# List of Howard University people

This list of notable Howard University people (alumni sometimes known as Bison), includes faculty, staff, graduates, honorary graduates, non-graduate former students and current students of the American Howard University, a private, coeducational, nonsectarian historically black university, located in Washington, D.C.

## Academics
### Science, medicine and mathematics

* Whittier C. Atkinson
* Patricia Bath
* Alexander H. Darnes
* Marie B. Lucas
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Dereje Agonafer | 1984 | elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering for "contributions to computer-aided electro/thermo/mechanical design and modeling of electronic equipment" |
| Camille Wardrop Alleyne | 1990 (B.Sc Mechanical Engineering) | NASA Associate Program Scientist for the International Space Station |
| Whittier C. Atkinson | 1925 (Medicine) | physician; first African-American doctor in Chester County, Pennsylvania; founder of Clement Atkinson Memorial Hospital (1936); Howard University Alumnus of the Year (1953) |
| Patricia Bath | 1968 (Medicine) | ophthalmologist; first African-American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical invention |
| Louis Arnett Stuart Bellinger | 1914 | prominent Pittsburgh architect of the early 20th century |
| David Blackwell | faculty, not alumnus | first African-American elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences |
| Beth A. Brown | 1991 | NASA astrophysicist; first African-American woman to earn a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan's Department of Astronomy |
| Marjorie Lee Browne | 1935 | educator, one of the first African-American women to receive a doctorate in mathematics in the U.S. |
| Karen Butler-Purry | 1994 | professor, Texas A&M University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering |
| Craig E. Cameron | 1937 | Howard M.A., Case Western Reserve University Ph.D., educator and microbiologist; demonstration of mechanism of action of ribavirin case |
| DaNa Carlis | 2007 (PhD), 2002 (MS), 2000 (BS) | director of National Severe Storms Laboratory |
| Mamie Clark | 1940 | Howard M.A., Columbia Ph.D., educator and psychologist; with husband Kenneth Clark, conducted the "doll research" for the Brown vs. Board of Education case |
| Ethelene Crockett | 1942 | Michigan's first African-American female board-certified OB/GYN |
| Linda Y. Cureton | 1980 | chief executive officer and founder of Muse Technologies, Inc. |
| Alexander Darnes | 1880 | born into slavery; owned by Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith; second African-American physician in Florida, first African-American physician in Jacksonville, Florida |
| Cheick Modibo Diarra | | astrophysicist; former director of education and public outreach, NASA's Mars Exploration Program; former chairman of Microsoft Africa; former acting Malian prime minister (2012) |
| Lena Frances Edwards | | physician (obstetrics and gynecology) and humanitarian; received U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964) |
| Anna Epps | | microbiologist; possibly the first African-American woman with a Ph.D. to lead a medical school |
| Roselyn P. Epps | 1951, 1955 (MD) | physician (pediatrician and public health physician); received Elizabeth Blackwell Medal (1988), first-elected African-American president of the American Medical Women's Association (1991) |
| Aprille Ericsson | 1990 | aerospace engineer |
| Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee | | physician (obstetrician) and educator; joined faculty of the Medical School in 1927; founding president of the Women's Institute; director of Medical School's health services, 1949–1968 |
| E. Franklin Frazier | 1916 | sociologist |
| Julia R. Hall | 1892 (MD) | physician and first woman resident of the school's gynaecology clinic |
| Roland Jefferson | 1950 (Botany) | botanist and expert in flowering cherry trees; first African-American botanist to work at the United States National Arboretum (1956–1987) |
| Ernest Everett Just | faculty | pioneering African-American biologist, academic and science writer |
| Marie B. Lucas | 1914 | the only woman in her Howard University College of Medicine class, one of the earliest and most successful female physicians in Washington, D.C. |
| Vernon R. Morris | Faculty | emeritus professor in the Department of Chemistry and the former Director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program at Howard University, 2018 recipient of the American Meteorological Society Charles E. Anderson award and the 2020 Presidential Citation for Science and Society from the American Geophysical Union |
| Melba Roy Mouton | 1950 | Assistant Chief of Research Programs at NASA's Trajectory and Geodynamics Division in the 1960s and headed a group of NASA mathematicians called "computers" |
| Andre Francis Palmer | 1993 | first African-American college of engineering assoc. dean for research at Ohio State University |
| Harry Penn | c. 1931 | dentist; first African-American school board member south of Mason-Dixon Line |
| Charles Prudhomme | 1935 (MD) | noted psychoanalyst and physician, first African-American to gain elected office (vice-president) in the American Psychiatric Association |
| Charles DeWitt Watts | 1943 (Medicine) | first African-American board-certified surgeon in North Carolina; founder of Lincoln Community Medical Center |
| Frances Cress Welsing | 1960 | psychiatrist; author of The Isis Papers |
| Marguerite Williams | 1923 | geologist, received B.A. from Howard |
| Dudley Weldon Woodard | | established graduate mathematics program at Howard |
| Abdul–Aziz Yakubu | Faculty (Mathematics) | mathematician and department chair at Howard |
| Dr. N. Louise Young | (Medicine) | first African-American woman to work as a licensed physician in Maryland |

### Historians

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Camille Akeju | | art historian and museum administrator |
| Christopher James Bonner | | historian |
| Louise Daniel Hutchinson | | historian |
| W. Sherman Savage | 1917 | historian |
| Rosalyn Terborg-Penn | | historian |
| Carter G. Woodson | | historian, founder of Negro History Week (now Black History Month); author of Mis-Education of the Negro |

### Academic administrators

* Johnson O. Akinleye
* William E. Benson
* Charlene Drew Jarvis
* Kelly Miller
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Johnson O. Akinleye | | 12th chancellor of North Carolina Central University |
| Brenda A. Allen | 1981 | 14th president of Lincoln University |
| Delbert Baker | | president, Oakwood College |
| William E. Benson | 1885 | founding president of Kowaliga Academic and Industrial Institute and the Dixie Industrial Company in Kowaliga, Alabama |
| Hugh M. Browne | 1875 | Principal of the Institute for Colored Youth in Pennsylvania 1902–1913 |
| Kenneth Clark | | educator and psychologist; with wife Mamie Clark, conducted the "doll research" for the Brown vs. Board of Education case |
| Wayne A. I. Frederick | | 17th president of Howard University |
| Antoine M. Garibaldi | 1973 | 25th president of University of Detroit Mercy |
| James Monroe Gregory | 1872 | professor of Latin at Howard, dean of the Howard Collegiate Department |
| Lena Hill | 1997 | provost of Washington and Lee University |
| Edison O. Jackson | | president, Medgar Evers College |
| Charlene Drew Jarvis | 1964 M.S. | president, Southeastern University; daughter of Dr. Charles Drew |
| Franklyn Jenifer | | 14th president of Howard University; third president of University of Texas at Dallas |
| Dr. Heather Knight | | 21st president, Pacific Union College |
| Bogart Leashore | 1969 | dean of the Hunter College school of social work (1991–2003) |
| Inabel Burns Lindsay | 1920 | founding dean of the Howard University School of Social Work |
| Howard Hale Long | 1915 | dean, Knoxville College and later Wilberforce University, superintendent of DC Public Schools (1925–1948) |
| Marion Mann | 1954 | former dean, Howard University College of Medicine (1970–1979) |
| Kelly Miller | 1886 | mathematician, scientist, sociologist; first African-American admitted to Johns Hopkins University; dean of Howard University College of Arts and Sciences (1907–1919); established sociology department at Howard University |
| Inman E. Page | | president of four schools: the Lincoln Institute, Langston University, Western University and Roger Williams University |
| Harry G. Robinson III | 1966, 1970 | dean of Howard University School of Architecture and Design; chairman of United States Commission of Fine Arts |
| John Jarvis Seabrook | LL.B. degree 1926 | 5th president of Claflin College; 2nd president of Huston-Tillotson College |
| H. Patrick Swygert | 1965 | president, Howard University |
| Thomas Wyatt Turner | 1901 | professor of botany, acting dean at Howard School of Education; professor Hampton Institute; founding member of NAACP |
| Cynthia Warrick | 1975 | 7th president of Stillman College |

## Business

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Ben Ali | | co-founder and owner of Ben's Chili Bowl, a landmark restaurant in Washington, D.C. |
| Eddie C. Brown | 1961 | investment manager and philanthropist; founder and president of Baltimore-based capital management firm Brown Capital Management |
| David Bullock | | tech entrepreneur and media executive |
| David Castain | 2013 | entrepreneur and philanthropist; left a life of crime to found a marketing agency and study towards a doctorate |
| H. Naylor Fitzhugh | | one of the first African-American graduates of Harvard Business School; credited with creating the concept of target marketing |
| Cathy Hughes | | founder and executive of TV One, Radio One |
| Vernon Jordan | | attorney; senior managing director; Lazard Freres & Co. LLC; former president, National Urban League |
| Lillian Lincoln Lambert | | founder, former president and chief executive officer of Centennial One, Inc.; first African-American woman to earn an MBA at Harvard Business School |
| Depelsha Thomas McGruder | 1994 | FCOO of the Ford Foundation, founder of Moms of Black Boys (MOBB) United |
| Cheryl McKissack Daniel | 1983 | civil engineer and businesswoman; president and CEO of McKissack & McKissack, the oldest Black-owned architecture and construction company in the US |
| Bonita C. Stewart | | vice president of Google |

## Politics and public service
### Civil rights, law and government

* Edward Brooke
* Mary Ann Shadd Cary
* Elijah Cummings
* David Dinkins
* Mike Espy
* Adrian Fenty
* Harold Ford Sr.
* Kamala Harris
* Letitia James
* Thurgood Marshall
* Gregory W. Meeks
* Walter Washington
* L. Douglas Wilder
* Fani Willis
* Andrew Young
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Archie Alexander | | former governor of US Virgin Islands |
| Aris T. Allen | | former member of Maryland State Senate, first African-American to run for Lt. Governor of Maryland |
| Ras Baraka | 1991 | mayor of Newark, New Jersey July 1, 2014- |
| Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick | 2001 | member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 20th district |
| Boce W. Barlow Jr. | | first African-American to be elected to the Connecticut State Senate |
| William V. Bell | | mayor of Durham, North Carolina |
| Aisha Braveboy | | member, Maryland House of Delegates |
| Edward Brooke | 1941 | first African-American elected to the United States Senate |
| Hon. Ewart Brown | 1968, School of Medicine 1972 | premier and Minister of Tourism and Transport of Bermuda |
| Gayleatha Brown | | Ambassador to Benin |
| Roland Burris | 1963 (School of Law) | United States Senator, former State Attorney General and Comptroller, Illinois |
| Agnès Callamard | 1988 | Secretary General of Amnesty International, former Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions for the United Nations Human Rights Council |
| Robert L. Carter | 1940 (School of Law) | civil rights advocate and judge of the United States District Court |
| Walter Percival Carter | | civil rights advocate |
| Charles E. "Charlie" Cobb Jr. | | civil rights activist; Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; "Freedom Schools"; founding member of National Association of Black Journalists; writer |
| Martell Covington | | Pennsylvania state representative |
| Elijah Cummings | 1973 | United States Congress |
| James Dean | 1883 (bachelor of law); 1884 (master of law) | first African-American judge in Florida |
| David Dinkins | 1950 | first African-American mayor of New York City (1990–1993) |
| Joyce Dinkins | 1953 | First Lady of New York City (1990–1993) |
| Mike Espy | | first African-American United States Secretary of Agriculture |
| Melvin Evans | | former governor of the United States Virgin Islands, former Delegate from the United States Virgin Islands to the United States House of Representatives |
| Nathaniel Exum | | member, Maryland State Senate |
| James L. Farmer | 1941 | civil rights activist, founder and first leader of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) |
| Adrian Fenty | 1996 (School of Law) | former mayor of Washington, D.C. |
| Wilkie D. Ferguson | (School of Law) | judge who served on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the Florida Third District Court of Appeal, and the 11th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida |
| Harold Ford Sr. | | former United States Representative from Tennessee |
| Shirley Franklin | | first female and former mayor of Atlanta, Georgia |
| Emma Gillett | | co-founder of the first law school in the world founded by women; first woman to be appointed notary public by the president of the United States |
| John R. Hargrove Sr. | | judge, United States District Court, Maryland |
| Virginia Harper | | civil rights activist, local NAACP president |
| Kamala Harris | 1986 | 49th vice president of the United States; first woman, first African-American, and first-elected Asian-American vice president; second African-American woman elected to the United States Senate |
| Patricia Roberts Harris | 1945 | United States Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, United States ambassador |
| William Henry Harrison Hart | | attorney who won the 1905 Hart v. State of Maryland case |
| William H. Hastie | | former governor of US Virgin Islands |
| Joseph Hatchett | 1959 | former Florida Supreme Court judge; first African-American in the south to win a statewide election |
| Pamelya Herndon | 1975 | New Mexico House of Representatives |
| Earl F. Hilliard | | United States Congress |
| Dr. James W. Holley, III, D.D.S. | | mayor of Portsmouth, Virginia |
| Benjamin Hooks | | former executive director of the NAACP |
| Lonna Hooks | | Secretary of State of New Jersey (1994–1998) |
| Hutchins F. Inge | (School of Medicine) | first African-American to serve in the New Jersey Senate |
| Cheddi Jagan | | fourth president, "father of Guyana" |
| Letitia James | | first African-American woman elected Attorney General of New York |
| Howard Jenkins Jr. | 1946–1956 | former faculty, labor lawyer and civil servant |
| Jack B. Johnson | | former County Executive, Prince George's County, Maryland |
| Elaine Jones | | former president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund |
| Hon. John Junor | | Minister of Health, Jamaica |
| Sharon Pratt Kelly | 1965 | first African-American female mayor of a major city, Washington, D.C. |
| Terry Kennedy | | influential City of St. Louis politician, former activist and journalist |
| John S. Leary | 1873 | North Carolina lawyer and politician |
| Summer Lee | 2015 | Representative for Pennsylvania's twelfth congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives |
| Peta Lindsay | | anti-war activist and candidate for U.S. president with the Party for Socialism and Liberation |
| Prince Joel Dawit Makonnen | 2015 (School of Law) | lawyer and member of the Ethiopian Imperial Family |
| Thurgood Marshall | 1933 (School of Law) | first African-American U.S. Supreme Court justice |
| William E. Matthews | 1873 (School of Law) | lawyer, financier and civil rights activist |
| Richard Mays | 1965 | member of Arkansas House of Representatives, justice of Arkansas Supreme Court |
| Gabrielle Kirk McDonald | 1966 (School of Law) | judge, Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, The Hague, Netherlands |
| Enolia McMillan | | first female national president of the NAACP |
| Floretta Dukes McKenzie | 1957 | superintendent of District of Columbia Public Schools |
| Gregory W. Meeks | | representative for New York's sixth congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives; chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee |
| Vicki Miles-LaGrange | | district judge, Western district of Oklahoma; first African-American woman U.S. attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma; first African-American woman elected to the Oklahoma Senate |
| Donna Miller | | Cook County commissioner |
| Imani Oakley | 2012 | 2022 candidate for Congress in New Jersey's 10th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, former legislative director for New Jersey branch of the Working Families Party and political organizer |
| James E. O'Hara | | member, United States House of Representatives (1883–1887) representing North Carolina |
| Robert Pelham Jr. | 1904 | journalist, activist and federal employee |
| Clarence M. Pendleton Jr. | 1954 | chairman, United States Commission on Civil Rights (1981–1988); swimming coach at Howard (1957–1968) |
| Homer G. Phillips | 1903 | prominent lawyer and civil rights advocate; lived in the home of Paul Laurence Dunbar during his time at Howard |
| Willie L. Phillips | 2005 (School of Law) | first Black chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission |
| Meshea Poore | | member of the West Virginia House of Delegates |
| Adam Clayton Powell, IV | | member of the New York State Assembly; son of former U.S. Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr. |
| Marcia "Cia" Price | 2005 | member of the Virginia House of Delegates |
| Randy Primas | 1971 | first African-American mayor of Camden, New Jersey (1981–1990) |
| Eugene Puryear | | anti-war activist; candidate for vice president of the United States with the Party for Socialism and Liberation |
| Hon. Peggy Quince | | first African-American woman on Florida Supreme Court |
| Oliver Randolph | (School of Law) | New Jersey lawyer, politician and civil rights advocate |
| Charlotte E. Ray | | first African-American woman lawyer |
| Kasim Reed | 1991 | mayor of Atlanta |
| Spottswood Robinson | 1939 (School of Law) | judge, United States Court of Appeals; also faculty |
| Todd Rutherford | | South Carolina state representative |
| Roy Schneider | 1961 | governor of United States Virgin Islands |
| Sir Arleigh Winston Scott | | first native governor-general of Barbados |
| Josiah T. Settle | 1872 | member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, Memphis lawyer |
| Malik Zulu Shabazz | | attorney; national chairman of the New Black Panther Party |
| Mary Ann Shadd Cary | | first black woman to cast a vote in a national election |
| Thomas S. Smith | | former mayor of Asbury Park, New Jersey who served in the New Jersey General Assembly |
| John H. Smythe | | United States ambassador to Liberia |
| James R. Spencer | | chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia |
| Hobart Taylor Jr. | 1941 | served in the administrations of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson; director of the Export–Import Bank of the United States |
| Ronald Sapa Tlau | | Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, India representing the state of Mizoram |
| Kwame Ture | 1964 | activist, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), born Stokely Carmichael |
| Dale Wainwright | | first African-American elected to the Texas Supreme Court |
| James A. Washington Jr. | 1936; 1939 (School of Law) | judge for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia; dean of Howard Law School 1969–1971 |
| Walter Washington | 1948 (School of Law) | B.A. and J.D.; first elected mayor of Washington, D.C. |
| George Henry White | 1877 | U.S. congressman from North Carolina, 1897–1901 |
| L. Douglas Wilder | 1959 (School of Law) | first elected African-American United States governor, mayor of Richmond, Virginia, 2005–2009 |
| Fani Willis | 1992 | first female district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia |
| Harris Wofford | | United States senator representing Pennsylvania (1991–95) |
| Carolyn Wright | 1978 (School of Law) | lawyer, jurist and the Chief Justice of the Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas |
| Albert Wynn | | first African-American elected to the United States Congress from Prince George's County and Montgomery County in Maryland |
| Andrew Young | | first African-American United Nations ambassador and former mayor of Atlanta, Georgia |

## Military service

* Aman Andom
* Benjamin O. Davis Sr.
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Aman Andom | 1965 | major general in the Ethiopian Empire Army and Derg, member of Ethiopian Senate and de facto head of state of Ethiopia |
| Benjamin O. Davis Sr. | | brigadier general, first African-American general in the U.S. Army |
| Frederic E. Davison | 1938 | first African-American major general and division commander in the U.S. Army |
| Lester Lyles | 1968 | general, U.S. Air Force; vice chief of staff of the Air Force; commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio |
| Togo West | 1965 | also JD 1968; former Secretary of Veterans Affairs; former Secretary of the Army |

## Entertainment
### Sports

| Name | Class year | Notability | Reference(s) |
| Antoine Bethea | | former NFL safety | |
| Milan Brown | | head men's basketball coach at College of the Holy Cross | |
| Gregg Butler | | 3-time Canadian Football League all-star and Grey Cup champion, inducted into The Howard University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014 | |
| Marques Douglas | | former NFL defensive end | |
| Omar Evans | | former Canadian Football League defensive end | |
| Dennis Felton | | head men's basketball coach at the University of Georgia | |
| Dr. Rhadi Ferguson | 1997 | four-time U.S. National Judo Champion; 2004 Judo Olympian; only African-American male with a Ph.D. to fight on a internationally televised mixed martial arts event; Strikeforce Challengers 13; MMA fighter for Strikeforce | |
| Pep Hamilton | | current offensive coordinator at University of Maryland; former quarterbacks coach for the Chicago Bears | |
| Gary Harrell | | current RB coach at University of Colorado; former head coach of Howard Bison football team; former NFL/WLAF wide receiver (New York Giants and Frankfurt Galaxy); former assistant coach at Texas Southern University | |
| Nigel Henry | | professional soccer player | |
| Shaka Hislop | | goalkeeper for FC Dallas and Trinidad and Tobago national football team who played in the 2006 FIFA World Cup | |
| Edward P. Hurt | | football, basketball and track coach at Morgan State University | |
| Billy Jenkins | | former National Football League defensive back | |
| Norvel Lee | 1952 | Olympic gold medal winner | International Olympic Committee |
| Thyron Lewis | | professional gridiron football player | |
| Bubba Morton | | Major League Baseball player (Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Braves, California Angels); first African-American to sign with the Detroit Tigers | |
| Marques Ogden | | former NFL offensive lineman | |
| David Oliver | 2005 | professional track and field athlete | |
| Geoff Pope | | NFL cornerback (New York Giants) | |
| Larry Spriggs | | former NBA player | |
| James Terry | | American-Israeli basketball player | |
| Milt Thompson | | former Major League Baseball player, hitting coach for the Philadelphia Phillies | |
| Elijah Thurmon | 2000 | former professional football player with NFLE Berlin Thunder and CFL Saskatchewan Roughriders, Calgary Stampeders and Montreal Alouettes | |
| Jay Walker | | ESPNU football analyst; NFL quarterback (New England Patriots, 1994; Barcelona Dragons, 1995; Minnesota Vikings, 1996–97), Maryland State Delegate | |
| Tim Watson | | former safety in the NFL; has the distinction of being the first athlete in the history of the school to be named to the GTEAcademic All-America Team (1992); inducted into the Howard University Athletic Hall of Fame, class of 2005. Changed legal name to Tazim Wajid Wajed in 2019. | |
| Tracy White | | former NFL linebacker | |
| Steve Wilson | 1979 | former NFL defensive back; former head football coach of the Howard University; former head coach at Texas Southern University | |

### Journalism

* Gus Johnson
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Michelle Bernard | | political/legal analyst, MSNBC, The McLaughlin Group |
| Victor Blackwell | | television anchor, WPBF, West Palm Beach, Florida; anchor and correspondent, CNN (since 2012) |
| Leon Dash | | Pulitzer Prize winner, The Washington Post |
| Nikole Hannah-Jones | | MacArthur Fellowship recipient, Pulitzer Prize winner, creator of the 1619 Project |
| Hal Jackson | | first African-American radio sportscaster; co-owner of the first African-American-owned-and-operated station in New York |
| Gus Johnson | | sportscaster, CBS Sports |
| Colbert King | | Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post |
| Michael King | | conservative commentator; television producer, WXIA-TV, Atlanta, Georgia |
| Jamilah Lemieux | | writer and editor, Ebony magazine |
| Vicki Mabrey | | CBS News and 60 Minutes correspondent |
| Michelle Miller | | reporter, CBS News |
| Ayesha Rascoe | 2007 | reporter, NPR |
| Lori Stokes | | news anchor, WABC-TV, New York City |
| Karintha Styles | | sports journalist, The Hilltop's first female sports editor, FanSided writer, Week N Sports host, author, NBA |
| Tom Terrell | 1972 | music journalist, photographer, promoter, NPR music commentator |
| La La Vasquez | | on-air personality; wife of basketball player Carmello Anthony |
| Stan Verrett | | anchor, ESPN |
| Fredricka Whitfield | 1987 | anchor, CNN |

### Nobel laureates

Peace, literature, or economics
* Ralph Bunche
* Toni Morrison
| Name | Class year | Notability | Reference(s) |
| Ralph Bunche | | 1950 Nobel Peace Prize | |
| Toni Morrison | 1953 | born Chloe Anthony Wofford, Nobel Prize for Literature; Pulitzer Prize winner | |

### Literature

* Zora Neale Hurston
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Amiri Baraka | | author and poet |
| Pearl Cleage | | poet, essayist and journalist |
| Ta-Nehisi Coates | | author and journalist |
| Dr. William Jelani Cobb | | author, historian, professor and journalist |
| Paul Laurence Dunbar | | late 19th-century poet |
| G. David Houston | | academic and Professor of English at Howard University |
| Zora Neale Hurston | | anthropologist and author |
| Candice Iloh | | poet and author |
| May Miller | | poet and playwright of the Harlem Renaissance |
| Wayétu Moore | | author, publisher, activist |
| Solomon Mutswairo | | novelist and poet |
| Gloria Oden | BA 1944, JD 1948 | Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet, professor |
| Omar Tyree | | award-winning novelist |
| Valerie Wilson Wesley | | author |

### Musicians

* Sean Combs
* Roberta Flack
* Richard Smallwood
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Tawatha Agee | | lead singer of the group Mtume |
| Geri Allen | 1979 | jazz pianist |
| James A. Bland | | musician; composer; author of over 700 songs including the former state song of Virginia |
| Amanda Brown | | recording artist; singer; songwriter, contestant on season 3 of The Voice |
| Donald Byrd | | jazz musician |
| Sean Combs | 2014 | music producer and entrepreneur, also known as "Puffy", "P. Money", "Puff Daddy", "P. Diddy" and "Diddy"; received an honorary doctorate from Howard in 2014 at the spring commencement ceremony where he served as the keynote speaker |
| Frenchie Davis | 2014 | Broadway performer, soul, dance/electronica, and pop singer |
| Billy Eckstine | | singer |
| Lillian Evanti | | opera singer |
| Roberta Flack | | singer |
| Benny Golson | | jazz saxophone player |
| Rich Harrison | | Grammy-winning record producer and songwriter |
| Donny Hathaway | | singer |
| Shirley Horn | | jazz singer and pianist |
| Bill Hughes | 1952 | jazz trombonist, director of the Count Basie Orchestra |
| Marcus Johnson | | jazz pianist |
| Laraaji | | ambient musician |
| Kenny Lattimore | | singer; ex-husband of singer Chante Moore |
| Meshell Ndegeocello | | recording artist; singer and bassist |
| Jessye Norman | | opera singer, received Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 |
| Eric Roberson | | singer |
| Sadat X | | rapper, member of hip hop group Brand Nubian |
| Shai | | band; "If I Ever Fall in Love" |
| Richard Smallwood | 1971 | Grammy Award-winning gospel singer, pianist and composer |
| Crystal Waters | | house and dance music singer, "100% Pure Love," "Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)" |
| Leighla Whipper | | songwriter; music publisher |
| Angela Winbush | 1977 | singer |

### Pageant queens

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Candace Allen | | Miss District of Columbia USA 2006 |
| Sabrina Dhowre Elba | | 2014 pageant winner Miss Vancouver, Canada, model, actress, podcast host and UN activist; wife of actor Idris Elba |
| Shauntay Hinton | | Miss USA 2002 |
| Sarah-Elizabeth Langford | (School of Law) | Miss District of Columbia 2002 |
| Shilah Phillips | | first African-American to hold the Miss Texas title, first runner-up Miss America 2007 |

### Film and television

* Anthony Anderson
* Chadwick Boseman
* Ossie Davis
* Phylicia Rashad
* Roxie Roker
* Marlon Wayans
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Debbie Allen | | dancer, actress, producer/director of A Different World, 1987–1993 |
| Laz Alonso | | actor (Stomp the Yard, Jarhead, Jumping The Broom, This Christmas, Avatar) |
| Anthony Anderson | 2022 | actor (Two Can Play that Game, Barbershop, Kangaroo Jack, The Shield, Law & Order) |
| Chadwick Boseman | 2000 | actor (Black Panther, 42, Lincoln Heights, Persons Unknown) |
| Nick Cannon | 2020 | actor, comedian, rapper, director, writer, producer and television host |
| Ossie Davis | | actor and activist |
| Wendy Davis | | actress, Lifetime Television, Army Wives |
| Ernest Dickerson | | filmmaker and director, The Wire |
| Kevin Grevioux | 1991 | filmmaker and director, actor, screenwriter, producer, graphic novel creator Underworld, I, Frankenstein, King of Killers, Darkstorm, Blue Marvel |
| Lance Gross | | actor (Tyler Perry's House of Payne) |
| Taraji P. Henson | 1995 | Academy Award-nominated actress for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; star of CBS show Person of Interest, has also starred in Baby Boy, Hustle and Flow, Smokin' Aces,The Karate Kid (2010) |
| Dianne Houston | | Oscar-nominated filmmaker |
| Sekhar Kammula | | film director, producer, screenwriter |
| Ananda Lewis | 1995 | talk show host (BET,The Ananda Lewis Show) |
| Rita McGhee | 1989 | Emmy Award-nominated costume designer (Empire, The New Edition Story, Zombies, American Soul) |
| Rosalind Miles | | actress (Shaft's Big Score!, Friday Foster) |
| Julia Pace Mitchell | | actress (Notorious, The Young & The Restless) |
| Paula Jai Parker | | actress (Friday, Hustle and Flow, Idlewild) |
| Carl Anthony Payne II | | actor (The Cosby Show, Martin) |
| Freddie Perren | 1966 | Grammy Award-winning songwriter/producer (Saturday Night Fever) |
| Shauneille Perry | 1950 | stage director, playwright and educator |
| Phylicia Rashad | 1970 | actress (The Cosby Show, Raisin In The Sun, The Old Settler, The Wiz), first African-American actress to win the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play (Raisin In The Sun) |
| Wendy Raquel Robinson | | actress (The Steve Harvey Show, The Game, Two Can Play That Game, Something New) |
| Roxie Roker | 1952 | actress (The Jeffersons); Lenny Kravitz's mother |
| Malik Hassan Sayeed | | filmmaker |
| Al Shearer | | former BET personality and actor |
| Tracie Thoms | | actress (Rent – The Movie, The Devil Wears Prada, Grindhouse) |
| Stacie Scott Turner | | The Real Housewives of D.C. entrepreneur; real estate and marketing professional (Procter & Gamble, BET); founded charity Extra-Ordinary Life |
| Isaiah Washington | | actor (Get On The Bus, Love Jones, Grey's Anatomy) |
| Marlon Wayans | | actor (Little Man, White Chicks) |
| Susan Kelechi Watson | | actress (Louie, This is Us) |
| Richard Wesley | 1967 | playwright and screenwriter |
| Karen Malina White | | actress (The Cosby Show, A Different World, Malcolm & Eddie, Lean On Me) |
| Lynn Whitfield | | Emmy award-winning actress (The Josephine Baker Story, Stompin' At The Savoy, Thin Line Between Love & Hate, Head of State, Eve's Bayou) |
| Vantile Whitfield | 1957 | director, playwright, production designer and influential arts administrator |
| Bradford Young | | cinematographer (Pariah, Middle of Nowhere, Selma, A Most Violent Year, untitled Star Wars: Han Solo film) |

### Other visual and performing arts

* Amiri Baraka
* Paul Laurence Dunbar
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Elizabeth Catlett | | sculptor and printmaker |
| Patrick Ellis | 1977 | radio personality |
| Lois Mailou Jones | | artist and educator |
| Stephanie Pogue | | artist and educator |
| Sylvia Snowden | | abstract painter |
| Lou Stovall | 1965 | artist |
| Alma Thomas | | painter |
| Mildred Thompson | | painter, printmaker and sculptor |
| Tanekeya Word | | artist |

## Religion

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Cain Hope Felder | 1966 | author of The Original African Heritage Study Bible |
| Leroy Gilbert | | Chaplain of the United States Coast Guard |
| Louis George Gregory | | Hand of the Cause in the Baháʼí Faith |
| Vashti Murphy McKenzie | | first woman to become a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church |
| Anthony J. Motley | | religious and community leader from Southeast Washington, D.C. |
| Jeremiah Wright | 1968 | former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ |

## Other notable alumni

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Mary Louise Brown | 1898 | first African-American woman to receive a wartime medical commission |
| Rachel Dolezal | 2002 (MFA) | controversial white American woman who posed as African-American |
| Adolphus Ealey | 1963 | curator and educator, specialist in Black art |
| Edna Burke Jackson | 1931 | namesake of Jackson-Reed High School; first Black woman to teach at what was then Woodrow Wilson High School |
| Mollie Huston Lee | | first African-American librarian in Raleigh, North Carolina; founder of the first library in Raleigh to serve African-Americans |
| Rollin Williams | 1943 | first African-American professor at the University of Connecticut |
| Roger Arliner Young | 1923 | first African-American woman to receive a doctorate in zoology, from University of Pennsylvania |
* Dawud Salahuddin (born 1950), Muslim terrorist

## Notable faculty

| Name | Department | Notability |
| Abelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar | Assistant Professor of Business | Palestinian; convicted of criminal contempt and obstruction of justice for refusal to testify in a trial related to the funding of Hamas |
| E. R. Braithwaite | | Guyanese novelist, writer, teacher and diplomat; author of To Sir, With Love; artist-in-residence at Howard beginning in 2002 |
| Sterling Brown | | writer, teacher, literary critic, poet laureate of Washington, D.C.; professor 1929–c.1969 |
| John Melville Burgess | Chaplain | served 1946–56; later the first African-American to head an Episcopal diocese as diocesan bishop of Massachusetts |
| Morris "Moe" Davis | Assistant Professor, School of law (2011-2015) | Air Force colonel, lawyer and administrative law judge, notably resigned position as Chief Prosecutor of the Guantanamo military commissions, 2005-2007 over concerns about information obtained through waterboarding |
| Cecile Hoover Edwards | dean of School of Human Ecology (1974–1987); dean of School of Continuing Education | nutritional researcher and government consultant |
| John R. Francis | College of Medicine | obstetrician and clinical lecturer |
| Louis Edwin Fry Sr. | School of Architecture | architect, professor; former chair of the architecture department |
| Danielle Hairston | College of Medicine | psychiatrist; director of residency training in the Department of Psychiatry |
| William Augustus Hazel | School of Architecture | architect, stained glass artist, educator, academic administrator, and civil rights activist |
| Michael Hendricks | Clinical psychopharmacology | psychologist, suicidologist and an advocate for the LGBT community |
| John Mercer Langston | Law | first African-American dean of Howard Law; Congressman |
| Alain Locke | | professor, writer, philosopher |
| Howard Hamilton Mackey | Architecture Department | architect, painter, educator, and academic administrator; served as department head, and associate dean |
| Ruth Ella Moore | | first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in bacteriology; faculty member of the Howard University Medical School 1940–1973 |
| Merze Tate | | first African-American graduate of Western Michigan College; first African-American female to attend Oxford; first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in government and international relations from Harvard University; one of the first women members of the Department of History at Howard University; expert in diplomatic history; professor 1942–77 |
| Emory Tolbert | History | African-American historian, archivist and activist; initiated New York Burial Ground Project |
| James Lesesne Wells | Art | African-American graphic artist, educator and activist; received a Presidential Citation for Lifelong Contribution to American Art in 1980 |
| Eric Williams | | first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago; instrumental in them gaining their independence; Caribbean historian; Howard professor 1939–1944 |