List of Morehouse College alumni

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

Statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Morehouse campus

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." There are over 17,000 alumni of Morehouse College.[1]

See also Morehouse College alumni.

Academia

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Mordecai Wyatt Johnson	1911	first African-American president of Howard University	[2]
John Warren Davis	1911	President of West Virginia State College (1919–1953)	[3]
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	[4]
James A. Colston	1932	2nd President, Bethune-Cookman University; President Knoxville College; President Savannah State University; 2nd President, Bronx Community College
Albert W. Dent	1926	President of Dillard University, Chief Executive of Flint-Goodridge Hospital, advocate for education and healthcare of impoverished people
Eddie Glaude	1989	Chair, Center for African American Studies and Professor at Princeton University; guest contributor: The Tavis Smiley Show	[5]
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
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
Kevin D. Rome	1989	former president of Lincoln University (2013–2017); former president of Fisk University (June 2017–August 2020)	[6]
Ronald S. Sullivan Jr.	1989	First African American Faculty Dean, Harvard College. Professor, Harvard Law School and Director of the Criminal Justice Inst. at Harvard Law; legal analyst CNN, Fox News; legal representative for Harvey Weinstein
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 Silvanus Wilson	1977	Ph.D, Eleventh president of Morehouse College, former executive director, White House Initiative on HBCUs

Business

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Herman Cain	1967	former CEO of Godfather's Pizza and 2012 Republican presidential candidate	[7]
James W. Compton	1961	Board of Directors, Ariel Investments, Inc.; retired President and CEO, Chicago Urban League
Paul Q. Judge	1998	noted entrepreneur and scholar	[8] [9]
Walter E. Massey	1958	former Chairman, Bank of America; former Director of the National Science Foundation
Karim Webb		American restaurateur	[10]

Entertainment, media, and 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
Fonzworth Bentley	1997	well-known media personality
Sanford Biggers	1992	artist, professor Columbia University School of the Arts
Byron Cage	1987	Grammy-nominated gospel singer; NAACP Image Award nominee; winner of six Stellar Awards	[11]
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.
Thomas Dent	1952	writer and poet; author of Magnolia Street	[12]
Rockmond Dunbar		actor, Soul Food, Girlfriends
Keith "Guru" Elam	1983	rapper, founder of Gang Starr	[13]
Brian Tyree Henry	2004	actor, Atlanta (TV series)
Wendell Holland	2006	Winner of the thirty-sixth season of Survivor	[14]
Samuel L. Jackson	1972	actor	[15]
Edmund Jenkins	1914	Harlem Renaissance composer, studied under Kemper Harreld
Robert E. Johnson	1948	former Executive Editor and Associate Publisher, Jet Magazine
Tope Folarin	2004	Nigerian-American writer
Canton Jones	1985	Grammy-nominated gospel singer
Erik King	1985	actor, Dexter
Spike Lee	1979	film director and producer	[15]
Miles Marshall Lewis	1993	pop culture critic, essayist, and author
Seith Mann	1995	television director: The Wire, Grey's Anatomy; winner of the NAACP Image Award
Martin Luther McCoy	1992	musician and actor	[16]
PJ Morton	2003	Grammy Award winning Maroon 5 keyboardist and artist	[17]
Bill G. Nunn III	1976	actor, School Daze, Mo Better Blues, New Jack City	[18]
Babatunde Olatunji	1954	Grammy Award-winning Nigerian drummer, social activist and recording artist; Drums of Passion	[19]
Kevin A. Ross	1985	host/executive producer of daytime syndicated legal show America's Court with Judge Ross
Shakir Stewart	1996	Senior Vice President of Island Def Jam Music Group, Executive Vice President of Def Jam
Vincent Tubbs	c.1938	co-founder of National Negro Newspaper Week and first African American to head a motion picture industry union	[20][21]
John David Washington	2006	actor, BlacKkKlansman, Tenet
Saul Williams	1994	performing artist and actor

Government, law, and public policy

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Raphael Warnock	1991	First Democratic U.S. African-American Senator elected in the South
Sanford Bishop	1968	U.S. Congressman (Georgia)	[22]
A. Scott Bolden	1984	Noted Attorney and television political commentator,	[23]
Marlon Kimpson	1991	South Carolina Senate member and attorney
James H. Shelton III	1989	former Deputy Secretary of Education for the United States	[24]
Julius E. Coles	1964	former U.S. Ambassador to Senegal; former President of Africare
George W. Crockett	1931	Representative from Michigan; civil rights activist	[23]
George Haley	1949	former Chair U.S. Postal Rate Commission and Ambassador to the Republic of Ghana; brother of Alex Haley	[25]
James R. Hall	1957	retired United States Army Lieutenant General, final commander of the Fourth United States Army	[26][27]
Earl F. Hilliard	1964	former U.S. Congressman (Alabama)	[28]
John Hopps Jr.	1958	former Deputy Under Secretary United States Department of Defense	[29]
James Nabrit, Jr.	1923	former Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; second African American President of Howard University	[28]
Major Owens	1956	U.S. Congressman (New York)	[30]
Cedric Richmond	1995	U.S. Congressman (Louisiana)
David Satcher	1963	16th U.S. Surgeon General, former president of Morehouse School of Medicine	[31]
Louis W. Sullivan	1954	former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and current President Emeritus of Morehouse School of Medicine	[32]
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	[33]
Julian Bond	1971	civil rights leader, former Georgia state representative and Chairman of the NAACP	[15]
Terrance Carroll	1992	Speaker, Colorado House of Representatives
Kenneth Dunkin	1989	Illinois House of Representatives
John Monds	1987	Highest number of votes received by any Libertarian candidate ever	[34]
Frank Peterman	1985	Florida House of Representatives
Bakari Sellers	2005	Youngest member elected to the South Carolina General Assembly	[35]
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
Claude Black Jr.	1937	first Black mayor Pro Tem San Antonio, Texas; civil rights leader; Pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas	[36][37]
John Wesley Dobbs	1897	the unofficial "Mayor" of Sweet Auburn Avenue (1937–1949); Civic Leader and co-founder of the Atlanta Negro Voters League	[38]
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	[39]
Ed McIntyre	1956	first African-American mayor of Augusta, Georgia
Randall Woodfin	2003	29th mayor of Birmingham, Alabama	[40]
Steven Reed	1998	first African-American mayor of Montgomery, Alabama	[41]
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	[42]
George Crockett III	1961	Judge, Recorder's Court (Detroit); served on the same bench as his father, Judge George Crockett, Jr.	[43]
Ralph B. Everett	1973	President and CEO, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies	[44]
Joseph Jerome Farris	1951	Justice, United States Court of Appeals 9th Circuit	[45]
Odell Horton	1951	Justice, U.S. District Court W. Tenn.	[46]
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.
Reginald C. Lindsay	1967	Justice, United States Court of Appeals 7th Circuit	[47]
C. Vernon Mason	1967	disbarred lawyer, Tawana Brawley case, Howard Beach incident.
Graham T. Perry	1923	first African American Assistant Attorney-General for State of Illinois	[48][49]
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	[50]

Religion

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Harrison N. Bouey	1873	pastor and missionary
J. Pius Barbour	1917	Pastor Calvary Baptist Church; executive director of National Baptist Association; editor of National Baptist Voice; mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr.	[51]
Amos C. Brown	1964	Pastor, Third Baptist Church of San Francisco; President, San Francisco branch of NAACP	[52]
Calvin O. Butts	1972	Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York; President of the State University of New York College at Old Westbury; Chairman and founder of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, an engine for $500 million in housing and commercial development in Harlem
M. William Howard, Jr.	1968	Pastor Bethany Baptist Church, former President, New York Theological Seminary; Chair, Rutgers University Board of Governors	[53]
Otis Moss III	1992	Pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ; listed on the Root 100	[54]
Kelly Miller Smith	1942	Assistant Dean, Vanderbilt University Divinity School (circa 1970s–1980s)
Howard Thurman	1923	theologian; Dean of Chapel Boston University
Raphael Warnock	1991	Senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta	[55]
Frederick B. Williams		Canon of the Church of the Intercession in Harlem, New York (1971–2005)

Science and medicine

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
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
Corey Hébert	1991	Celebrity Physician, radio talk show host, Chief Medical Editor for National Broadcasting Company for the Gulf Coast, first Black Chief Resident of Pediatrics at Tulane University, Chief executive officer of Community Health TV	[56]
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
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; second president of Texas Southern University	[57]
Donald Hopkins	1962	Director and Vice President, Health Programs, The Carter Center; a 1995 MacArthur Fellow; nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1983
Roderic I. 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"	[58]
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	[59]

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	[15]
Martin Luther King Jr.	1948	prominent 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	[15]
Martin Luther King III	1979	eldest child of Martin Luther King Jr. and human rights activist	[15]
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	[60]

Sports

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Edwin Moses	1978	Olympic gold medalist	[15]
Donn Clendenon	1956	New York Mets Outfielder and 1969 World Series MVP
Harold Ellis (basketball)	1992	former NBA player Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets, current NBA executive	</ref>
T.B. Ellis	1934	Former Jackson State University head football coach (1946-51) and basketball coach (1949-50)
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	[61]
Ramon Harewood	2010	OL, Baltimore Ravens 2010	[62]
Issac Keys		LB, Arizona Cardinals 2004-2005	[62]
John David Washington	2006	RB, St. Louis Rams 2006, all-time leading rusher at Morehouse; former RB in the UFL; actor; son of Pauletta Washington and Oscar Award-winning actor Denzel Washington

Others

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
Ennis Cosby	1992	son of comedian Bill Cosby
Joshua Packwood	2008	first white valedictorian of Morehouse	[63]

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
Louis Delsarte	Fine Arts	painter, muralist
Franklin L. Forbes	Athletics	Former Morehouse College Athletic Director and basketball coach; The 6,000 seat on-campus arena, Forbes Arena, is named after him which hosted basketball preliminaries during the 1996 Summer Olympics and was the home arena to the Atlanta Glory;	[23]
E. Franklin Frazier	Sociology	author, Black Bourgeoisie
Kemper Harreld	Music	established the Morehouse College Glee Club
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
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
Samuel Woodrow Williams	Philosophy and Religion	Baptist minister, civil rights activist	[64]

References

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