List of Morehouse College alumni

This is a list of notable alumni which includes currently matriculating students, and alumni who are graduates or non-matriculating students of Morehouse College.

Morehouse College is a private, four-year, all-male, historically black college in Atlanta, Georgia. During enrollment at the college students are known as "Men of Morehouse." Upon graduation, alumni are ceremoniously initiated as lifetime "Morehouse Men."

See also Morehouse College alumni.

Academia

Educators

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Russell L Adams	1952	Chair, Department Afro-American Studies, Howard University (1971-2005); Professor Emeritus, Howard University
Benjamin Brawley	1901	first Dean of Morehouse College
Calvin O. Butts	1972	President, SUNY College at Old Westbury; Pastor, Abyssinian Baptist Church	[1]
Ronald L. Carter	1971	President, Johnson C. Smith University; former Dean of Students Boston University and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa
Charles D. Churchwell	1952	former Dean of Library Services at Washington University in St. Louis; Brown University and Miami University (OH)
James A. Colston	1932	2nd President, Bethune-Cookman University; President Knoxville College; President Savannah State University; 2nd President, Bronx Community College
Samuel DuBois Cook	1948	first Black Professor Emeritus and Trustee Emeritus at Duke University; President, Dillard University 1974-1997
Guy C. Craft	1951	former Dean of Library Services at Chicago State University; former Library Director at Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center and former Interim Dean of the School of Library and Information Studies at Clark Atlanta University
Abraham L. Davis	1961	Distinguished Professor and Chair, Political Science Department, Morehouse College
James C. Early	1969	Distinguished Director of Cultural Heritage Policy at the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Washington, D.C.	[2]
Eddie Glaude	1989	Chair, Center for African American Studies and Professor at Princeton University; guest contributor: The Tavis Smiley Show	[3]
Marshall Grigsby	1968	former President of Benedict College and former Vice President, Provost and CEO of Hampton University
William E. Holmes		former President of Central City College, faculty of the Atlanta Baptist Institute for 25 years.
John Hopps, Jr.	1958	former Director of the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory and Distinguished Physics Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; recipient of the Materials Advancement Award
Mordecai Wyatt Johnson	1911	first African-American president of Howard University	[4]
David Jones	1983	Vice President of Human Resources, Stanford University
Walter J. Leonard		former Assistant Dean Harvard Law School; former President of Fisk University; two fellowships are named in his honor at Oxford University	[5]
James Nabrit, Jr.	1923	Second African-American president of Howard University and former Deputy United Nations Ambassador
Calvin Mackie	1990	former Professor of Engineering, Tulane University; winner of the 2003 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering; Black Engineer of the Year for College Level Educators
Walter E. Massey	1958	President, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; former Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago; former Dean of the College of Physics at Brown University; former Provost of the University of California System; President Emeritus at Morehouse College
Richard McKinney	1931	first African American President of Storer College; former Dean at Virginia Union University and Morgan State University
Richard J. Powell	1975	Distinguished Professor of Art History at Duke University; editor-in-chief, the Art Bulletin; Wilbur Lucius Cross Medalist, Yale University Alumni of the Year Award	[6]
Ronald S. Sullivan Jr.	1989	Professor, Harvard Law School and Director of the Criminal Justice Inst. at Harvard Law; legal analyst CNN, Fox News
James F. Williams		current Dean of Libraries University of Colorado at Boulder, 2002 Melvil Dewey Medal recipient
Charles V. Willie	1948	Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Harvard University Graduate School of Education
John S. Wilson, Jr.	1979	Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities; former Assistant Provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology	[7]

Business

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Nathaniel H. Bronner, Sr.	1940	founder and former CEO, Bronner Bros., which is also the publisher of Upscale Magazine
Ronald D. Brown		former CEO, Atlanta Life Financial Group, Inc
Herman Cain	1967	former CEO, Godfather's Pizza	[8]
Emmett Carson	1981	CEO and President, Silicon Valley Community Foundation
James W. Compton	1961	Board of Directors, Ariel Investments, Inc.; retired President and CEO, Chicago Urban League
Reginald E. Davis	1984	President, RBC Bank, former Senior Executive, Wachovia; named one the "75 Most Powerful African-Americans in Corporate America" by Black Enterprise magazine
Russell Ewing	1991	Executive Director, SEI Investments Company
Dale E. Jones	1982	Vice Chair, Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.
Robert L. Mallett	1979	former Vice President, Pfizer Corporation, President Pfizer Foundation/Member of Accordia Global Health Foundation’s Board of Directors	[9][10]
Walter E. Massey	1958	former Chairman, Bank of America; former Director of the National Science Foundation
Kent Matlock	1986	CEO of Matlock Advertising & Public Relations
John W. Mims	1982	Sr. Vice President Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
Arthur E. Johnson	1968	former President and COO, Lockheed Martin I&SS, and President, IBM, FSC Division
Rufus H. Rivers	1986	Managing Director, RLJ Equity Partners, Board of Directors: Thomas & Betts, the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC)
Robert T. Ross	1981	Director, NJ Wealth Management Banking at Merrill Lynch
Maceo K. Sloan	1971	Chair and CEO NCM Capital Management Group; Chair and CEO Sloan Financial Group, Inc., Board of Directors, SCANA Corporation

Entertainment

Music

Name Class year Notability References Saul Williams 1994 performing artist and actor Uzee Brown, Jr. 1972 opera singer, composer Byron Cage 1987 Grammy-nominated gospel singer; NAACP Image Award nominee; winner of six Stellar Awards [11] Stephen "Zumbi" Gaines 1995 rapper, founder of Zion I [12] Anthony "Amp Live" Anderson 1995 producer, founder of Zion I [12] JohnJason Cecil 1995 Blues Artist, founder of The Bush League [13] Keith "Guru" Elam 1983 rapper, founder of Gang Starr [14] Edmund Jenkins 1914 Harlem Renaissance composer, studied under Kemper Harreld Canton Jones 1985 Grammy-nominated gospel singer Martin Luther McCoy 1992 musician and actor [15] Babatunde Olatunji 1954 Grammy Award-winning Nigerian drummer, social activist and recording artist; Drums of Passion [16] Shakir Stewart 1996 Senior Vice President of Island Def Jam Music Group, Executive Vice President of Def Jam PJ Morton Maroon 5 keyboardist [17]

Film, television and theatre

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Samuel L. Jackson	1972	actor	[18]
Kevin A. Ross	1985	host/producer of daytime syndication legal show America's Court with Judge Ross
Stu James	1989	Broadway and television actor; Color Purple, Dreamgirls, All My Children, General Hospital	[19]
Erik King	1985	actor, Dexter
Spike Lee	1979	film director and producer	[18]
Seith Mann	1995	television director: The Wire, Grey's Anatomy; winner of the NAACP Image Award
Bill G. Nunn III	1976	actor, School Daze, Mo Better Blues, New Jack City	[20]
Avery O Williams	1986	screenwriter; Notes In A Minor Key, Re-Directing Eddie	[21]
Fonzworth Bentley	1997	well-known media personality
Rockmond Dunbar		actor, Soul Food, Girlfriends
Brian Tyree Henry	2004	actor

Government, law, and public policy

Federal government

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Nate Bennett-Fleming	2007	shadow U.S. Representative for the District of Columbia	[22][23]
Sanford Bishop	1968	U.S. Congressman (Georgia)	[24]
John Brewer	1989	Associate Administrator, Foreign Agricultural Services and General Sales Manager, United States Department of Agriculture	[25]
James H. Shelton III	1989	former Deputy Secretary of Education for the United States	[26]
Julius E. Coles	1964	former U.S. Ambassador to Senegal; former President of Africare
George Haley	1949	former Chair U.S. Postal Rate Commission and Ambassador to the Republic of Ghana; brother of Alex Haley	[27]
James L. Hudson	1961	Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; Chair, National Capitol Revitalization Corporation Board	[28]
Earl F. Hilliard	1964	former U.S. Congressman (Alabama)	[29]
John Hopps Jr.	1958	former Deputy Under Secretary United States Department of Defense	[30]
Howard E. Jeter	1970	former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria; former U.S. Ambassador to Botswana
Robert L. Mallett	1979	former Deputy Secretary of Commerce U.S. Department of Commerce; VP Pfizer Corporation, President Pfizer Foundation	[9]
James Nabrit, Jr.	1923	former Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; second African American President of Howard University	[29]
Major R. Owens	1956	U.S. Congressman (New York)	[31]
Cedric Richmond	1995	U.S. Congressman (Louisiana)
David Satcher	1963	16th U.S. Surgeon General, former president of Morehouse School of Medicine	[32]
Joel Secundy	1993	Deputy Assistant Secretary, Service Industries, International Trade Administrations, United States Department of Commerce	[33]
Louis W. Sullivan	1954	former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and current President Emeritus of Morehouse School of Medicine	[34]
Horace T. Ward	1927	first African American to challenge the racially discriminatory practices at the UGA School of Law; first African-American to be appointed to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia;former member of the Georgia Senate	[35]

State government

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Julian Bond	1971	civil rights leader, former Georgia state representative and Chairman of the NAACP	[18]
Terrance Carroll	1992	Speaker, Colorado House of Representatives
Kenneth Dunkin	1989	Illinois House of Representatives
Jimmy Harris		member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for New Orleans since 2016	[36]
Leroy Johnson	1949	Senator; first African American elected to the Georgia General Assembly since Reconstruction	[37]
John Monds	1987	Highest number of votes received by any Libertarian candidate ever	[38]
Frank Peterman	1985	Florida House of Representatives
Bakari Sellers	2005	Youngest member elected to the South Carolina General Assembly	[39]
Sebastian Ridley-Thomas	2009	California State Assembly
Andre Thapedi	1990	Illinois House of Representatives
Perry Thurston Jr.	1982	Florida House of Representatives
S. Howard Woodson	1942	Bachelor of Divinity Morehouse School of Religion; former Speaker, New Jersey General Assembly

Mayors

Name Class year Notability References Claude Black Jr. 1937 first Black mayor Pro Tem San Antonio, Texas; civil rights leader; Pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas [40][41] Chuck Burris 1971 first Black mayor of Stone Mountain, Georgia John Wesley Dobbs 1897 the unofficial "Mayor" of Sweet Auburn Avenue (1937-1949); Civic Leader and co-founder of the Atlanta Negro Voters League [42] Maynard Jackson 1956 first Black mayor of Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson served three terms as Mayor; founder and CEO of Jackson Securities Inc.; National Development Chair, Democratic National Committee [43] Ed McIntyre 1956 first African-American mayor of Augusta, Georgia Alvin Parks, Jr. 1983 Mayor, East St. Louis, Illinois (2007-present) James O. Webb 1953 Mayor Glencoe, Illinois; established the first HMO in Illinois and served as Chair, President and CEO of the Dental Network of America (of the Health Care Service Corporation) [44] Clinton I. Young 1972 Mayor, Mt. Vernon, New York (2008-present)

Judges and lawyers

Name Class year Notability References Michael D. Carter 1986 Judge, Superior Court, Los Angeles County [45] George W. Crockett Jr. 1931 former U.S. Congressman, United States Congress; Founding Member of the National Lawyer's Guild; Co-founded the first racially integrated law firm in the U.S.; first Black attorney in the U.S. Department of Labor [46] Ralph B. Everett 1973 President and CEO, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies [47] Joseph Jerome Farris 1951 Justice, United States Court of Appeals 9th Circuit [48] Robert V. Franklin 1947 Retired Judge, Ohio District Court of Appeals. Calvin S. Graves 1973 Chief Judge , Atlanta Municipal Court,Atlanta , Georgia ref=[49] Odell Horton 1951 Justice, U.S. District Court W. Tenn. [50] Reginald C. Lindsay 1967 Justice, United States Court of Appeals 7th Circuit [51] James L. Hudson 1961 Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; Chair, National Capitol Revitalization Corporation Board [28] Michael D. Johnson 1990 Judge, Superior Court, Fulton Co., Georgia [52] Jeh Johnson 1979 Secretary of Homeland Security, first black Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, named to the National Law Journal's 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers; appointed General Counsel for the Defense Department by President Barack Obama; former General Counsel U.S. Air Force. C. Vernon Mason 1967 disbarred lawyer, Tawana Brawley case, Howard Beach incident. Stephen L. Maxwell 1942 first Black District Court Judge in Minnesota [53] Tyrone C. Means 1973 Founding Partner, Thomas Means Gillis & Seay; Counsel and Board Member, Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation [54][55] Graham T. Perry c.1920 first African American Assistant Attorney-General for State of Illinois [56] Olu Stevens 1992 circuit court judge for the 30th Circuit, Kentucky [57] Thomas Sampson Sr. 1968 founding partner of Thompson Kennedy Sampson & Patterson, the oldest minority-owned law firm in the state of Georgia. [58][59] Jerome Walker 1981 Partner Troutman Sanders, LLP; former General Counsel for the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. [60] Horace T. Ward 1949 Federal Judge, U.S. District Court Northern, Georgia; inducted into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame; recipient of the Trumpet Award for Civil Rights Advocacy [61] Brent Wilson 1973 partner, Elarbee Thompson Sapp & Wilson; Who's Who in American Law; listed among America's Top Black Lawyers by Black Enterprise; Chamber's USA Best Lawyers for Business [62] Richard T. White 1967 Sr. VP and General Counsel for the Auto Club Group and Chairman of the Association of Corporate Counsel [63]

Journalist and media personalities

Name Class year Notability References Geoff Bennett 2002 Washington reporter, Time Warner Cable News / NY1 [64] Michael DeMond Davis 1961 Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist; author of Black American Women in Olympic Track & Field and co-author of Thurgood Marshall: Warrior at the Bar, Rebel on the Bench. Robert E. Johnson 1948 former Executive Editor and Associate Publisher, Jet Magazine Jamal Simmons 1993 political correspondent for CNN Vincent Tubbs c.1938 co-founder of National Negro Newspaper Week and first African American to head a motion picture industry union [65][66]

Literature

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Lerone Bennett, Jr.	1949	senior editor for the Johnson Publishing Group (JET, Ebony); author of Before the Mayflower
Sanford Biggers	1993	artist, professor Columbia University School of the Arts
Thomas Dent	1952	writer and poet; author of Magnolia Street	[67]
Jefferson Grisby	1938	author, artist; NAACP Man of the Year Award; first African American to publish a book for collegiate art teachers	[44]
Miles Marshall Lewis	1993	pop culture critic, essayist, and author

Military service

Name Class year Notability References Otha Thornton, Lt. Colonel 1989 2013-2015 National President and Chairman of the Parent Teacher Association and also the first African-American male elected President in the history of the association. Former Director of Human Resources and Presidential Communications Officer for the White House Communications Agency; awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree by Michigan Technological University; former Assistant Professor, Michigan Technological University; winner of the Parting of the Waters Award for Faculty Excellence. James R. Hall, Lt. General (ret.) 1957 Deputy Inspector General, the United States Army

Religion

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
M. William Howard, Jr.	1968	Pastor Bethany Baptist Church, former President, New York Theological Seminary; Chair, Rutgers University Board of Governors	[68]
Thomas Kilgore, Jr.	1931	civil rights pioneer and Pastor Emeritus, Second Baptist Church; a building is named in his honor on the Morehouse campus	[68]
Otis Moss, Jr.	1956	pastor and theologian
Otis Moss III	1992	Pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ; listed on the Root 100	[69]
Kelly Miller Smith	1942	assistant dean, Vanderbilt University Divinity School (circa 1970s-1980s)
Keith L. Somerville	1992	Founding Pastor, One Life United Methodist Church
Howard Thurman	1923	renowned theologian; Dean of Chapel Boston University
Frederick B. Williams		Canon of the Church of the Intercession in Harlem, New York (1971-2005)

Science and medicine

Name Class year Notability References Henry W. Foster, Jr. 1954 President Emeritus, Meharry Medical College; clinical professor, Vanderbilt University; former nominee to post of U.S. Surgeon General; presidential advisor John Hopps, Jr. 1958 physicist, former longtime Director of the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory and distinguished professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); recipient of the National Materials Advancement Award; former Deputy Under Secretary for the United States Department of Defense Roger Wood II 1966 computer scientist; first African-American software developer at Bell Labs [70] Calvin B. Johnson 1989 24th Secretary of Health for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania of the Pennsylvania Department of Health Paul Q. Judge 1998 award-winning computer technologist, inventor and entrepreneur; recipient of MIT Technology Review Magazine's "100 Top Innovators under 35"; voted Black Engineer of the Year (2006) Samuel M. Nabrit 1925 Distinguished Science Professor; first African-American appointed to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission; served on Dwight Eisenhower's National Science Board; first African-American to receive a doctoral degree from Brown University; first African-American to serve as Trustee at Brown University; President of Texas Southern University [71] Donald Hopkins 1962 Director and Vice President, Health Programs, The Carter Center; a 1995 MacArthur Fellow; nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 Roderic Pettigrew 1972 cardiologist and renowned biomedical engineer; Director, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering; former Director of Magnetic Resonance Research and Professor of Radiology and Cardiology at Emory University School of Medicine; listed annually among the "Best Doctors in America" [72] Mack Roach III 1975 Chair, Radiation Oncology, University of California, San Francisco; named four times among the "Best Doctors in America"; American Cancer Society Fellow ; American College of Radiology Fellow Asa G. Yancey Sr. 1937 first African-American professor and Professor Emeritus at Emory University School of Medicine, first African-American doctor and Medical Director at Grady Memorial Hospital Charles DeWitt Watts 1938 first board-certified African-American surgeon in North Carolina; founder of Lincoln Community Health Center [73]

Service and social reform

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Hamilton Holmes	1963	desegregated the University of Georgia (along with Charlayne Hunter); attended Morehouse before transferring to UGA	[18]
Martin Luther King Jr.	1948	leader of the Civil Rights Movement and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; delivered the historic "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington 1963	[18]
Howard Zehr	1965	grandfather of Restorative Justice; 2006 winner of the Community of Christ Peace Award; first white student to attend Morehouse
Shaun King (activist)	2002	civil rights activist, entrepreneur and senior justice writer for the New York Daily News

Sports

Olympics

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Edwin Moses	1978	Olympic gold medalist	[18]

Baseball

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Donn Clendenon	1956	New York Mets Outfielder and 1969 World Series MVP

Football (American)

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Jerome Boger		current referee and umpire in the NFL (National Football League); former quarterback for the Morehouse Tigers football team
Caesar "Zip" Gayles	1924	former head football coach and former head basketball coach at Langston University, member of SWAC Hall of Fame and NAIA Basketball Hall of Fame	[74]
David Graham	1982	DE, Seattle Seahawks 1982-1987	[75]
Ramon Harewood	2010	OL, Baltimore Ravens 2010	[75]
Issac Keys		LB, Arizona Cardinals 2004-2005	[75]
John David Washington	2006	RB, St. Louis Rams 2006, all-time leading rusher at Morehouse; RB in the UFL; son of Oscar Award-winning actor Denzel Washington

Others

Name Class year Notability References John Sharpe James 1992 US Army Major, decorated veteran, member of Municipal Council of Newark [76] Dexter King son of Martin Luther King Jr. Ennis Cosby 1992 son of comedian Bill Cosby Joshua Packwood 2008 first white valedictorian of Morehouse [77]

Notable faculty

Name	Department	Notability	Reference
Na'im Akbar	Psychology	author, Breaking the Chains and Images of Psychological Slavery
Amalia Amaki	History	modern and contemporary artist
Clayborne Carson	History	Executive Director, Martin Luther King Jr. Collection; professor, Stanford University
Lawrence Edward Carter	Religion	Dean, Martin Luther King Chapel; Fulbright Scholar; founder of the Gandhi-King-Ikeda Community Builders Prize
Claude B. Dansby	Mathematics	chair, Mathematics Dept.
Louis Delsarte	Fine Arts	painter, muralist
E. Franklin Frazier	Sociology	author, Black Bourgeoisie
Kemper Harreld	Music	established the Morehouse College Glee Club
J.K. Haynes	Biology	Chair, Biology Department; New York Academy of Science; Who's Who in Science and Engineering; Who's Who Among America's Teachers; Visiting Scholar, Brown University
John Hope	President	first black president of Morehouse
John Hopps, Jr.	Physics	former Director, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, MIT
Edward A. Jones	Foreign Language	author, A Candle In The Dark: A History of Morehouse College
Frederick E. Mapp	Mathematics	F.E. Mapp Science & Math Symposium
Benjamin E. Mays	President	mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr.; established the institutions international academic reputation and gave rise to the Morehouse Mystique
Henry Cecil McBay	Chemistry	winner of the Norton Prize in Chemistry, the Norris Award, and the Herty Award for Outstanding Contributions in Chemistry; first MLK Visiting Scholar at MIT
Charles Wilbert Snow	Political Science	diplomat
Harriet J. Walton	Mathematics	"Mother Walton" was a UNCF Dana Fellow; Who's Who Men and Women of Science (1974); Who's Who of American Women (1974); Outstanding Educators of America (1971)

References

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