Board of Trustees HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENTS 1977 – PRESENT
Name Year Awarded Name Year Awarded Claire Collins Harvey, C‘37 Harry Belafonte 1977 Patricia Roberts Harris Katherine Dunham 1990 Toni Morrison 1978 Nelson Mandela Marian Anderson Marguerite Ross Barnett Ruby Dee Mattiwilda Dobbs, C‘46 1979 1991 Constance Baker Motley Miriam Makeba Sarah Sage McAlpin Audrey Forbes Manley, C‘55 Mary French Rockefeller 1980 Jesse Norman 1992 Mabel Murphy Smythe* Louis Rawls 1993 Cardiss Collins Oprah Winfrey Effie O’Neal Ellis, C‘33 Margaret Walker Alexander Dorothy I. Height 1981 Oran W. Eagleson Albert E. Manley Carol Moseley Braun 1994 Mary Brookins Ross, C‘28 Donna Shalala Shirley Chisholm Susan Taylor Eleanor Holmes Norton 1982 Elizabeth Catlett James Robinson Alice Walker* 1995 Maya Angelou Elie Wiesel Etta Moten Barnett Rita Dove Anne Cox Chambers 1983 Myrlie Evers-Williams Grace L. Hewell, C‘40 Damon Keith 1996 Sam Nunn Pinkie Gordon Lane, C‘49 Clara Stanton Jones, C‘34 Levi Watkins, Jr. Coretta Scott King Patricia Roberts Harris 1984 Jeanne Spurlock* Claire Collins Harvey, C’37 1997 Cicely Tyson Bernice Johnson Reagan, C‘70 Mary Hatwood Futrell Margaret Taylor Burroughs Charles Merrill Jewel Plummer Cobb 1985 Romae Turner Powell, C‘47 Ruth Davis, C‘66 Maxine Waters Lani Guinier 1998 Gwendolyn Brooks Alexine Clement Jackson, C‘56 William H. Cosby 1986 Jackie Joyner Kersee Faye Wattleton Louis Stokes Lena Horne Aurelia E. Brazeal, C‘65 Jacob Lawrence Johnnetta Betsch Cole 1987 Leontyne Price Dorothy Cotton Earl Graves Donald M. Stewart 1999 Selma Burke Marcelite Jordan Harris, C‘64 1988 Pearl Primus Lee Lorch Dame Ruth Nita Barrow Jewel Limar Prestage 1989 Camille Hanks Cosby Deborah Prothrow-Stith, C‘75
* Former Student As of November 2019
Board of Trustees HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENTS 1977 – PRESENT
Name Year Awarded Name Year Awarded Max Cleland Herschelle Sullivan Challenor, C’61 Maxine D. Hayes, C‘69 Ernest Green 2008 Shirley Ann Jackson 2000 Sheila C. Johnson Shirley Malcolm Ingrid Saunders Jones Lena Johnson McLin, C‘51 Mary McKinney Edmond, C’53 Alexis Herman Judith Jamison 2009 Bernette Joshua Johnson, C‘64 Leah Ward Sears Ruth Kirschstein 2001 Cornel West Jane E. Smith, C‘68 Pearl Michelle Cleage, C’71 George Walker, Jr. Marian Wright Edelman, C’60 2010 Danny Glover Susan Elizabeth Rice Shirley Marks, C‘69 Debbie Allen Bismarck Myrick Tina McElroy Ansa, C’71 2002 2011 John Ruffin Michelle Obama David Satcher Phylicia Rashad Eleanor Traylor, C‘55 Dazon Dixon Diallo, C’86 Billye Aaron LaTanya Richardson Jackson, C’71 2012 Henry “Hank” Aaron Anna Deavere Smith Sarah Nyendwoha Ntiro 2003 Regina Benjamin Suzan Lori Parks Freeman Hrabowski 2013 Johnnie Hines Prothro, C‘41 Harriett Mitchell Murphy, C’49 Andrew Young Roslyn E. Pope, C’60 Benjamin S. Carson, Sr. Dr. Wanda Austin Evelynn M. Hammonds, C‘76 2004 Dr. Hazel Dean, C’83 2014 Maxine A. Smith, C‘49 Soledad O’Brien Kathleen McGhee Anderson, C‘72 Donna Brazille Diahann Carroll Janice E. Hale, C’70 Varnette Honeywood, C‘72 2005 June Gary Hopps, C’60 2015 Samella Lewis Lisa Jackson Howard Zinn Yvonne Jackson, C’70 Shirley Clarke Franklin Wanda Lloyd, C’71 Evelyn Boyd Granville 2006 Loretta Lynch 2016 Haki R. Madhubuti Stevland Morris (Stevie Wonder) Veronica Biggins, C‘68 Stacey Abrams, C’95 Elaine R. Jones 2017 2007 Katherine Johnson Ruth Simmons Kathleen Bertrand, C'73 2018 President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Bryan Stevenson
Name Year Awarded Sonia Sanchez 2019
* Former Student As of November 2019