29 Notable alumni of
Virginia Union University
Updated:
Virginia Union University is 1588th in the world, 563rd in North America, and 530th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 29 notable alumni from Virginia Union 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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Charles Oakley
- Occupations
- basketball coachbasketball player
- Biography
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Charles Oakley is an American former professional basketball player. Oakley played most of 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association with the New York Knicks. As a power forward, he consistently ranked as one of the best rebounders and defensive players in the NBA. He also played for the Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards, and Houston Rockets. Since 2017, he has been the coach of the Killer 3's of the BIG3.
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Donda West
- Enrolled in Virginia Union University
- Graduated with bachelor's degree
- Occupations
- writerteacher
- Biography
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Donda C. West was an American educator and chair of Chicago State University's Department of English, Communications, Media, and Theater. She was best known for being the mother of the American rapper Kanye West.
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Ben Wallace
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Ben Camey Wallace is an American basketball executive and former professional player who played most of his career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Detroit Pistons. He is regarded by many to be the greatest undrafted player in NBA history, and was known for his shot-blocking, rebounding, and overall defensive play. A native of Alabama, Wallace attended Cuyahoga Community College and Virginia Union University. In his NBA career, he also played with the Washington Bullets/Wizards, Orlando Magic, Chicago Bulls, and Cleveland Cavaliers.
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Iyanla Vanzant
- Enrolled in Virginia Union University
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- writerlawyertelevision personalityspiritual teachermotivational speaker
- Biography
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Iyanla Vanzant is an American inspirational speaker, lawyer, New Thought spiritual teacher, author, life coach, and television personality. She is known primarily for her books, her eponymous talk show, and her appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show. From 2012 to 2021, she served as host of OWN's Iyanla: Fix My Life.
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Virgil
- Occupations
- professional wrestlerteacher
- Biography
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Michael Jones, better known by his ring name Virgil, is an American former professional wrestler and actor. He is best known for his eight-year tenure in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), primarily as Ted DiBiase's personal assistant.
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Douglas Wilder
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Lawrence Douglas Wilder is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 66th governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994. He was the first African American to serve as governor of a U.S. state since the Reconstruction era, and the first African American ever elected as governor. He is currently a professor at the namesake Wilder School at Virginia Commonwealth University.
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Will Downing
- Occupations
- singer-songwritersongwritersingerjazz musicianrecord producer
- Biography
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Wilfred "Will" Downing is an American R&B, soul, neo soul, and jazz singer and songwriter. He has released 22 studio albums.
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A. Donald McEachin
- Enrolled in Virginia Union University
- In 2008 graduated with Master of Divinity in theology
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Aston Donald McEachin was an American politician and lawyer who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 4th congressional district from 2017 until his death in 2022. His district was based in the state capital, Richmond; it included much of the area between Richmond, a portion of its suburbs, and Hampton Roads.
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Benjamin Mays
- Occupations
- pastorwriter
- Biography
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Benjamin Elijah Mays was an American Baptist minister and American rights leader who is credited with laying the intellectual foundations of the American civil rights movement. Mays taught and mentored many influential activists, including Martin Luther King Jr, Julian Bond, Maynard Jackson, and Donn Clendenon, among others. His rhetoric and intellectual pursuits focused on Black self-determination. Mays' commitment to social justice through nonviolence and civil resistance were cultivated from his youth through the lessons imbibed from his parents and eldest sister. The peak of his public influence coincided with his nearly three-decade tenure as the sixth president of Morehouse College, a historically black institution of higher learning, in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Randall Robinson
- Occupations
- writerlawyerhuman rights activist
- Biography
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Randall Robinson was an American lawyer, author and activist, noted as the founder of TransAfrica. He was known particularly for his impassioned opposition to apartheid, and for his advocacy on behalf of Haitian immigrants and Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Due to his frustration with American society, Robinson emigrated to Saint Kitts in 2001.
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Samuel L. Gravely, Jr
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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Samuel Lee Gravely Jr. was a United States Navy officer. He was the first African American in the U.S. Navy to serve aboard a fighting ship as an officer, the first to command a Navy ship, the first fleet commander, and the first to become a flag officer, retiring as a vice admiral.
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Dwight Clinton Jones
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Dwight Clinton Jones is an American politician and pastor who served as the 79th Mayor of Richmond, Virginia. Jones took office on January 1, 2009, was inaugurated for his second term on January 12, 2013, and was succeeded by Levar Stoney on December 31, 2016. Jones is a member of the Democratic Party, and was elected chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia on March 15, 2014.
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Fred V. Cherry
- Occupations
- aircraft pilot
- Biography
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Fred Vann Cherry was a colonel and command pilot in the U.S. Air Force. A career fighter pilot, he served in the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
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Spottswood William Robinson III
- Occupations
- judgelawyer
- Biography
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Spottswood William Robinson III was an American civil rights lawyer, jurist, and educator who served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1966 to 1989. He previously served as a U.S. district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from 1964 to 1966.
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Channing E. Phillips
- Occupations
- civil rights advocateChristian ministerpoliticianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Channing Emery Phillips was an American minister, civil rights leader, and social activist based in Washington, D.C. In 1968, he was the first African American in history to be placed in nomination for president of the United States by a major political party.
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Eugene Kinckle Jones
- Occupations
- social reformer
- Biography
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Eugene Kinckle Jones was a leader of the National Urban League and one of the seven founders (commonly referred to as Seven Jewels) of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity at Cornell University in 1906. Jones became Alpha chapter's second President.
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T. J. Jemison
- Occupations
- religious servantcivil rights advocate
- Biography
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Theodore Judson Jemison, better known as T. J. Jemison, was the president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. from 1982 to 1994. It is the largest African-American religious organization. He oversaw the construction of the Baptist World Center in Nashville, Tennessee, the headquarters of his convention.
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Gregory L. Robinson
- Enrolled in Virginia Union University
- Graduated with Bachelor of Mathematics
- Occupations
- scientistengineer
- Biography
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Gregory L. Robinson is an American engineer and the former director of the James Webb Space Telescope Program at NASA.
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Luke Torian
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Luke E. Torian is an American politician. Since 2010 he has served in the Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 24th district in the Prince William County suburbs of Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
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Christopher Payne
- Occupations
- lawyerjournalistpoliticianeditorteacher
- Biography
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Christopher Harrison Payne was a prominent religious, educational, and political leader of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in the American South during the time of slavery, Payne rose to a level of prominence achieved by few, regardless of race. One of his many accomplishments include being the first African American elected to the West Virginia Legislature.
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Emmett C. Burns, Jr
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Emmett C. Burns Jr. was an American politician from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. He served five terms in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Maryland's District 10 in Baltimore County. Burns was a member of the Economic Matters Committee.
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Leslie Garland Bolling
- Occupations
- sculptorwood carver
- Biography
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The sculptor Leslie Garland Bolling was born in Surry County, Virginia, United States on September 16, 1898, the son of Clinton C. Bolling, a blacksmith, and his wife Mary. His carvings reflected everyday themes and shared values of the Black culture in the segregated South in the early 20th century. Bolling was associated with the Harlem Renaissance and is notable as one of a few African-Americans whose sculpture had lasting acclaim.
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Charles Henry Thompson
- Occupations
- university teachereducational psychologist
- Biography
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Charles Henry Thompson was an American educational psychologist and the first African-American to earn a doctorate degree in educational psychology. He obtained a Master's degree and Ph.D at the University of Chicago. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, he became an educator at Howard University. During his time at Howard, he was the dean of the liberal art college and later became the dean of Howard's graduate school, where he made several administrative and scholarship changes. Additionally, he founded The Journal of Negro Education, an academic journal pertaining to the education of African-American students. Thompson himself published more than 100 scholarly articles, editorials, and research papers, many of which pertained to the teaching and advancement of African-American students' education. Throughout his extensive academic career, he was a legal consultant for various desegregation school cases, prominently in Sweatt v. Painter, Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents. He also was a legal consultant for Brown vs. Board of Education, though to a lesser extent than the three former cases.
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Yvonne Maddox
- Years
- 1943-.. (age 81)
- Occupations
- scientist
- Biography
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Yvonne T. Maddox is an American academic who currently works as vice president for research at the Uniformed Services University. She was previously the acting director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Her career at the National Institutes of Health also includes previous leadership roles as acting deputy director of the National Institutes of Health and deputy director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
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Chester L. Washington
- Occupations
- publisherjournalist
- Biography
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Chester Lloyd Washington Jr. was an American journalist, newspaper publisher and editor. He was owner of Central News-Wave Publications, which at one time published over a dozen newspapers.
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Cora Bagley Marrett
- Occupations
- sociologist
- Biography
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Cora Bagley Marrett is an American sociologist. From May 2011 until August 2014, Marrett served as the deputy director of the National Science Foundation.
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Clinton Caldwell Boone
- Years
- 1872-1939 (aged 67)
- Occupations
- missionary
- Biography
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Clinton Caldwell Boone was an African-American Baptist minister, physician, dentist, and medical missionary who served in the Congo Free State and Liberia. The son of Rev. Lemuel Washington Boone and Charlotte (Chavis) Boone of Hertford County, North Carolina, he played an important role in Africa as a missionary for the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention and the American Baptist Missionary Union, now American Baptist International Ministries.
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Edith J. Patterson
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Edith Jerry Patterson is a Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates who represents district 28, which is based in Charles County. She previously served as a county commissioner from 2002 to 2010 and a member of the Board of Education for Charles County from 1983 to 1995.
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Jesse Max Barber
- Years
- 1878-1949 (aged 71)
- Occupations
- dentistjournalist
- Biography
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Jesse Max Barber was an African-American journalist, teacher and dentist.
