Inductee Category: <span>Government and Law</span>
Honorable Bennie G. Thompson
Bennie G. Thompson is a Tougaloo College graduate and the long-serving U.S. representative from Mississippi’s 2nd District. He has chaired the House Homeland Security…
Honorable Eva Clayton
Eva Clayton, a Johnson C. Smith University alumna, became the first African American to represent North Carolina in Congress since Reconstruction. She later served…
Julius L. Chambers, Esq.
Julius Chambers, a North Carolina Central University law graduate, argued Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education and later directed the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.…
Donald Hollowell
Donald Hollowell, a Lane College alumnus, was the Atlanta civil-rights lawyer who helped desegregate the University of Georgia and represented Martin Luther King Jr.…
General Lloyd (Fig) Newton, Ret.
Lloyd “Fig” Newton, a Tennessee State University alumnus, was the first African American pilot in the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and later a four-star…
Alvin O. Chambliss, Jr.
Alvin O. Chambliss Jr., a Jackson State University graduate, is a civil-rights lawyer best known for Ayers v. Fordice, the long federal case over…
Honorable Johnny Ford
Johnny Ford, a Knoxville College alumnus, was the first African American mayor of Tuskegee, Alabama. He later served in the Alabama Legislature and remained…
Honorable Kweisi Mfume
Kweisi Mfume, a Morgan State University graduate, represented Baltimore in Congress, chaired the Congressional Black Caucus, and later led the NAACP. He returned to…
Honorable Shirley Franklin
Shirley Franklin, a Howard University graduate, was the first woman and first Black woman elected mayor of Atlanta. She took office after the 2001…
Honorable L. Douglas Wilder
L. Douglas Wilder, a Virginia Union University graduate, became the first African American elected governor in the United States when Virginians chose him in…