Students
The first African American Seminarian to graduate (as best as we can tell) is Benjamin Franklin Wheeler, Class of 1889.
His Alumni Record of Drew Theological Seminary, 1867-1925 entry:
Wheeler is the first individual listed in this volume as having served in an African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
The first African American undergraduate student to graduate from Drew University is Clarence E. Harrison, Class of 1935.
Some Oak Leaves Yearbook photographs of Clarence E. Harrison:
February 17, 2023 Drew Acorn Article about Clarence E. Harrison:
Faculty
The first African American professor at Drew teaching Theological and Graduate School students was George D. Kelsey.
Undated image of George Kelsey in his office:
Kelsey began teaching as an Associate Professor of Christian Ethics in 1951 in the Theological School. (The Graduate School was founded in 1955; most of the professors came from the Theological School.)
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First African-American Professor, CLA: Chester Williams
Professor of Sociology, hired in 1970.
Professor Williams graduated from Greenville College. He held an M.A. from the New School for Social Research, where, at the time of his hiring, he was a Ph.D. candidate.
Prior to Drew, much of his work revolved around social welfare. He was active in day care and community center programming.1 He served as a social worker for the Community Action Council in Akron, Ohio. In Brooklyn he held the positions of program director of the Family Day Care Career Project, health and welfare specialist for the Fort Greene Community Progress Center, and the summer program director for the anti-poverty agencies in Fort Greene.2
Together with fellow professor of Sociology, Dr. Robert Friedrichs, he worked to plan the "Urban Sociology Semester". Unfortunately, due to an administrative conflict, this resulted in Professor Williams' resignation at the end of the fall semester of the 1970-1971 academic year. The controversy was covered in the Acorn.
1 "News From Drew," 21, August, 1970.
2 Faculty Biography Collection, Drew University Archives