the project manager lead for the shuttle transition and retirement activities.
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Okla Jones II
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
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Okla Jones II was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
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Lula J. Davis
- Born in
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United States - Biography
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Lula Johnson Davis was Secretary for the Majority of the United States Senate from 2008 to 2011. Davis was born in Louisiana. She received a B.S. in office administration and an M.Ed., in guidance counseling from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She began her career with the Senate as a legislative correspondent for Senator Russell B. Long of Louisiana. After Senator Long retired from the Senate in January 1987, Davis worked as an office assistant for the Democratic Policy Committee's Senate floor staff office. In 1993, she became a member of the Democratic floor staff. In 1995, she was promoted to chief floor assistant. In 1997, she assumed the position of assistant secretary. After the retirement of Martin P. Paone, in January 2008, the Senate elected Davis Secretary for the Majority. As Secretary for the Majority, she was a senior procedural advisor to the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid, and supervised the day-to-day Senate schedule. In so doing, she often worked with Secretary for the Minority David J. Schiappa. Davis told Senators what they could and could not do when it came to rules and procedure. Consequently, Davis was called “one of the most powerful unelected people in the U.S. Senate.” Davis retired at the end of the 111th Congress.
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Detrick DeBurr
- Enrolled in Southern University and A&M College
- 1987-2001 studied mechanical engineering
- Occupations
- entrepreneurwriter
- Biography
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Detrick DeBurr is an American entrepreneur, author, and computer/website specialist. He rose to prominence with Deal Us In! How Black America Can Play and Win in the Digital Economy and Build Gamified Websites with PHP and JQuery. He is a co-founder of Game Time Giving. Prior to this, he was Founder/CEO of Digital Rhythm Inc., an IT service provider based in Dallas, Texas, USA.
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Donald J. Delandro
- Enrolled in Southern University and A&M College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Science in business administration
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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Donald Joseph Delandro was an American military officer who was a brigadier general and Adjutant General of the United States Army from 1984 to 1985, the first African-American to serve in the position.
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Edward Honor, Sr
- Enrolled in Southern University and A&M College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in education
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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Edward Honor Sr. was a lieutenant general in the United States Army who served as Director of Logistics (J4) on the Joint Staff from 1987 to 1989. Promoted to brigadier general in 1979, he was the first African-American general officer in the Army Transportation Corps.