Dr. Henry E. Cheaney ’36, Educator and nationally-recognized expert on the history of African Americans in Kentucky
Anna Mac Clarke ’41, Member of Women’s Army Corps during WWII; 1st African American officer of an all-white company
Paul William Lawrence Jones 1898, Educator, historian & athlete; preserved much of what Kentucky State now has in the way of books and documents about the early years of Kentucky State; started some of the 1st football, baseball & track teams at KSU, known as the “Father of Athletics” at Kentucky State.
James L. McCullin ’41, Tuskegee Airman whose plane was lost over Sicily during WWII
Ersa Hines Poston ’42, Member of the U.S. Civil Service Commission; appointed by Pres. Carter & confirmed by the Senate; 1st Black to hold a presidential cabinet position
H.C. Russell, Jr. , Ensign in Coast Guard during WWII; became the third African American commissioned officer in the Coast Guard; later became executive with Coca Cola
Winnie A. Scott 1890, Educator and helped establish a hospital for African Americans in Frankfort; member of first graduating class at Kentucky State
Frank Simpson ’42, Educator; high school principal for 21 years and administrator in the Louisville schools
Moneta Sleet, Jr. ’47, Photographer; became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for photography; photo of Coretta Scott King at Martin Luther King, Jr.’s funeral
Effie Waller Smith, ca. 1900, Educator & poet; poet James Still called her “Kentucky’s Emily Dickinson”
Luska Twyman ’38, Former mayor of Glasgow, Ky; 1st Black mayor of a Kentucky city
Dr. Harrison Wilson ’50, President of Norfolk State University
Whitney M. Young, Jr. ’41, Civil rights, Executive Director of the National Urban League from 1961-1971