List of alumni of Shaw University
# List of alumni of Shaw University

This is a list of notable alumni of Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

## Notable alumni

### Academics

* Ezekiel Ezra Smith (A.B. 1878), president of Fayetteville State University and U.S. Ambassador to Liberia (1888–1890).
* Edward Hart Lipscombe (A.B. 1879, A.M. 1882), educator, minister, principal of the Western Union Institute.
* Charles L. Purce, (A.B.) president of Selma University and Simmons College of Kentucky.
* James B. Dudley (A.B. 1881), professor and president of North Carolina A&T State University (1896–1925).
* Peter Weddick Moore (A.B. 1887), founder and first president of Elizabeth City Normal College, (now Elizabeth City State University).
* James E. Shepard (A.B. 1894), founder and first president of North Carolina Central University.
* John O. Crosby (1914), founder and first president of North Carolina A&T State University.
* Benjamin Arthur Quarles (B.A. 1931), historian, administrator, scholar, educator, and writer.
* James E. Cheek (B.A. 1955), president of Shaw University, president emeritus of Howard University, 1983 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
* William L. Pollard (B.A. 1967), president of the Medgar Evers College (2009–2013).

### Arts and entertainment

* Gladys Knight (B.A. 1966 and honorary doctorate), singer, Gladys Knight & the Pips, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, received Honorary Doctorate.
* Shirley Caesar (B.S. 1984), pastor and gospel music artist.
* Lords of the Underground (Attended), hip-hop group that was founded in the early 1990s, when all three of its members were students attending Shaw University.

### Business

* Calvin E. Lightner (1907 or 1908), architect and mortician.
* Ida Van Smith (1939), one of the first African American female pilots and flight instructors in the United States.
* Lee Johnson (1975), president & CEO of Mechanics & Farmers Bank.
* Celeste Beatty (1984), first black female brewery owner.
* Willie Otey Kay (1912), prominent dressmaker in Raleigh
* William Gaston Pearson (1886), prominent principal, colloquially referred to as "Durham's Black Superintendent", in Durham, NC, and co-founder of Mechanics & Farmers Bank.

### Civil rights

* Max Yergan (1914), civil rights activist; Spingarn Medal recipient.
* Ella Baker (1927), leader of SNCC and civil rights activist.
* Eleanor Nunn, Ph.D., Civil rights activist (one of founders of SNCC) and educator, North Carolina State University.

### Government

* Edward A. Johnson (B.L. 1891), first African-American member of the New York state legislature when he was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1917.
* Col. James H. Young, prominent North Carolina politician and first African American to hold the rank of colonel in the United States of the volunteer regiment during the Spanish–American War.
* Henry Plummer Cheatham (A.B. 1882), Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1889 to 1893.
* Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.,(D.D. 1934), Congressman from New York, 1945–71.
* Angie Brooks (B.S. 1949), first African female President of the United Nations General Assembly and Associate Justice to the National Supreme Court of Liberia.
* Rita Walters (1952), member of Board of Library Commissioners for the Los Angeles Public Library.
* Vernon Malone (1953), Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly, 14th Senate district, including constituents in Wake County.
* Luther Jordan (B.A. 1997), member of the North Carolina Senate from 1993 to 2002.
* Thomas O. Fuller State senator of the North Carolina Senate in 1898

### Law

* Roger Demosthenes O'Kelly (B.L. 1909), lawyer, first deaf and black lawyer.
* Glenford Eckleton Mitchell (B.A. 1960), member of Universal House of Justice (1982–2008).
* Willie E. Gary (B.A. 1971), one of the world's wealthiest attorneys, known as the "Whale Killer" and co-founder of the Black Family Channel.

### Journalism

* Lenard Moore (B.A. 1980), first African American President of the Haiku Society of America.
* Shelia P. Moses (B.A. 1983), best selling author, nominated for the National Book Award & NAACP Image Award.

### Religion

* Richard Gene Arno, founder of the National Christian Counselors Association.
* William R. Pettiford (1912 honorary), Birmingham, Alabama minister and banker.
* Lucius Walker (1954), Baptist minister best known for his opposition to the United States embargo against Cuba.

### Science and medicine

* Louise Celia Fleming (1885) black medical missionary (1862-1899).
* Manassa Thomas Pope (1885), prominent physician in Raleigh; ran for mayor in 1919.
* Dr. John Eagles, pharmacy owner in Raleigh, North Carolina and son of John S. W. Eagles, sergeant in U.S.C.T., public official, and state legislator in North Carolina

### Sports

* Carrenza M. "Schoolboy" Howard, Negro Leagues pitcher
* Charlie Brandon (1964), Grey Cup champion and all-star CFL football player.
* Van Green (1973), NFL player.
* James "Bonecrusher" Smith (B.A. 1975), first heavyweight boxing champion with a college degree.
* Ronald "Flip" Murray (2002), professional basketball player.
* Julius Gregory (2011), Arena Football League player.

## Presidents of Shaw University

List of presidents of Shaw University (* indicates alumni) :

| Name | Tenure |
| - | - |
| Henry Martin Tupper | 1865–1893 |
| Nicholas Franklin Roberts | 1893–1894 (acting) |
| Charles Francis Meserve | 1894–1919 |
| Joseph Leishman Peacock | 1920–1931 |
| William Stuart Nelson | 1931–1936 |
| Robert Prentiss Daniel | 1936–1950 |
| William Russell Strassner | 1951–1962 |
| James Edward Cheek* | 1963–1969 |
| King Virgil Cheek* | 1969–1971 |
| J. Archie Hargraves | 1971–1977 |
| Stanley Hugh Smith | 1978–1986 |
| John Lucas | 1986–1987 (interim) |
| Talbert O. Shaw | 1988–2002 |
| Clarence G. Newsome | 2003–2009 |
| Dorothy Cowser Yancy | 2009–2010 (interim) |
| Irma McClaurin | 2010–2011 |
| Dorothy Cowser Yancy | 2011–2013 |
| Gaddis Faulcon | 2013–2015 (interim) |
| Tashni-Ann Dubroy* | 2015–2017 |
| Paulette Dillard | 2017–present |
