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Soror Addie Wyatt

 

Soror Wyatt is one of the nation’s foremost labor leaders.  She was the first female local union president of the United Packinghouse Food and Allied Workers.  She and her husband founded the Wyatt Choral Ensemble in 1944.  Soror Wyatt was ordained in 1955 and the following year began working closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  They helped found Operation Breadbasket and served on the board of Operation PUSH.   She was appointed by Eleanor Roosevelt to serve on the Labor Legislation Committee of the Commission on the Status of Women in 1963.  In 1974, she helped found the Coalition of Labor Union women and was a founding member of the National Organization for Women and a leader in the struggle for an Equal Rights Amendment.

  

Soror Clara Adams-Ender 

 

Soror Adams-Ender  rose through the Army Nurse Corps to the rank of Brigadier General.  Soror Adams-Ender became the first black Army Nurse Corps officer to graduate from the U.S. Army War College. She was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in 1987 and appointed Chief of the Army Nurse Corps. Following this post, Clara served as the Commanding General, U.S. Army Fort Belvoir, Virginia and Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Army Military District of Washington until her retirement in August 1993. Clara Adams-Ender is now the President and CEO of Caring About People with Enthusiasm (CAPE) Associates, Inc.

Soror Wilma J. Webb

 

Soror Webb, Denver’s first lady.  In 1969, she was very active in school reform and was a co-founder of the Committee on Greater Opportunity.  In 1973, she became a Democratic committeewoman and served as Democratic Party secretary, editor of the Democratic State newsletter and chairperson of the Democratic Committee on Housing.  Soror Webb became a member of the Colorado Legislature in 1980. While in office, she became the first minority woman on the Colorado Joint Budget Committee. She sponsored 44 bills, 11 of which passed. In 1998, Soror Webb became the first woman to serve in the U.S. Department of Labor as the primary official for Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

Soror Camille O. Cosby

 

Imbued with an immense intellect and sense of social responsibility, Soror Cosby has long been an advocate for education and for the continued financial support of the United States' historically African-American colleges and universities (HBCUs). Along with her husband Bill Cosby, she donated $20 million in 1988 to Spelman College, the prestigious and historically African-American women's college located in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. By 1994, they had donated over $70 million to several HBCUs.

Soror Audrey F. Manley

 

Audrey F. Manley, M.D., M.P.H.,  is the eighth president of Spelman College and the first alumna to hold the position. Prior to returning to her alma mater, Dr. Manley served as Acting Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service and Deputy Surgeon General. She is the first African American woman to achieve the rank of Assistant Surgeon General (Rear Admiral), and the first to be named Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health and Acting Assistant Secretary for Health.

Soror Renee Poussaint

 

Veteran network journalist  Renee Poussaint, winner of three national Emmy awards, is president and CEO of Wisdom Works, Inc., a major documentary production company. Soror  Poussaint is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Maryland’s Academy of Leadership. Her extensive broadcast career has included tenure as a network correspondent for both ABC and CBS News, reporting from some of the world’s most troubled areas. As president of her production company, and as a broadcast journalist, Soror  Poussaint’s work has appeared, not only on CBS and ABC, but also on Discovery, A&E, and Lifetime networks. 

Soror Sheryl Lee Ralph

 

Respected actress, singer and producer Soror Sheryl Lee Ralph.  At age 19, she became the youngest female graduate of Rutgers University and was named one of the Top Ten College Women in America. Her extensive feature film credits include "Sister Act II"; "The Flintstones"; "The Mighty Quinn" ; "Mistress" ; "The Distinguished Gentleman" ; and "To Sleep With Anger" , for which she won the 1991 "Independent Spirit Award" as Best Supporting Actress.  As a producer, Ralph has found great success with the highly acclaimed "Divas Simply Singing,"  which she created in 1991. Featuring some of the most talented female entertainers in film, stage, TV and music, the event has become one of the most important AIDS fundraisers in Hollywood .

Soror Ruby Dee

 

Soror Ruby Dee, born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio. A 1945 graduate of Hunter College, Dee made several appearances on Broadway before getting national recognition for her role in the 1950 film, “The Jackie Robinson Story.” Her acting career has crossed all major forms of media over a span of 8 decades, including films such as “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Edge of the City” both opposite Sidney Poitier. During the 1960's, Dee appeared in politically charged films such as “Gone Are the Days” and “The Incident”, which paved the way for young African American filmmakers and actors. She has been nominated for seven Emmy Awards, winning once for her role in 1990's “Decoration Day.”  Ruby Dee and her late husband, actor Ossie Davis, were well-known civil rights activists. Dee is a member of such organizations as CORE, the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Soror Albertina Walker

 

Soror Albertina Walker better known as  the "Queen of Gospel", Soror Walker was born in 1929 in Chicago, IL.  In 1951 at just 22 years of age Soror Walker organized her own group, the world famous CARAVANS.  After a stellar career with the Caravans, she went on to phenomenal success as a solo artist, recording her first project “Put A Little Love In Your Heart “in 1975. To date, she has recorded over 60 albums, including gold selling hits “Please Be Patient With Me”, “I Can Go To God In Prayer”, “The Best Is Yet To Come”, “Impossible Dream”, and “Joy Will Come”. Soror Walker still enjoys an active recording career, often lending her talents to the projects of other artists in addition to her own.

Soror Cicely Tyson

Soror Cicely Tyson, award winning actress and arguably the first African American woman to appear in a drama.  She was discovered by a photographer for Ebony magazine, and became a popular fashion model. Her first film was an uncredited role in Carib Gold in 1957, but she went on to do television - the celebrated series East Side/West Side and the soap opera The Guiding Light.

In 1972, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the critically acclaimed Sounder. In 1974 she won two Emmy Awards for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Other acclaimed television roles included Roots, King, in which she played Coretta Scott King, The Marva Collins Story, When No One Would Listen and Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (for which she won another Emmy). Currently, Tyson is co-starring in the movies Because of Winn-Dixie and Diary of a Mad Black Woman.

Tyson co-founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Soror Keisha Knight Pulliam

Soror Keisha Knight-Pulliam started playing Rudy Huxtable on The Cosby Show when she was just 4 years old, however, she had already appeared on Sesame Street at the age of 3. She also starred in The Last Dragon, and several other TV projects, including The Little Match Girl, Polly, Polly: Comin' Home, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. She was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1986 for The Cosby Show and  Young Artist Award in 1985, 1987,  and 1989 for her role on The Cosby Show. She was nominated again for a Young Artist Award in 1990 for her role in Polly. She is a 2001 graduate of Spelman College where she earned a degree in Sociology. She recently was named  one of EBONY magazine's Top Bacholerettes.  In November of 2001, she won the special former-child-star edition of The Weakest Link. Her winnings benefited the Bonner Foundation, a group that funds scholarships and anti-hunger programs.

 

 

 

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