List of Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) alumni
This list of Lincoln University alumni includes graduates, non-graduate former students and current students of Lincoln University, a historically black university (HBCU).[1]
Lincoln University has many notable alumni, including Rev. Dr. Thurgood Marshall, Langston Hughes, Hildrus Poindexter, Horace Mann Bond, Roscoe Lee Browne, Robert L. Carter, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Kwame Nkrumah, Melvin B. Tolson, Conrad Tillard, and Cherelle Parker. Many of Hughes' papers reside in the Langston Hughes Memorial Library on campus. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Kwame Nkrumah were the first President/Prime Minister of Nigeria and Ghana respectively, fulfilling John Miller Dickey's vision of Lincoln University as a training institution for African leadership. At least ten of its alumni have served as United States ambassadors or mission chiefs. Many are federal, state, and municipal judges, and many others have served as city managers and mayors - such as Cherelle Parker, the 100th mayor of Philadelphia and first black woman to serve in the role as of January 2, 2024.
South Carolina State University, Livingstone College, Albany State University, Texas Southern University, Ibeme Memorial College (Nigeria), Ibibio State College (Nigeria), and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana) were all founded by Lincoln alumni.
| Name | Class year | Notability | Reference(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ebenezer Ako-Adjei | Ghanaian politician, member of the United Gold Coast Convention and The Big Six | ||
| Frederick D. Alexander | 1931 | businessman, civil rights activist | |
| Walter G. Alexander | 1899 | first African American to serve in the New Jersey Legislature | |
| Brenda A. Allen | 1981 | psychologist and second woman president of Lincoln University (2017–) | |
| Charles E. Anderson | 1941 | first African American to earn a Ph.D. in Meteorology | |
| Nnamdi Azikiwe | 1930 | first President of Nigeria | |
| Phillip Banks III | 1984 | first African-American Chief of Department of the New York Police Department | |
| Harry W. Bass | 1888 | first African American elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1910 | |
| A.A. Birch, Jr. | 1952 | first African-American to serve as Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court | |
| Edward Wilmot Blyden III | 1948 | Sierra Leonean diplomat, political scientist and editor | |
| Donald Bogle | 1966 | film historian, author, educator | |
| Horace Mann Bond | 1923 | educator, scholar; first African-American and alumnus to become President of Lincoln University | |
| Oscar Brown, Jr. | 1940 | singer, actor, playwright, director | |
| Roscoe Lee Browne | 1946 | actor, former 800-meters record holder | |
| Isaac D. Burrell | 1890 | physician and pharmacist | |
| Maria Louisa Bustill | teacher and mother of Paul Robeson | ||
| Cab Calloway | 1930 | entertainer, bandleader | |
| Robert L. Carter | 1937 | general counsel of the NAACP, United States district judge | |
| Joseph Newman Clinton | 1873 | Florida politician; U.S. Internal Revenue Service Collector in Tampa for 14 years | |
| Frank "Tick" Coleman | 1935 | educator | |
| Alexander Darnes | 1876 | born into slavery, owned by Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith; second African-American physician in Florida | |
| Horace Dawson | 1949 | U. S. Ambassador to Botswana | |
| James A. Donaldson | 1961 | longtime Howard University mathematics professor and dean, who established the first mathematics PhD program at a HBCU | [2] |
| Lillian E. Fishburne | 1971 | first African American woman promoted to the rank of rear admiral in the U.S. Navy | |
| Christian Fleetwood | 1860 | served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, earned the Medal of Honor | |
| William Fontaine | 1930 | philosopher | |
| Archibald H. Grimke | 1870 | lawyer, journalist, public speaker, member of the Niagara Movement | |
| Francis J. Grimké | 1870 | Pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., member of the Niagara Movement | |
| Joseph Winthrop Holley | 1897 | founder of Albany State College | |
| William E. Holmes | former President of Central City College, faculty of the Atlanta Baptist Institute, now Morehouse College for 25 years. | ||
| Langston Hughes | 1929 | poet | |
| Roderick L. Ireland | 1966 | first African American associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court | [3] |
| Montford "Monte" Irvin | attended, early1950s | New York Giants player; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973 | |
| Brian Jackson | 1973 | keyboardist, writer | |
| Robert Walter "Whirlwind" Johnson | 1924 | physician, educator, tennis instructor of Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe | |
| Muhammad Kenyatta | attended, 1960s | Baptist minister, civil rights leader; ran for Mayor of Philadelphia, 1975 | |
| Pee Wee Kirkland | 2000 | former street basketball player from New York City; played at Rucker Park in the 1970 and 1971 seasons | [4] |
| Saara Kuugongelwa | 1994 | Namibian politician, Prime Minister of Namibia | |
| Raphael O'Hara Lanier | 1923 | U. S. Minister to Liberia; first president Texas Southern University | |
| Robert Lee | 1941 | South Carolina-born dentist who emigrated to Ghana in 1956 and operated a dental practice there for nearly five decades until his retirement in 2002 | [5] |
| Matthew M. Lewey | 1870 | attorney, Florida state legislator, journalist, author | |
| Cecil Mack | 1897 | composer, lyricist and music publisher | |
| William P. Mabson | politician | [6] | |
| Thurgood Marshall | 1930 | first African-American Supreme Court Justice | |
| Thomas E. Miller | 1872 | Member, U. S. House of Representatives from South Carolina; first President of South Carolina State University | |
| Joseph Miró | 1970 | politician, member of the Delaware House of Representatives from the 22nd district | |
| Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. | 1932 | NAACP lobbyist ("101st U.S. Senator"), civil rights leader | |
| Aaron Albert Mossell | 1885 | attorney, first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law | |
| Nathan Francis Mossell | 1879 | physician, first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | |
| Donald Mullett | 1951 | academic administrator, interim president of Lincoln University as well as Cheyney University of Pennsylvania and Lincoln University (Missouri) | |
| Larry Neal | 1961 | Black Arts Movement leader in the 1960s | [7] |
| Robert N.C. Nix, Sr. | 1921 | first African American elected to Congress from Pennsylvania | |
| Kwame Nkrumah | 1939 | first President of the modern Ghana | |
| Gordon J. Linton | 1970 | public servant, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 200th District and Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration United States Department of Transportation | |
| Sheila Y. Oliver | 1974 | first African American woman Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly and Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey | |
| Barrington D. Parker | 1936 | U.S. Court of Appeals Justice | |
| John H. Paynter | 1884 | poet; nonfiction writer; U.S. Government employee | |
| Brigadier General Harold E. Pierce | 1942 | dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon | |
| Fayette Pinkney | 1984 | singer, one of the original members of the group The Three Degrees | |
| Charles Owo | 2004 | Businessman, Entrepreneur | |
| Hildrus Poindexter | 1924 | bacteriologist; head of Howard University Medical School in 1934 | |
| Edward S. Porter | 1873 | physician | |
| Dr. Joseph C. Price | 1879 | founder of Livingstone College | |
| William Drew Robeson I | 1876 | minister, father of Paul Robeson | |
| James H. Robinson | 1935 | founder of Operation Crossroads Africa (a model for the Peace Corps); Chapters 8, 9 and 10 of Robinson's 1950 autobiography, Road Without Turning, describe life at Lincoln in the early 1930s | [8] |
| Charles R. Saunders | 1968 | author and journalist; pioneer in the "sword and soul" literary genre | |
| Gil Scott-Heron | attended, early 1970s | activist, singer-songwriter | |
| Dr. Abdulalim A. Shabazz | 1949 | Professor of Mathematics, Chairman of the Mathermatics and Computer Science Department at Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) from 1998 to 2000 | |
| Francis Cecil Sumner | 1915 | father of Black psychology; first African American to receive a Ph.D in psychology | |
| Wilbert "Bill" Tatum | 1958 | Publisher Emeritus of The New York Amsterdam News | [9] |
| Clive Terrelonge | 1994 | Olympic track and field athlete from Jamaica | |
| Mose Penaani Tjitendero | 1968 | Namibian politician; former Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia ;Chairman, SWAPO Central Committee | |
| Tjama Tjivikua | 1983 | Vice-Chancellor of the Namibia University of Science and Technology | |
| Melvin B. Tolson | 1924 | poet, educator, columnist, and politician | |
| James L. Usry | 1946 | first African American Mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey | |
| Mahlon Van Horne | 1868 | first African American to serve in the Rhode Island General Assembly | |
| Joseph Cornelius Waddy | 1935 | Federal Judge | |
| Herb J. Wesson Jr. | 1999 | Speaker of the California State Assembly | |
| Albert H. Wheeler | 1936 | first African American Mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan | |
| Boyce Courtney Williams | 1974 | Vice President of National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education | |
| Franklin Williams | 1941 | diplomat; former president of Phelps Stokes Fund; former Assistant Attorney General of California | |
| Waverly B. Woodson Jr. | 1948 | United States Army soldier | [10] |
| Bruce M. Wright | 1942 | judge in New York and Connecticut, author of Black Robes, White Justice | |
| Julius Taylor | 1938 | Physics professor, established physics department at Morgan State University |
References[edit]
- ^ "List of HBCUs -- White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities". 2007-08-16. Archived from the original on 2007-12-23. Retrieved 2008-01-03.
- ^ "Lincoln University Celebrates The Life Of Dr. James A. Donaldson '61, Educator And Mathematician". News. Lincoln University. October 23, 2019. Archived from the original on January 29, 2021. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
- ^ "Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Judicial Profiles". Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
- ^ "Tqnyc.org". Archived from the original on 2008-05-10. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
- ^ Asante, Elizabeth K. (2010-07-07). "Dentist Championed African-American community in Ghana". Ghana Web. Archived from the original on 2018-08-04. Retrieved 2012-11-03.
- ^ Simmons-Henry, Linda (1990). Simmons-Henry, Linda; Henry, Philip N.; Speas, Carol (eds.). The Heritage of Blacks in North Carolina. Vol. 1. North Carolina African American Heritage Foundation. p. 17. ISBN 9780912081120.
- ^ "U-M Web Hosting". Archived from the original on 2006-11-04. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
- ^ James Albins, "James Herman Robinson – Historical Note Archived 2013-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, Amistad Research Center website. Retrieved: 23 January 2012.
- ^ Sciolino, Elaine. "WILBERT TATUM, THE MAYOR'S DEBATER, HAS HIS OWN FLAIR FOR THE DRAMATIC" Archived 2021-10-14 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, July 14, 1984. Accessed February 26, 2009.
- ^ "Waverly Woodson". The Frederick News-Post (via Legacy.com). August 30, 2005. Archived from the original on October 14, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2021.