African-Americans at Penn:
Biographies and Personal Papers

Abele, Julian Francis (1881-1950), B.A. in Arch. 1902
First African-American to graduate from Penn's Graduate School of Fine Arts

Adger, William (1856-1885), B.A. 1883
First African-American to graduate from the College

Alexander, Raymond Pace (1897-1974), B.S. in Econ. 1920
Civil rights lawyer and Philadelphia city councilman

Alexander, Sadie Tanner Mossell (1898-1989), B.S. 1918, A.M. 1919, Ph.D. 1921, LL.B. 1927
First African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in the United States, to earn a Penn law degree and to become a member of the Pennsylvania bar

Alexander, Virgina Margaret (1900 -1949), B.S. in Ed. 1920
Medical doctor in Philadelphia

Anderson, Elizabeth Mossell (1894 - 1975), B.S. in Ed. 1939
Dean of Women at Wilburforce University

Asbury, Ida Elizabeth (Bowser) (1870-1955), Cert. of Proficiency in Music, 1890
First African-American women to earn a Penn degree

Brister, James (1858-1916), D.D.S. 1881
First African-American to receive a Penn degree of any kind

Cummings, William Nelson (1894-1991), D.D. 1919
First African-American to become captain of a Penn varsity team (track)

Dickens, Helen Octavia (1909-2001), Sc.D. (hon.) 1982
First African-American woman on the medical staff of Penn's Medical School

Du Bois, W. E. B. (1868-1963)
Assistant in Sociology in the Wharton School, author and founder of the N.A.A.C.P.

Engs, Robert (born 1943)
Member of Penn's history faculty since 1972

Fontaine, William Thomas Valeria (1909-1968), Ph. D. 1936
Penn's first fully-affiliated and first tenured African-American faculty member

Johnson, Francis (1792-1844)
First African-American bandleader and composer to play at Penn events, including commencements

Moore, Lewis Baxter (1866-1928, Ph.D. 1896
First African-American to earn a Penn Ph.D., Dean of Howard University

Mossell, Aaron Albert (1863-1951), L.L.B. 1888
First African-American to graduate from Penn's Law School

Mossell, Nathan Francis (1856-1946), M.D. 1882
First African-American to graduate from Penn's Medical School

Taylor, John Baxter (1882-1908), V.M.D. 1908
Second African-American athlete at Penn, first African-American to win an Olympic gold medal (track)

Tucker, Miles (1856-1904), Ph.B. 1887
First African-American graduate of the Wharton School

White, Samuel (c. 1845-1904)
Athletic trainer for Penn's early sports teams

Wilson, Albert Monroe (1841-1904)
Janitor, messenger, lab assistant, friend to Penn students and faculty for a half century, and community medic

Woodard, Dudley Weldon (1881-1965), Ph.D. 1928
First African-American at Penn (and second in the nation) to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics, professor and Dean of Students at Howard University