Black Women Matter

Recognizing the Legacies of Black Women at Cal

To celebrate 150W, we honor some of the many Black women pioneers at the University of California, Berkeley with profiles of their legacies. Reflecting on Black History Month, UC President Michael V. Drake here acknowledges the contributions of Black leaders to the history of UC. We are committed to highlighting both the past struggles and achievements of Black women affiliated with the campus. 

African American Women Pioneers of the University of California, Berkeley

Essay by Gia White, Administrative Director of Global, International, & Area Studies

Vivian Rodgers, BA in 1909

Berkeley's first Black woman undergraduate

Louise Thompson Patterson, BA '23

Social and political activist associated with Harlem Renaissance

Eliza Atkins Gleason, MA '36 (1909-2009)

First Black woman to earn PhD in Library Science

Professor Barbara Christian

Berkeley's first Black woman to earn tenure and promotion to full professor

Professor Jewelle Taylor Gibbs, MSW '70, PhD '80

Noted author and clinical psychologist

Representative Barbara Lee, MSW ’75

U.S. Representative for California's 13th congressional district

Cynthia "Cynt" Marshall, BA '81

First African American female CEO in the NBA & Berkeley's first Black cheerleader

Professor Patricia Turner, PhD '85

Folklorist, Scholar and Professor

Michele de Coteau, BA '88

Berkeley's first Black woman to win Rhodes scholarship

Nadine Burke Harris, BA ’96

California's First Surgeon General

Vivian Costroma Osborne Marsh, BA '21 & MA '22

Founder of Delta Sigma Theta and Berkeley Anthropology's first Black woman graduate

Annie Virginia Stephens Coker, BA ’24 & JD ’29

California’s first Black woman attorney

Assistant Professor Irene Sawyer

Co-director of Black Cultural Center and African American Art Historian

Professor June Jordan

Renowned "Poet of the People" and Political Activist

Professor Daphne Muse

Inaugural Elder-in-Residence, Black Studies Collaboratory

Clothilde "Cloey" Hewlett, BA ’76 & JD ’79

First Person of Color as Executive Director of the Cal Alumni Association

Assistant Professor VèVè Amasasa Clark, PhD '83

Scholar and pioneer in “diaspora literacy”

Professor Lorraine Fleming, PhD '85

Berkeley's first Black woman to earn PhD in Civil Engineering

Professor Arlene Cole-Rhodes, PhD '89

Berkeley's first Black woman to earn PhD in Electrical Engineering

Melody Ivory, PhD '01

Berkeley's first Black woman to earn PhD in Computer Science

Assistant Professor Ashia Wilson, PhD '17

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT

Ida Louise Jackson, BA '22 & MA '23

Oakland’s first Black teacher and educational leader

Miriam Matthews, BA '27 (1905-2003)

California's first credentialed Black librarian

Helene Powell, BA '41

Labor Activist and Gender Equality Advocate

Michèle Woods Jones, BA '69

Berkeley's first Black woman to be Staff Ombudsperson

Professor Margaret Wilkerson, PhD '72

Educational activist and arts advocate

C. Diane Howell, PhD '78

Berkeley's first Black woman to earn PhD in Psychology

Pearl Alice Marsh, PhD '84

Berkeley's first Black women to earn PhD in Political Science

Cara Stanley, BA '86

Executive Director of the Student Learning Center & Director of Summer Bridge

Valerie E. Taylor, PhD '91

Director of the Mathematics and Computer Science (MCS) Division, Argonne National Laboratory

Associate Professor Ruha Benjamin PhD '08