11 Notable Historically Black College And University Alumni

Did you know that P. Diddy interned at Uptown records while he was at Howard University? Or that Oprah got her start in broadcasting while at Tennessee State University?

Check out our of slideshow of famous HBCU alumni. Are we missing someone? Tell us in the comments section!

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Sean "Puffy" Combs

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While Sean "Puffy"/"P. Diddy" Combs was attending Howard, he also interned at Uptown records, commuting on the weekends from Washington D.C. to New York City. Eventually, the head of the label offered Combs a job, so he dropped out of school to pursue music full-time.

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While Sean "Puffy"/"P. Diddy" Combs was attending Howard, he also interned at Uptown records, commuting on the weekends from Washington D.C. to New York City. Eventually, the head of the label offered Combs a job, so he dropped out of school to pursue music full-time.

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BETGR627 said on 4 Thursday 2011 am31 11:41 am: Dan - I didn't see your post as sarcastic either. I saw it is mean-spirited so maybe it is you that needs a reality check.

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Comments

[thegodlessgeneration]

01:05 PM on 08/31/2011

So, of the 11 people, only 9 graduated. I think a better list could have been put together.

[twix]

07:48 PM on 08/19/2011

John Hope Franklin

[Shauntae Baker]

03:53 PM on 08/09/2011

Actress, T'Keyah Crystal Keymah, Florida A&M University
Movie Producer, William "Will" Packer, Florida A&M University
Tuskegee Airman & Civil Rights Activist, Henry C.L. Bohler, Hampton University

[maRadebe]

12:43 PM on 08/09/2011

Oh no, now we're gonna see everyone and their parents too on this list.....what?

[Boogieism]

09:35 PM on 08/15/2011

Thank you...damn!! The list is only comprised of 10ppl. Smh, lol I think everyone that's mad should start a petition on change.org and let them know the Huff didn't adequately represent your interests. Then hold a march...lol Sheesh, can't win for losing. If they didn't do 10 that would be another problem.

[maRadebe]

12:38 PM on 08/09/2011

Stop hatin', THE-FAB-ONE. You really aren't fab with a grudge like that. And YES, one doesn't need to graduate to be an alumni. My son went to a prestigious prep school in VT, dropped out and into the charter system. The prep school treats him as alumni. He attends all their functions and often volunteers in their programs. So, what do you mean by "properly?" Schools people dropped out of will continue to treat them as Alumni for the purpose of soliciting funding, and for the drop-outs to recommend the school to others, and to generally continue a relationship of belongingness with the institution. Is there a problem here?

[armstrong st]

10:38 AM on 08/08/2011

Nice slideshow! It was interesting to find out.

Steve from www.essaytask.com

[Tracy Harmon]

09:38 AM on 08/08/2011

The person who put this list together obviously did not attend an HBCU. There are other notable alumni of HBCU who are more distinguished. And, if Sean Combs didn't graduate from Howard University, he can hardly be considered an alum.

To the author of this slideshow, most HBCU have a list of their distinguished alumni, you should try and find those lists and compile a more complete slideshow.

[TheFabOne]

05:42 PM on 08/08/2011

With regards to Puffy, try explaining that to these two fools on my post below.

[MrTown3]

09:26 PM on 08/06/2011

wow how do you hate on Diddy? The half billion in assets?

[my2cents4all]

10:44 PM on 08/05/2011

It's painfully obvious the person who put together this list is not an HBCU graduate.

[snoopcat]

10:15 PM on 08/05/2011

Ed Bradley-60 Minutes Correspondent-Cheyney University
Ambassador Joseph Segars-Cheyney University

[TheFabOne]

08:06 PM on 08/05/2011

Get it straight......Puffy was NEVER an alum of Howard. I was there the same time he 'attended' classes, and I can tell you, the only thing he attended was parties he was throwing all over DC.

After he made his millions, he showed up with a silver briefcase full of $100 bills and BOUGHT an HONORARY degree, but as someone who EARNED a degree from THE MOST prestigious HBCU in the country, I'm a trigger bit offended that you would lump Mr. Combs with all his mess in with those like us, who got our degrees the HARD way.

[Jerrell Allen]

07:15 PM on 08/06/2011

The definition of Alumni does not mean graduate it means to attend. It comes from a latin word meaning to nourish. You could have attended and not graduated and still be a alumni.

[TheFabOne]

04:51 PM on 08/07/2011

Uh, yeah right. If I put on my resume' that I graduated from Yale and I never went there one day of my academic life, theoretically, Yale could levy charges against me for fraud and misrepresentation, among other things.

So no, you DO have to graduate to be properly called 'alumni'.

[Angela Trapp]

07:29 PM on 08/05/2011

Is that all you could come up with? Seriously? In 250 words just off the top of my head...
Lena Franes Edwards, MD: physician (obstetrics and gynecology) and humanitarian, received Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964
H. Patrick Swygert: former president, Howard University
Vernon Jordan: Attorney, Senior Managing Director with Lazard Freres & Co. LLC, former president of the Urban League
Malaak Compton-Rock: founder The Angelrock Project,incorporater of styleWORKS organization, and creator and manager of Champions for Children Committee. Compton-Rock is the wife of comedian Chris Rock and was highlighted for her work in the lives of African- Americans on CNN's "Black in America II"
Cathy Hughes: Founder of Radio One and popular channel, TV One
Elijah Cummings: United States Congress
David Dinkins: first African-American mayor of New York City
Mike Espy: first African-American United States Secretary of Agriculture
Adrian Fenty: (School of Law)former mayor of Washington, D.C.
Shirley Franklin: first female mayor of Atlanta, Georgia
Kasim Reed: current mayor of Atlanta, Georgia
Kamala Harris: Attorney General of California
Patricia Roberts Harris: United States Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, United States Ambassador
Benjamin Hooks: former executive director of the NAACP
Sharon Pratt Kelly: first African-American female mayor of a major city, Washington, D.C.
Thurgood Marshall: (School of Law)first African-American United States Supreme Court justice
L. Douglas Wilder: (School of Law)first elected African-American United States governor, current Mayor of Richmond, Virginia

[mszksg]

07:02 AM on 08/05/2011

Wow. You are considered an alumni even if you didn't gradute from that school? Then, heck, I'm an alumni of NYU.

[dwill123]

07:22 PM on 08/04/2011

Thurgood Marshall

[Imhotep40]

04:53 PM on 08/04/2011

Marion Barry - Fisk
Nikki Giovanni - Fisk
Judith Jamison - Fisk
Hazel R. O'Leary - Fisk
David Levering Lewis - Fisk
Anika Noni Rose - Florida A&M
Common - Florida A&M
Kwame Kilpatrick - Florida A&M
John W. Thompson - Florida A&M
Natalie Desselle-Reid - Grambling
Brandon Fobbs - Hampton
Spencer Christian - Hampton
Michael Ralph - Hampton
Kevin Frazier - Hampton
Freedom Williams - Hampton
Vernon Jordan - Howard
Cathy Hughes - Howard
Shirley Franklin - Howard
Adrien Fenty - Howard
David Dinkins - Howard
Mike Espy - Howard
Cheddi Jagan - Howard
Sharon Pratt Kelly - Howard
Toni Morrison - Howard
Roberta Flack - Howard
Marcus Johnson - Howard
Kenny Lattimore - Howard
Meshell Ndegeocello - Howard
Jessye Norman - Howard
Sadat X - Howard
Donnie Scantz - Howard
Richard Smallwood - Howard
Crystal Waters - Howard
Angela Winbush - Howard
Anthony Anderson - Howard
Ernest Dickerson - Howard
Dianne Houston - Howard
Debbie Allen - Howard
Laz Alonso - Howard
Wendy Davis - Howard
Taraji P. Henson - Howard
Carl Anthony Payne II - Howard
Paula Jai Parker - Howard
Tracie Thoms - Howard
Phylicia Rashad - Howard
Shauneille Perry - Howard
Roxie Roker - Howard
Lance Gross - Howard
Wendy Raquel Robinson - Howard
Isaiah Washington - Howard
Marlon Wayans - Howard
Lynn Whitfield - Howard
Karen Malina White - Howard
Amiri Baraka - Howard
Elizabeth Catlett - Howard

[Imhotep40]

01:16 AM on 08/05/2011

Mo'Nique – Morgan
Keith Russell – Morgan
Doreen Spicer – Morgan
Deniece Williams – Morgan
James Alan McPherson – Morgan
Thomas J. Byrd – Morgan
Tim Reid – Norfolk State
Randall Robinson – Norfolk State/VA Union
Warren Ballentine – Norfolk State
Taraji P. Henson – NC A&T
Jesse Jackson – NC A&T
Terrence J – NC A&T
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – NC A&T
Alvin Chea – Oakwood
Angela Brown – Oakwood
Clifton Davis – Oakwood
Brian McKnight – Oakwood
Claude McKnight – Oakwood
John F. Street – Oakwood
Little Richard – Oakwood
Mervyn Warren – Oakwood
Terry Ellis – Prairie View A&M
Mr. T – Prairie View A&M
Anita Ward - Rust
Randy Jackson – Southern
Bradford Marsalis – Southern
Cleo Fields – Southern
J. Veronica Biggins – Spelman
Traci Lynn Blackwell – Spelman
Linda Goode Bryant – Spelman
Cassi Davis – Spelman
Maj. Gen. Marcelite J. Harris – Spelman
Adrienne-Joi Johnson – Spelman
Kathleen McGee-Anderson – Spelman
Keshia Knight Pulliam – Spelman
Tanika Ray – Spelman
Bernice Johnson Reagon – Spelman
LaTanya Richardson – Spelman
Shaun Roninson – Spelman
Alice Walker – Spelman
Luther Barnes – St. Augustine’s
Robert X. Golphin – St. Augustine’s
Yolanda Adams – Texas Southern
Kase L. Lawal – Texas Southern
Aunjanue Ellis – Tougaloo

[Imhotep40]

09:55 AM on 08/07/2011

Colbert I. King - Howard
Charles Turnbull - Hampton
Robin R. Sanders - Hampton
Charles E. Phillips - Hampton
Douglas Palmer - Hampton
Angela Burt-Murray - Hampton
Benjamin Brown - Hampton

[Holly H]

06:40 PM on 08/05/2011

Holly Jasmine Hawthorne - Fayetteville State University (African American Surrealist)

[Imhotep40]

09:31 PM on 08/05/2011

Pleasure to make your acquaintance Ms Hawthorne