African-American Firsts at Duke University


 

This list honors the African American students, faculty and staff who helped integrate Duke over the last 50 years. Please email us at blackhistory@duke.edu if you have additions.

 

 

Jennifer Adair

First black member of the women’s fencing team, 1984.

 

Onye Akwari

First black professor of surgery at Duke’s School of Medicine, 1978.

 

Donna Allen

First black School of Nursing student, 1971, and first black student to join a Duke sorority.

 

Wilton Alston

The first black president of the Duke Alumni Association for the 2002-03 academic year (BSE Class of 1981).

 

Richard Anderson

First black professor of environmental resource management at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, 2005.

 

Brenda Armstrong

First black person to serve as a full professor in pediatrics at Duke’s School of Medicine, 1975, and the first to be board certified in pediatric cardiology in the United States.

 

Mario J. Azevedo

A native of Mozambique, the first black Ph.D. in history, 1975.

 

Donald Ballard

With Matthew A. Zimmerman, the first black student to enroll in the Divinity School as an official degree candidate, 1962.

 

Joseph Battle

The first black faculty member at Duke’s Graduate School of Business Administration, now the Fuqua School of Business, 1970.

 

Leonard Beckham

First black vice president, 1990.

 

Brenda Becton

One of the first black women to attend Duke Law School, 1974.

 

Karen Bethea-Shields

One of the first black women to attend Duke Law School, 1974.

 

Don Blackman

First African-American men’s basketball player on scholarship, 1970.

 

C. E. Boulware

First black trustee, 1974.

 

Haywood Brown

First black chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Duke Medical Center, 2002.

 

Walter Buford

First program head of the newly created Black Studies Program, 1969.

 

Martina J. Bryant

First black female dean of Trinity College, 1977.

 

Evelyn Omega Cannon

One of the first black women to attend Duke Law School, 1974.

 

James Carter

First black professor of psychiatry at Duke’s School of Medicine, 1971.

 

Kenneth Chestnut

First black engineering student, 1968.

 

C.B. Claiborne

First black student-athlete to play for the Duke men’s basketball team, 1967.

 

Gwen Coleman

First black member of the Duke rowing team, 2004.

 

Samuel DuBois Cook

First tenured black faculty member, arriving to Duke in 1966, and the first black professor to hold a regular faculty appointment at any predominantly white college or university in the South.

 

Charles Curry

First black fellow in adult cardiology at Duke’s School of Medicine, 1982.

 

Janet Smith Dickerson

First black vice president of student affairs, 1991.

 

Larry Doby, Jr.

First black Duke baseball player, 1975.

 

Jimmy Dorsey

First black track and field athlete, 1966.

 

Kafui Dzirasa

First black neurobiology Ph.D. student, 2007.

 

James Eaton

With Odell Richardson Reuben, first black student to enroll in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, 1962.
John Hope Franklin

First black James B. Duke Professor, 1982.

 

Keith Gilfillian

First black member of Duke men’s soccer team, 1973.

 

Carolyn Gray

First director of student activities in Duke’s Student Affairs office, 1971.

 

Felicia Heath

First black member of the Duke women’s gymnastics team, 1974.

 

Reginaldo Howard

First black student to be elected as president of the Associated Students of Duke University. His senior year, 1976, he was killed in an automobile accident and a memorial scholarship was named in his honor.

 

Calvin Howell

First black student to receive a Ph.D. in physics, 1984, and first and only black faculty member in physics.

 

Ernie Jackson

Along with Clarence Newsome, the first black football player on athletic scholarship, 1972. The first defensive player in ACC history to earn Player of the Year honors, and remains the only player in league history to each conference player of the week honors on both offense and defense.

 

Jaqueline Jackson

First black sociology professor, 1966.

 

Danny O. Jacobs

First black chair of Surgery at the Duke Medical Center, 2003.

 

Saleet Jafri

First black member of the Duke men’s fencing team, 1983.

 

Charles Johnson

First black fellow in endocrinology at Duke’s School of Medicine, 1967.

 

Walter Thaniel Johnson, Jr.

With David Robinson, the first black student to enroll in the law school, 1961.

 

Vereda King

First black economics Ph.D. student, 1984.

 

Natalie Lamarque

First black member of Duke women’s lacrosse team, 1996.

 

Alma Jones

First black music major in Duke’s Department of Music, 1969.


Glenn Lanham

First black head coach and first black wrestling coach, 2012.

 

Caroline Lattimore

First black dean of minority affairs within student affairs at Duke and first black assistant provost, 1978.

 

Jim Lewis

First black assistant basketball coach, 1971.

 

C. Eric Lincoln

First black religion professor at Duke, 1976.

 

Paula McClain

First black chair of the Academic Council, 2007. First black dean to head Duke’s Graduate School and the first black person to be named dean in any of the ten schools within the university, 2012.

 

Delano Meriwether

First black student admitted to Duke School of Medicine, 1963.

 

Mariana Muiruri

First black member of Duke women’s soccer team, 1995.

 

Clarence Newsome

Along with Ernie Jackson, the first black football player on athletic scholarship, 1972. He was one of the first black athletes to be named to the ACC All-Academic Team.

 

Ellah Nze

First black member of Duke women’s tennis team, 2006.

 

Ida Stephens Owens

First black student to receive a Ph.D., 1967 from the Duke Graduate School. Her degree is in physiology.

 

Allen Parks

With William Turner, the first black football player, 1966.

 

Arlie Petters

First black math professor, 1998.

 

Vestina Polk

First black member of Duke field hockey team, 1986.

 

Luke Powery

First black dean of Duke Chapel, 2012.

 

Odell Richardson Reuben

With James Eaton, first black student to enroll in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, 1962.

 

David Robinson

With Walter Thaniel Johnson, Jr. the first black student to enroll in the law school, 1961.

 

Chuck Sherwood

First black member of Duke men’s lacrosse team, 1975.

 

Jean Spaulding

First black woman to graduate from Duke’s School of Medicine, 1972.

 

Ruben Lee Speakes

First black student to enroll in classes at the Divinity School, 1961. Speakes is admitted as a special student having already received a divinity degree.

 

Sigrid Taylor

First black female women’s basketball athlete, 1977.

 

T. Michael Todd

First black cheerleader, 1973.

 

William Turner

With Allan Parks, the first black football player and non-scholarship participant, 1966. Not included on official roster until 1967.

 

Harold Wallace

First black student adviser and assistant to the dean of undergraduate education, 1969, first black dean of minority student affairs and assistant vice provost and the first black director of community affairs for black studies and instructor for black studies, 1970.

 

Kenny Jackson Williams

First black English professor at Duke, 1977.

 

Mary Lou Williams

First black artist-in-residence at Duke, 1977.

 

Reche Williams

First black member of the Duke wrestling team, 1973.

 

Joanne A. P. Wilson

First black woman, and the first woman, to serve as a full professor in the Duke Department of Internal Medicine, 1986.

 

Phyllis Wilson

First black member of the Duke women’s volleyball team, 1974.

 

George C. Wright, Jr.

First black history Ph.D., 1977.

 

Matthew A. Zimmerman

With Donald Ballard, the first black student to enroll in the Divinity School as an official degree candidate, 1962.