Hazel R. O'Leary (1937- ). Administrator. Class of 1959. First African American and first female U.S. Secretary of Energy (1993-1997). Served under President Clinton. Presently, the fourteenth President of Fisk University.
John H. Franklin (1915- ). Historian, educator, author. Class of 1935. Works include From Slavery to Freedom (1947), Racial Equality in America (1976) and Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin (2005). Awarded the...
John R. Lewis (1940- ). Congressman - Georgia. Class of 1967. Led the march across the Edmund Peters Bridge on March 7, 1965 in Selma, Alabama. Involved in sit-in movement in Nashville, Freedom rides and the March on Washington.
John W. Work III (1901-1967). Educator, composer. Class of 1923. Served the University for forty years as director of the Jubilee Singers, professor of music and conductor of the Men's Glee Club. His father and uncle wrote the Fisk University Alma...
Julius Lester (1939- ). Author. Class of 1960. Gained success as a children's author in 1969 with the publication of To Be a Slave, a Newbery Honor Book, and Black Folktales. Subsequent works continued to show his interest in African-American...
Kay G. Roberts (1950- ). Symphony director, violinist, educator. Class of 1972. First women to earn the Doctorate of Musical Arts in orchestral conducting from Yale University. Guest conductor for the Boston, Cleveland, and Dallas symphonies and...
Leatrice B. McKissack (1930- ). Entrepreneur, businessperson. Class of 1951. Past CEO of McKissack and McKissack Architectural and Engineering, Inc., builder of Fisk's Carnegie Library (1909) and Tuskegee's famous World War II airbase. Member of...
Margaret M. Washington (1865-1925). Class of 1884. Booker T. Washington's third wife. Helped found the Tuskegee Woman's Club and the National Association of Colored Women (1896). Edited the Association's main publication, National Association Notes...
Matthew Kennedy (1921-). Concert pianist, composer. Class of 1946. Graduate of Julliard School of Music, professor of music at Fisk University, director of the Jubilee Singers, 1957-1968, 1971-1973, 1975-1986.
St. Elmo Brady (1884-1961). Educator, chemist. Class of 1908. First African American to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois in 1916. Developed the chemistry departments at Fisk, Tuskegee, Howard and Tougaloo.
W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963). Scholar, sociologist, poet, novelist, essayist. Class of 1888. Founder and editor of Crisis and Phylon. Authored the American classic, The Souls of Black Folk (1903).
William L. Dawson (1886-1970). Congressman. Class of 1909. Won a seat in the U. S. 78th Congress, representing the First Congressional District of Illinois.
