BAA Timeline
Wanda Austin
1st African American President of USC (Interim)
Verna Dauterive
Opening of Peter and Verna Dauterive Hall; 1st Interdisciplinary Building at USC.
Maulana Karenga
Best known as the creator of the pan-African and African-American holiday of Kwanzaa; Ph.D Dornsife
Samuel L. Williams
1st African American USC Trustee, 1961 Graduate of USC Law School.
Stayce Harris
1st African American Female to pilot a 747; 1st Afrcian American Female Lt. General Air Force
Rev. Thomas Kilgore
Establishment of USC Black Alumni Association; Scholarship Assistance provided to low-income students, all minorities (with Verna Dauterive, Peter Dauterive, Thomas Griffith, Sr., Portia Griffith–alumni).
Aulanna Peters
1st African American Female SEC Commissioner.
Linda Murray Fuller
1st USC African American Song Girl.
Michael Garrett
1st USC Heisman Trophy Winner.
Adam Herbert
1st African American President, Indiana University. Graduate of School of Public Policy
Chester Carter
1st African American USC Student Senator.
Edwin L. Jefferson
1st African American Justice for the California 2nd Appellate Court of Appeals; USC Law School Graduate.
Faye Jackson
1st African American Female Nationally Renowned Journalist.
Helen Wheeler Riddle
1st African American female USC Law School Graduate.
Brice Union Taylor
1st USC All-American in Trojan Football history.
Vada Watson Somerville
1st Female Graduate, USC School of Dentistry (Married to John Somerville).
Howard Porter Drew
“The Fastest Man in the World;” World record holder in Track and Field 100 meter (1913-16 attended USC)
John A. Somerville
1st African American Graduate USC School of Dentistry.
Diana McNeil Pierson
BA in 1909; MS in 1910. At one time thought to be the first Black woman to attend USC.
Clarence Bertrand Thompson
1st African American Law School Graduate.