WOMEN OF MOREHOUSE Here are the names of some of the 33 female Morehouse graduates (maiden name in italics): Marian Allen Mitchell ’36 Lottie Louise Bailey Harris ’31 Alice Urnestine Bell Lewis ’29 Willie Mae Blayton ’33 Henrietta Serina Branham ’36 Elizabeth Buchanan ’29 Lois M. Burge ’37 Hannah Emma Burney ’25
Ruby Chandler Gray ’32 Rosa Mae Crosby ’33 Rebecca Eloise Dickerson ’29 Florence Mae Harvey ’29 Mabel B. Johnson Dean ’34 Jessie Mae Jones ’30 Ruby Mae Jones ’33 Annie Elizabeth Massey Hubert ’33 Lena Beatrice Maxey ’29 Matherine Ragland ’36
Carrie Badger Pittman ’33 Mary Cecelia Robinson Spivey ’33 Hazel Edith Rucker ’33 Selena B. Tinsley Arnold ’34 Jennie Virginia Thomas Rembert ’33 Helen Maxine Tolliver ’33 Olga Williams Taylor ’33 Ossie Louise Williams ’33
Morehouse College has also celebrated the accomplishments of women by awarding them honorary degrees from the College. Here are some of those honorees.
Ruth J. Simmons
18th president of Brown University and speaker for 122nd Commencement
Cicely Tyson
Oscar-nominated and Emmy Awardwinning actress and speaker for 125th Commencement
Gwen Ifill
Award-winning journalist, moderator of PBS’s “Washington Week,” and speaker at 127th Commencement
Oprah Winfrey Helps ‘Light Up’ The World Through Morehouse Oprah Winfrey had been so moved by Morehouse College and the education of black men after giving the 1989 Commencement address at Morehouse that she asked former President Leroy Keith ’61 if she could bring her purse on stage. She pulled out a pen and her checkbook and wrote a check for $1 million. That act was the start of a relationship in which Winfrey, a media mogul and now contributor to CBS’ “60 Minutes,” has become Morehouse’s largest single donor to date, giving the College $12 million total.
The Oprah Winfrey Endowed Scholarship Program, which has funded the educations of 415 “Sons of Oprah,” went beyond her original hope to help 100 men of Morehouse. And in 2011, on the final “Oprah Winfrey Show,” they paraded on stage and announced plans to contribute their own money toward helping Morehouse students, as she has. Winfrey is also the only woman to ever receive the College’s prestigious Candle Award. Candle Award recipients are recognized for excellence in a variety of fields.
“When you empower a black man, you light up the world,” Winfrey said about contributing to Morehouse and receiving the prestigious award. “When you empower a black man, you empower families. You empower his wife. You empower sons. You empower daughters… You light up the world.” M
Oprah Winfrey is Morehouse’s largest single donor, and the only woman to ever receive the College’s Candle Award for leadership and service to society. She accepted the award during a trip to campus in 2004.
special anniversary issue • morehouse magazine
53