Name
|
Class year
|
Notability
|
Reference(s)
|
Stacey Abrams
|
1995
|
Politician, House Minority Leader for the Georgia General Assembly and State Representative for the 89th House District. First African-American woman in the U.S. to win a major party’s nomination for governor.
|
|
Tina McElroy Ansa
|
1971
|
Author, Baby of the Family, Ugly Ways, The Hand I Fan With, and You Know Better
|
[1] |
Blanche Armwood
|
1906
|
Educator, activist; the first African-American woman in the state of Florida to graduate from an accredited law school; Armwood High School in Tampa, FL is named in her honor
|
|
Daphne L. Smith
|
1980
|
First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
|
|
Adrienne Adams
|
1982
|
First African-American speaker of the New York City Council
|
|
Mary Barksdale
|
1942
|
Past President, Jack and Jill (organization)
|
|
Loretta Copeland Biggs
|
1976
|
Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina
|
|
Janet Bragg
|
1931
|
Aviation pioneer; first African-American female to obtain a commercial pilot license
|
|
Rosalind G. Brewer
|
1984
|
Chief Executive Officer, Walgreens; Chief Operating Officer, Starbucks; Executive Vice President, Walmart Stores, Inc. and President Walmart Stores South, USA; Board of Directors, Lockheed Martin
|
|
Ada E. Brown
|
1996
|
First African-American woman federal judge in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
|
|
Linda Goode Bryant
|
1981
|
Documentary filmmaker, Flag Wars; Peabody Award winner and 2004 Guggenheim Fellow
|
|
Selena Sloan Butler
|
1888
|
Founder first black Parent-Teacher organization, the National Congress for Colored Parents & Teachers; co-founder the National Parent-Teacher Association
|
|
Sheila L. Chamberlain
|
1981
|
Pilot, lawyer
|
|
Pearl Cleage
|
1971
|
Novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and journalist
|
[1] |
Cassi Davis
|
1988
|
actress House of Payne
|
|
Ethel McGhee Davis
|
1919
|
Student Adviser and Dean of Women at Spelman College
|
|
Ruth A. Davis
|
1966
|
24th Director General of the United States Foreign Service; Director, Foreign Service Institute and two-time recipient of the President’s Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service
|
|
Phire Dawson
|
2008
|
“Barker’s Beauty” on The Price Is Right
|
|
Mattiwilda Dobbs
|
1937
|
Opera singer; served on the Board of Directors for the Metropolitan Opera and the National Endowment for the Arts
|
[1] |
Marian Wright Edelman
|
1960
|
Founder of the Children’s Defense Fund; MacArthur Fellow; Heinz Award; Presidential Medal of Freedom
|
[1] |
Christine King Farris
|
1948
|
Public speaker and educator who teaches at Spelman College, she is the eldest and only living sibling of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
|
|
Tia Fuller
|
1998
|
Saxophonist, composer, and educator
|
|
Nora A. Gordon
|
1888
|
Began the tradition of Spelman missionary work to Africa[2] |
|
Beverly Guy-Sheftall
|
1966
|
Author, feminist scholar, founder of Women’s Research and Resource Center at Spelman College
|
|
Lisa Cook
|
1986
|
First African-American woman to be confirmed as a Federal Reserve governor
|
[3] |
Evelynn M. Hammonds
|
1976
|
Dean of Harvard College, Professor of the History of Science and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University
|
|
Marcelite J. Harris
|
1964
|
First African-American female to obtain the rank of General in the United States Air Force
|
|
Paula Hicks-Hudson
|
1973
|
First African-American female mayor of Toledo, Ohio
|
|
Varnette Honeywood
|
1972
|
Creator of the Little Bill character
|
[1] |
Clara Ann Howard
|
1887
|
Baptist missionary in Africa, longtime Spelman staff
|
|
Alexine Clement Jackson
|
1956
|
Chair, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and former National President of the YWCA
|
|
Adrienne-Joi Johnson
|
1988
|
Actress “House Party”, “Baby Boy”
|
|
Bernette Joshua Johnson
|
1964
|
First African-American and second female Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court
|
[4] |
Clara Stanton Jones
|
1934
|
First African-American President of the American Library Association
|
|
Taylor Darling
|
2004
|
Elected official from the 18th district of the New York State Assembly
|
|
Tayari Jones
|
1991
|
Author of Leaving Atlanta and The Untelling and English professor at Emory University
|
|
Bettina Judd
|
2005
|
Artist and poet
|
[5] |
Alberta Williams King
|
(high school)
|
Mother of Martin Luther King Jr.
|
|
Bernice King
|
1986
|
President, SCLC, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr.
|
|
Audrey F. Manley
|
1955
|
President Emerita of Spelman College, former Assistant Surgeon General of the United States, former Acting Surgeon General of the United States
|
|
Harriet Mitchell Murphy
|
1949
|
First African-American female judge in Texas
|
[6] |
Tanya Walton Pratt
|
1981
|
Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
|
|
Deborah Prothrow-Stith
|
1975
|
First female Commissioner of Public Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Professor at Harvard School of Public Health
|
[1] |
Keshia Knight Pulliam
|
2001
|
Actress The Cosby Show, House of Payne
|
|
Tanika Ray
|
1994
|
Actress and television personality
|
|
Bernice Johnson Reagon
|
1970
|
Founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock; MacArthur Fellow; Professor Emeritus American University Curator Emeritus, Smithsonian Institution National Museum American History; National Humanities Medal; Heinz Award
|
[1] |
LaTanya Richardson
|
1971
|
Actress (The Fighting Temptations, Losing Isaiah, Malcolm X) and wife of actor Samuel L. Jackson
|
[1] |
Rubye Robinson
|
1963
|
Civil Rights activist, Executive Secretary of SNCC
|
|
Shaun Robinson
|
1984
|
Co-anchor, Access Hollywood; former host, TV One Access
|
|
Esther Rolle
|
attended
|
Actress, Good Times
|
|
Dovey Johnson Roundtree
|
1938
|
Trial attorney, military veteran, AMEC minister, and civil rights pioneer; landmark case: Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company
|
|
Eva Rutland
|
1937
|
Author, When We Were Colored: A Mother’s Story; Winner of the 2000 Golden Pen Lifetime Achievement Award, and author of more than 20 Romance novels
|
|
Brenda V. Smith
|
1980
|
Law professor, American University; appointed by Nancy Pelosi to the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission
|
|
Maxine Smith
|
1949
|
Academic, civil rights activist, and school board official
|
[7] |
Sharmell Sullivan
|
1990
|
Miss Black America 1991, “TNA Knockout”, and wife of professional wrestler Booker T
|
|
Sue Bailey Thurman
|
1920
|
Founder and first chairperson, National Council of Negro Women’s National Library
|
|
Alice Walker
|
attended
|
Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist, The Color Purple
|
[1] |
Marian Mereba
|
2011
|
Singer, songwriter, and producer
|
|
Talitha Washington
|
1996
|
African-American mathematician and STEM activist
|
|
Rolonda Watts
|
1980
|
Journalist, actor, writer, former talk show host
|
|
Denise Nicole White known as “AverySunshine”
|
1998
|
Singer and pianist
|
|
Kiron Skinner
|
1981
|
College professor and former Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State
|
|
Ella Gaines Yates
|
1949
|
First African-American director of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
|
|
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