From CEOs To Cookie: HBCU Graduates Who Run The World
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Alice Walker
Alice Walker’s birthday is today, and it’s the day we celebrate the Pulitzer Prize-winning author who also attended Spelman College in 1961 before later transferring to Sarah Lawrence College to finish her education. Walker was also a writer in residence at Jackson State College and Tougaloo.
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Spike Lee
Spike Lee got his BA in Mass Communication from Morehouse in 1979 and filmed his first student film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn while he was there.
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Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey received her first broadcasting job while still a student at Tennessee State University on a full scholarship, studying communications.
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Colbert I. King
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and frequent panelist on ABC’s, Inside Washington, Colbert I. King earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in government from Howard University in 1961.
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Samuel L. Jackson
A-list actor Samuel L. Jackson was a marine biology major at Morehouse College before he set his sights on acting and changed his major to dramatic acting.
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Sean Combs
Music industry mogul Sean Combs dropped out of Howard University to pursue music full-time and is now worth more than $700 million. He has since gone back and been given an honorary doctorate in humanities.
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Rev. Jesse Jackson
The civil rights activist graduated from North Carolina A&T in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in sociology.
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John Thompson
John Thompson is the Chairman of the Board of Microsoft and a graduate of Florida A&M University, receiving a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1971.
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Tom Joyner
“The Hardest Working Man in Radio” (with a $30 million net worth to prove it) earned a Bachelor of Science degree in sociology at Tuskegee University before starting his career as a radio host.
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Denise Young Smith
Apple’s Vice President of Worldwide Human Resources, responsible for attracting top talent to the company, graduated from Grambling State University. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s in organizational management.
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Phylicia Rashād
Creed and Cosby Show star Phylicia Rashād graduated magna cum laude from Howard University in 1970 before starting her acting career.
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Taraji P. Henson
The Academy-Award nominee, Golden Globe winner and star of Empire obtained a bachelor’s in theater arts at Howard in 1995.
