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African American Scholars at Case
Show moreBiographies of scholars without exhibit images. Dr. Joseph Carroll, Class of 1893. Educated in the Cleveland school system, Dr. Joseph Carroll graduated from the Western Reserve University Medical School in 1893. In 1900, he volunteered for the armed services in the Philippines. After completing two years of service, he returned to Cleveland. Dr. George H. Wilson, Class of 1893. Dr. Wilson maintained a barber business to help finance his education at Western Reserve University Medical School. He graduated in 1893 and set up residence in the Schofield Building. He remained there until his death in 1905. Dr. Wilson was an elocutionist and writer. He wrote "Midnight on Baltimore," a dramatic naval sketch, which was presented in Cleveland. Dr. Leroy Bundy, Class of 1903. Dr. Bundy graduated from the Western Reserve University Dental School but did not open an office. Instead, he worked for the Woodcliff Dentists, an advertising dental office. He later made several unsuccessful attempts to establish offices in Detroit and Chicago and finally settled in St. Louis. Eventually, Dr. Bundy returned to Cleveland and established a practice. In 1930, he entered politics and was elected to the City Council, a position he held for ten years.
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Show moreAlexander H. Martin, Class of 1895 Mr. Martin graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Adelbert College in 1895. He was one of six African American members of the Phi Beta Kappa honorary society in the 19th century. After graduation, Mr. Martin enrolled in the Western Reserve University Law School and at the end of his second year (1897) passed the state bar exam. Mr. Martin was then admitted to the bar a full year before his graduation. He practiced with John M. Anderson and later helped organize a republican club. Mr. Martin became the first president of the club. In 1934, Mr. Martin received the endorsement of the Cleveland Bar Association for appointment to a vacant Common Pleas Court seat. However, the governor did not accept the endorsement. Mr. Martin practiced in Cleveland until his death in 1962.
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Show moreAnthony J. Whitehead, Class of 1915. Dr. Whitehead graduated from the Western Reserve University Dental School. He established and maintained a practice in Cleveland.
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Show moreArmen Gloster Evans, Class of 1920. Dr. Evans enrolled in Adelbert College in 1913. He combined three years of college and four years of medical school. As a student, he joined others to fight and work hard to establish Alpha Phi Alpha (Pi Chapter) on the Western Reserve University campus. Dr. Evans served on the staffs of Rainbow Babies and Children's and St. Luke's hospitals. In 1960-61, he served as president of the old Western Reserve University Medical Alumni Association. He passed away in Cleveland on September 12, 1975.
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Show moreBarbara Nichols graduated from the Massachusetts Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Boston. In 1966, she earned a B.S. in Nursing from Case's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, and an M.S. in Behavorial Disabilities from the University of Wisconsin. Over the course of her career, Ms. Nichols has held 23 offices in professional associations including President of the American Nurses Association (1978-82) and President of the American Society for Health Care Education and Training. She served as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Council of Nurses and as the Chairperson of the American Journal of Nursing Company. Ms. Nichols also served as Visiting Professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Nursing in Madison and Milwaukee. Prior to this, she was the Secretary of the Department of Regulation and Licensing for the Wisconsin State Government. In this cabinet position, she was responsible for licensing and regulations for 26 diverse occupations ranging from boxing to nursing.
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Show moreDr. Betty Leola Smith Williams received her Master's degree in nursing from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing in 1954. She received her undergraduate degree, Bachelor of Science, from Howard University in Washington. Both her Ph.D in Public Health and her Master's in Mental Health Nursing were awarded by the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Williams is the first woman and first African American elected as a public member of the Board of Directors of Blue Cross of Southern California. She founded the Los Angeles Council of Black Nurses and is one of the founding members of the National Black Nurses Association.
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Show moreCarl A. Rouse, Class of 1951. Born in 1926, Dr. Rouse graduated from the Case Institute of Technology with a bachelor's degree in physics and a minor in mathematics. He then attended the California Institute of Technology where he earned his M.S. in 1953. He earned his doctorate in physics, again with a minor in math, from Caltech in 1956. Dr. Rouse is internationally known for his work in solar and astrophysics, numerical simulation of large scale fluid flows, and plasma physcis. He won recognition for his approach to stellar structure calculations, including an unusual solar model. Dr. Rouse has written numerous articles and commentaries including:"Interior Structure of the Sun," Nature, 1969. "A Method for the Numerical Calculation of Hydrodynamic Flow and Radiation Diffusion by Implicit Differencing," Journal of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Mar., 1961), pp. 127-135. For further reading see: "National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure: Archives"
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Show moreClemence Greene, Class of 1915. Ms. Greene received her degree in Pharmacology from Western Reserve University. She was the first African American and the first African American female to graduate from the School of Pharmacology. Ms. Greene established Greene's Drug Store on East 40th and Central Avenue in the 1920's.
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Show moreCurtis F. Jefferson, Class of 1978. Dr. Jefferson was awarded a Ph.D in Mathematics. He served as Vice President for Institutional Development at Cuyahoga Community College and served on numerous boards and committees.
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Show moreDaniel D.Fowler, Class of 1914. Mr. Fowler graduated second in his class from the School of Applied Science. He received his degree in miners/metallurgical engineering. His thesis was "An Investigation of Iron Blast Furnace Slags." While at Case, Mr. Fowler was known as the "father" of the Pi chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
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Show moreDaniel Robert Fairfax, Class of 1902. Regarded as one of the greatest fullbacks in Ohio, Mr. Fairfax graduated from Adelbert College, Western Reserve University.
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Show moreDavid Satcher, 16th Surgeon General of the United States. Dr. Satcher received his M.D. and Ph.D degrees from Case Western Reserve University in 1970. Dr. Satcher assumed the Presidency of Meharry Medical College in July 1982. He came to Meharry after serving as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Community and Family Medicine in the School of Medicine at Morehouse College in Atlanta. In 1984, Dr. Satcher was the commencement speaker for the Case School of Medicine. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Breslow Award in Public Health, the New York Academy of Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of Humankind. Dr. Satcher is a former Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and Macy Faculty Fellow. Further reading: Encyclopedia of Georgia
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Show moreEdith Louise Wright Rice, Class of 1916. Ms. Rice, a Clevelander, graduated as valedictorian of her class at West High School. She received a scholarship to attend the Western Reserve University College for Women where she majored in English/Literature. After graduation, Ms. Rice was employed as a teacher in Piney Wood, Mississippi. She later worked for the YWCA in Newport News, Virginia. Ms. Rice eventually returned to Cleveland to become Assistant Executive Secretary at the Phyllis Wheatley Association. However, she was soon named Executive Secretary of the YWCA in Brooklyn, NY. Ms. Rice died in 1932, one day short of her 38th birthday.
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Show moreEdward C. Williams, Class of 1892. One of the most accomplished scholars to matriculate at Case Western Reserve University, Edward Christoper Williams was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1871. He graduated from Adelbert College in 1892 as valedictorian of his class and member of the Phi Beta Kappa national honor society. He was one of the society's six African American members. As a student, he also held the Ohio Conference Championship for mile runner. Upon graduation, Mr. Williams accepted the first Assistant Librarian position at Western Reserve University's Hatch Library. Two years later (1898), he not only assumed the directorship of the Library, but also took sabbatical in order to attend the New York State Library School in Albany. After completing the two-year Master's Degree program in only one year, Mr. Williams returned to the University. He initially prepared the organizational plan of the Library School and, when the School was established in 1904, taught courses in Reference Work, Bibliography, Public Documents, and Book Selection. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Mr. Williams was a founding member of the Ohio Library Association (OLA) and lectured at the Ohio Institute of Library workers, which held its annual meetings each year at OLA. In 1909, for reasons not clearly documented, Mr. Williams left his position at Western Reserve University and became prinicpal of a high school in Washington, D.C. Not content as a school administrator, in 1916 Mr. Williams became Librarian at Howard University in Washington, D.C. There, he established the Library School and also taught German, Italian, and French in the Department of Romance Languages. In 1924, Mr. Williams became head of the Department. Versatile and multi-talented, Mr. Williams was also a classical drama playwriter and received a Julius Rosenwald fellowhip in 1929 to study for a Ph.D at Columbia University. He died on December 24, 1929 while working on his degree. Further reading: Porter, Dorothy B.,"Phylon Profile, XIV: Edward Christopher Williams," Phylon (1940-1956), Vol. 8, No. 4. (4th Qtr., 1947), pp. 315-321. (Access limited to JSTOR subscribers.) Howard University Bio; Josey, E.J., and Ann Allen Shokley, eds., Handbook of Black Librarianship (Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1977): 30-31. Josey, E.J. "Edward Christopher Williams: A Librarian's Librarian," Journal of Library History 4 (April 1969): 106-122. The Black Renaissance in Washington, 1920-1930s
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Show moreDr. Cohen received a B.S. in electrical engineering from MIT. For his bachelor's thesis, he designed operational amplifiers using discrete transitors, a design later used in the Electronic Systems Laboratory at MIT. In 1963, large-scale integrated circuit microprocessors did not exist, except as a subject of research. Dr. Cohen was awarded a Masters in Instrumentation from the Case Institute of Technology in 1967. His thesis was entitled, Identification of a Large-Signal Nonlinear Model of a Heat Exchanger (cataloged as Determination of a Large Signal Nonlinear Model). While at the Case Institute of Technology, Dr. Cohen served in the Cleveland Tutorial Project, which aided minority high school students. After graduation, he began his professional career with the Foxboro Company Research Center. He subsequently became a Senior Application Consultant.
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Show moreFrancis Anderson Gregory, Class of 1928. Mr. Gregory entered Case Institute of Technology at the age of 16 in 1924. He graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering. While at Case, he lettered in cross-country track and was a member of AIEE (American Institute of Electrical Engineers), the YMCA, and the Debating Club. In 1964, he was one of four Case Alumni honored at the 79th Annual Reunion Banquet with Awards for Meritorious Service. Mr. Gregory's son, Frederick, graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy and served as an astronout with NASA, piloting the space shuttle Challenger during its Spring 1985 mission. Francis Gregory, a native of Washington, D.C., passed away in that city on February 27, 1977.
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Show moreFrank C. Williams, Class of 1962. During the time that he attended graduate school, Dr. Williams was employed as a research assistant by the Case Western Reserve University Medical School. After entering Dental School, he continued to work part time at the Cleveland Clinic as a researcher in Clinical Pathology. When Dr. Williams graduated in 1962, he started a private practice in the Mt. Pleasant area of Cleveland and worked part-time as a school dentist for the Cleveland Board of Education. He has served as the National Chair of the Case Western Reserve University Annual Alumni Fund Drive.
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Show moreFrank L. Kelker, Class of 1938. In 1980, Frank (Doc) Kelker was inducted into the Case Western Reserve University Athletic Hall of Fame. He played 53 consecutive games without a defeat--28 games at Dover (Ohio) High School and 25 games at Western Reserve University. He graduated in 1938 after receiving All-Ohio and Big Four honors three times and being named to the AP's All American Team. In 1962, he was named to the Sports Illustrated Silver Anniversay All-American Team. Doc was a member of Cuyahoga Community College's Board of Trustees from 1961-73 and served as its President for one term. In 1979, he retired as Director of the Cleveland YMCA.
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