13 Notable alumni of
Winston-Salem State University
Updated:
Winston-Salem State University is 2178th in the world, 744th in North America, and 700th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 13 notable alumni from Winston-Salem State 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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Louis Farrakhan
- Occupations
- civil rights advocateblack supremacistreligious figureanti-vaccine activistjournalist
- Biography
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Louis Farrakhan is an American religious leader who has been the head of the Nation of Islam (NOI) since 1981, an organization which combines black nationalism and Islamic teachings. Prior to the NOI, Farrakhan was a calypso singer who used the stage name Calypso Gene from 1950 to 1955 and a violinist from 1939 to 1955. The longest-serving NOI leader, he also served as minister of several mosques in Boston and Harlem in the 1950s under the leadership of Elijah Muhammad. Farrakhan is most prominent for antisemitic statements and racist remarks directed at white people.
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Stephen A. Smith
- Occupations
- television presenterfilm actortelevision producertelevision actoractor
- Biography
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Stephen Anthony Smith, also known as Stephen A., is an American television personality, radio host, sports analyst, and actor. He makes frequent appearances as an NBA analyst for ESPN on SportsCenter, NBA Countdown, and the network's NBA broadcasts. He has also hosted The Stephen A. Smith Show on ESPN Radio and is a commentator on ESPN's First Take. Smith is a featured columnist for ESPN and The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Earl Monroe
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Vernon Earl Monroe is an American former professional basketball player. He played for two teams, the Baltimore Bullets and the New York Knicks, during his career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Both teams have retired Monroe's number. Due to his on-court success and flashy style of play, Monroe was given the nicknames "Black Jesus" and "Earl the Pearl". Monroe was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990 and the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. In 1996, Monroe was named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, and in 2021, Monroe was named as one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history.
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Rajah Caruth
- Years
- 2002-.. (age 24)
- Occupations
- racing driver
- Biography
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Rajah Kirby Caruth is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, driving the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro SS for JR Motorsports and the No. 32 Chevrolet Camaro SS for Jordan Anderson Racing.
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Maria Howell
- Occupations
- singertelevision actorcomposerfilm actorstage actor
- Biography
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Wanda Maria Howell is an American actress and singer.
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William Hayes
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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William Quintin Hayes is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the fourth round of the 2008 NFL draft. He played college football for the Winston-Salem State Rams.
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Selma Burke
- Occupations
- sculptorvisual artistartist
- Biography
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Selma Hortense Burke was an American sculptor and a member of the Harlem Renaissance movement. Burke is best known for a bas relief portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt which may have been the model for his image on the obverse of the dime. She described herself as "a people's sculptor" and created many pieces of public art, often portraits of prominent African-American figures like Duke Ellington, Mary McLeod Bethune and Booker T. Washington. In 1979, she was awarded the Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award. She summed up her life as an artist, "I really live and move in the atmosphere in which I am creating".
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Cleo Hill
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Cleo Hill was an American professional basketball player who was selected by the St. Louis Hawks in the first round (8th overall) of the 1961 NBA draft. A 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) guard from Newark, New Jersey and the Winston-Salem State University, Hill played in the National Basketball Association for one season with the Hawks, in 1961–62, averaging 5.5 points in 58 games. Hill was only the fifth African-American from an historically Black college and university to be taken in the first round of an NBA draft.
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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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Carla Cunningham
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Carla D. Cunningham is an American politician. She has served as a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from the 106th district since 2012. Cunningham is a conservative Democrat.
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Charles Parks Richardson
- Years
- 1971-.. (age 55)
- Occupations
- business executive
- Biography
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Charles Parks Richardson is an American doctor, an inventor, and serial entrepreneur.
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Wanda Kay Brown
- Enrolled in Winston-Salem State University
- In 1977 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in English
- Occupations
- librarian
- Biography
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Wanda Kay Brown is an American librarian, who was the president of the American Library Association for the 2019–2020 term. She is the director of the C. G. O'Kelly Library at Winston-Salem State University and a leader in state and national library associations. She is the first American Library Association president who is a library director at one of the nation's historically black colleges and universities. She is twice president of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association in 2006–2008 and 2024–2026.
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Earline White Parmon
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Earline W. Parmon was an American politician. Born in Buffalo, New York, Parmon graduated from Winston-Salem State University. She served as a Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing the state's seventy-second House district, including constituents in Forsyth County. An education consultant from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Parmon has served five terms in the state House from 2002 to 2013. She announced in 2012 that she would run for a seat in the North Carolina Senate. Parmon served in the North Carolina Senate from 2013 until her resignation in 2015. She was the first African American ever to represent Forsyth County in the State Senate. Parmon also served as Forsyth County, North Carolina commissioner. Parmon died on March 15, 2016.
