List of Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) alumni

Last updated

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.

NameClass yearNotabilityReference(s)
Ebenezer Ako-Adjei Ghanaian politician, member of the United Gold Coast Convention and The Big Six
Frederick D. Alexander 1931businessman, civil rights activist
Walter G. Alexander 1899first African American to serve in the New Jersey Legislature
Brenda A. Allen 1981psychologist and second woman president of Lincoln University (2017–)
Charles E. Anderson 1941first African American to earn a Ph.D. in Meteorology
Nnamdi Azikiwe 1930first President of Nigeria
Phillip Banks III 1984first African-American Chief of Department of the New York Police Department
Harry W. Bass 1888first African American elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1910
A.A. Birch, Jr. 1952first African-American to serve as Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court
Edward Wilmot Blyden III 1948Sierra Leonean diplomat, political scientist and editor
Donald Bogle 1966film historian, author, educator
Horace Mann Bond 1923educator, scholar; first African-American and alumnus to become President of Lincoln University
Oscar Brown, Jr. 1940singer, actor, playwright, director
Roscoe Lee Browne 1946actor, former 800-meters record holder
Isaac D. Burrell 1890physician and pharmacist
Maria Louisa Bustill teacher and mother of Paul Robeson
Cab Calloway 1930entertainer, bandleader
Robert L. Carter 1937general counsel of the NAACP, United States district judge
Joseph Newman Clinton 1873Florida politician; U.S. Internal Revenue Service Collector in Tampa for 14 years
Frank "Tick" Coleman 1935educator
Alexander Darnes 1876born into slavery, owned by Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith; second African-American physician in Florida
Horace Dawson 1949U. S. Ambassador to Botswana
James A. Donaldson 1961longtime Howard University mathematics professor and dean, who established the first mathematics PhD program at a HBCU [2]
Lillian E. Fishburne 1971first African American woman promoted to the rank of rear admiral in the U.S. Navy
Christian Fleetwood 1860served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, earned the Medal of Honor
William Fontaine 1930philosopher
Archibald H. Grimke 1870lawyer, journalist, public speaker, member of the Niagara Movement
Francis J. Grimké 1870Pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., member of the Niagara Movement
Joseph Winthrop Holley 1897founder 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 1929poet
Roderick L. Ireland 1966first 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 1973keyboardist, writer
Robert Walter "Whirlwind" Johnson 1924 physician, educator, tennis instructor of Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe
Muhammad Kenyatta attended, 1960sBaptist minister, civil rights leader; ran for Mayor of Philadelphia, 1975
Pee Wee Kirkland 2000former street basketball player from New York City; played at Rucker Park in the 1970 and 1971 seasons [4]
Saara Kuugongelwa 1994Namibian politician, Prime Minister of Namibia
Raphael O'Hara Lanier 1923U. 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 1870attorney, Florida state legislator, journalist, author
Cecil Mack 1897composer, lyricist and music publisher
William P. Mabson politician [6]
Thurgood Marshall 1930first African-American Supreme Court Justice
Thomas E. Miller 1872Member, U. S. House of Representatives from South Carolina; first President of South Carolina State University
Joseph Miró 1970politician, 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 1885attorney, first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law
Nathan Francis Mossell 1879physician, first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Donald Mullett 1951academic administrator, interim president of Lincoln University as well as Cheyney University of Pennsylvania and Lincoln University (Missouri)
Larry Neal 1961Black Arts Movement leader in the 1960s [7]
Robert N.C. Nix, Sr. 1921first African American elected to Congress from Pennsylvania
Kwame Nkrumah 1939first President of the modern Ghana
Gordon J. Linton 1970public 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 1974first 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 1884poet; nonfiction writer; U.S. Government employee
Brigadier General Harold E. Pierce 1942dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon
Fayette Pinkney 1984singer, one of the original members of the group The Three Degrees
Charles Owo2004Businessman, Entrepreneur
Hildrus Poindexter 1924bacteriologist; head of Howard University Medical School in 1934
Edward S. Porter 1873physician
Dr. Joseph C. Price 1879founder of Livingstone College
William Drew Robeson I 1876minister, father of Paul Robeson
James H. Robinson 1935founder 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 1968author and journalist; pioneer in the "sword and soul" literary genre
Gil Scott-Heron attended, early 1970sactivist, singer-songwriter
Dr. Abdulalim A. Shabazz 1949Professor of Mathematics, Chairman of the Mathermatics and Computer Science Department at Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) from 1998 to 2000
Francis Cecil Sumner 1915father of Black psychology; first African American to receive a Ph.D in psychology
Wilbert "Bill" Tatum 1958Publisher Emeritus of The New York Amsterdam News [9]
Clive Terrelonge 1994Olympic track and field athlete from Jamaica
Mose Penaani Tjitendero 1968Namibian politician; former Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia ;Chairman, SWAPO Central Committee
Tjama Tjivikua 1983Vice-Chancellor of the Namibia University of Science and Technology
Melvin B. Tolson 1924poet, educator, columnist, and politician
James L. Usry 1946first African American Mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey
Mahlon Van Horne 1868first African American to serve in the Rhode Island General Assembly
Joseph Cornelius Waddy 1935Federal Judge
Herb J. Wesson Jr. 1999Speaker of the California State Assembly
Albert H. Wheeler 1936first African American Mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan
Boyce Courtney Williams 1974Vice President of National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education
Franklin Williams 1941diplomat; former president of Phelps Stokes Fund; former Assistant Attorney General of California
Waverly B. Woodson Jr. 1948United States Army soldier [10]
Bruce M. Wright 1942judge in New York and Connecticut, author of Black Robes, White Justice
Julius Taylor 1938Physics professor, established physics department at Morgan State University

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References

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  9. 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.
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