Clara Olivia Byrd Baker, a teacher for more than thirty years and an advocate for women's rights. Clara Baker was a motivated educator who took pride in encouraging her students to go on to professional careers. Her first teaching assignment was a one-room school in James City County in 1902. In 1920 she began teaching at a public training school for African American children. Ultimately she was assigned to Bruton Heights School, where she stayed until her retirement in 1952. While teaching, she continued her own education at Hampton Institute and at Virginia State College for Negroes (later Virginia State University), where she received a B.S. in education.
Baker was a mother of four and a leader in the black community of Williamsburg. She promoted interracial cooperation and advocated women’s involvement in public affairs. Baker was one of the first women in Williamsburg to register to vote in 1920. Her wide-ranging memberships included church, teaching, children’s, and women’s organizations. At a 1967 tribute gathering for her in Williamsburg, the superintendent of schools declared that he could not remember any worthwhile communitywide effort in which Baker had not participated. For her work, Baker won numerous honors from local and regional organizations.
In 1967 Baker moved to Virginia Beach, where she continued her extensive civic volunteering until her death. The Williamsburg–James City County School System opened the Clara Byrd Baker Elementary School in September 1989.
Dr. Mary Elizabeth Branch was a dedicated teacher and the first African-American woman to become President of a Texas College. The daughter of formally enslaved parents, Branch completed her high school studies in the normal school at Virginia State College, now Virginia State University, and became an English teacher in an elementary school in Blackstone, Virginia. She later joined the VSC faculty, where she remained for twenty years. She was a challenging and popular instructor and also served as the college's housing director. During summers she attended the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and the University of Chicago. The last granted her a bachelor's degree in 1922 and a master's degree in English in 1925. She also began studies there towards a doctorate in education. Towards the end of her career she received honorary degrees from Virginia State College and Howard University.
In 1930, the American Missionary Association appointed her president of Tillotson College in Austin, Texas, becoming the first African-American female to become President of a Texas College. She successfully transformed Tillotson from a women’s junior college into a 4-year, co-educational undergraduate school with an “A” rating from the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
While in Austin, Ms. Branch became active in the civil rights movement. She became president of the Austin chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1943. She also served on the State Interracial Commission of Texas. In 1935, while serving as the Texas director for the National Youth Administration, a program administerd during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her to the Negro Advisory Board of the National Youth Administration during the Depression. In 1944, she helped establish the United Negro College Fund. In that same year, Ms. Branch passed following an unsuccessful surgery at the height of her career.
During the 1949-1950 academic year, Virginia State University erected a four story, five-wing freshmen female residence hall (Branch Hall) which was named in her honor.
Click here to learn more about the life and legacy of Dr. Mary Elizabeth Branch
Dr. Herman Branson, Class of 1936, received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Cincinnati under the famous Boris Padowski in 1939. From 1941-43, he was Assistant Professor of Physics and Chemistry at Howard University and was also the Director of the ESMWT (Experimental Science and Mathematics W Technology) Program in Physics also at Howard. His research interests were in mathematical biology and protein structure. He produced more than 100 research and other articles on physics, biophysics, Black American colleges, and science education. He also wrote extensively on physical-chemical studies of sickled anemic red blood cells.
His most significant undertakings included co-discovery of the alpha helix, an integral equation of biological systems, electron impact studies on small organic molecules. He was also associated with the introduction of information theory in the study of biological molecules, the introduction of information theory in the study of biological models, and the use of radioactive and stable isotopes in transport studies in biology. Dr. Branson perhaps deserved a share of the Nobel prize for the alpha helix discovery, but as the story goes somehow renowned scientist Linus Pauling got Branson excluded from the prize. Dr. Branson, who later became president of Central State University and Lincoln University gave his account of the discovery in a 1984 letter, saying that in 1948-49, while working for Linus Pauling at the California Institute of Technology, Branson did research on how amino acids could be arranged in a protein molecule. A year later, Pauling wrote up the discovery and credited Branson and another scientist as coauthors. Pauling later became a Nobel laureate.
After working with Linus Pauling, Dr. Branson returned to his position at Howard University as a full professor of Physics and Chairman of the Physics Department. He stayed at Howard University for 27 years, teaching and directing. In 1968, he served briefly as the President of Central State University in Ohio. In 1970, Branson assumed the position of President at Lincoln University of Pennsylvania where he served until his retirement in 1985. Dr. Branson continued to research and published more than one hundred articles in his lifetime.
Dr. Branson passed in 1995 at the age of 80 leaving behind a legacy of science, activism, and tolerance.
Her contributions to both her alma mater and Hampton University tutions have been remarkable. VSU blossomed during her tenure as Dean of the School of Education and as provost and vice president for academic affairs. At Hampton, she served as chair of the Department of Elementary Education, vice president for academic affairs, and director of the Living History Research Project.
An internationally known educator and former president of the National Education Association (NEA), Dr. Futrell, VSU Class of 1961, has served as the Dean of The George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development (GW/GSEHD) in Washington, DC, a Professor of Education Policy and Administration, and the Director of the Institute for Curriculum, Standards, and Technology. In addition to an unprecedented six-year term leading the NEA, Dr. Futrell served as President of Education International, which represents 23,000,000 million educators worldwide.
Dr. Freddie W. Nicholas, VSU Class of 1951, was the first African American president of a college within the Virginia Community College system, John Tyler Community College. He served as President from 1979-1990 and during his tenure was responsible for the expansion of the college due to his leadership, dedication and vision for the institution. Dr. Nicholas was also instrumental in revitalizing the John Tyler Foundation. The Nicholas Student Center on campus is named in his honor.
One of the nation’s first documented African-American female architects, who designed and built Azurest South, the official Virginia State University Alumni Association House/Office. She was also a professor at Virginia State University and is credited for establishing the School of Fine Arts Department at the University.
Dr. W. Clinton Pettus, VSU Class of 1966 and 1970, became the 8th President of Cheyney University of Pennsylvannia in 1996. He served as President from 1996 -2004. Prior to becoming President, he was the Chief academic officer at Cheyney. Before working at Cheyney, he worked at VSU for 24 years. At VSU, he was a psychology professor, a departmental chairperson, a dean, and a vice-president.
Named in 2004 as one of the 50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science by both Science Spectrum and US Black Engineer & Information Technology magazines, Dr. Stith, VSU Class of 1963 and 1964, served as a Professor of Physics at The Ohio State University and spent 21 years on the faculty of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was the first African American to be named President of the American Association of Physics Teachers and has served as President of the National Society of Black Physicists. He has also published a large number of papers in Physics Teacher, Physics Today, and the American Journal of Physics and has been guest speaker at many scientific events and conferences.
Hulon Willis, Sr., VSU Class of 1949, became the first African American to be admitted as a graduate student in physical education at the College of William & Mary in 1951 and later became the first African-American alumnus of William & Mary in 1956. In 1982, a constituent group within the College of William & Mary Alumni Association formed the Hulon Willis Alumni Association in his honor.
Hulon was also renowned in the martial arts and is credited with founding karate in the southern tri-city of Virginia in the early 1960's. A highly regarded and respected instructor, administrator and prominent tournament official, he is considered a pioneer in the history of Virginia karate. He instructed karata at Virginia State University where he served for almost thirty-five years as an Assistant Professor of Health, Physical Education, athletic coach (wrestling and football) and Director of Campus Police and Security. He developed and instructed the Defensive Tactics and Weaponless Control Program for the Virginia State Police and Virginia Criminal Justice Services and taught the program to law enforcement instructors around the country.
Mary C. Wyatt, VSU Class of 1970, served as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Savannah State University. Prior to joining Savannah State, she served as president of Roanoke-Chowan Community College in Ahoskie, NC from 2001-2005. Under Wyatt’s leadership, Roanoke-Chowan Community College received reaffirmation of accreditation from the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Dr. Gladys West, VSU Class of 1952, is a mathematician known for her contributions to the mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth. She began her career in aerospace in 1956, at the Naval Proving Ground, now called Naval Support Facility Dahlgren. She was the second black woman hired at the base and one of only four black employees. During her 42 years of service, she played an integral role in the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS). She rose through the ranks at NSWCDD, worked on satellite geodesy and other satellite measurements that contributed to the accuracy of GPS. Almost everyone is impacted from her work on the GPS, as it is now on the phone and in most cars.
On December 6, 2018, Dr. West was inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneer Hall of Fame at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame is one of the Air Force’s Space Commands Highest Honors. She also received a Senate Resolution honoring her accomplishments in March of 2018.
Rodney Robinson, VSU Class of 2000, became a teacher to honor his mother, who struggled to receive an education after being denied an educaton as a chiled due to segregation and poverty in rural Virginia. In 2015, Robinson started teaching at Virgie Binford Education Center, a school inside the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center, in an effort to better understand the school-to-prison pipeline.
Robinson has been published three times by Yale University and has received numerous awards for his accomplishments in and out of the classroom, most notably the R.E.B. Award for Teaching Excellence. In 2018, he was named Virginia Teacher of the Year and in 2019 he was recognized as National Teacher of the Year.
Join the VSUAA-Richmond Metro Chapter at Operation Harvest on Thursday, November 21, 2024, from 3 - 6:00 PM at the Richmond Raceway. If interested in volunteering, please contact Chapter President Holly Jackson-Conrad at
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