Notable Alumnae
Civic Service
DEL EAGAN JUPITER (C’44) – Genealogist
and retired school librarian; A fifth generation
Floridian who became interested in family stories
about her great-great-grandmother, a slave
who was allegedly born in Spain and brought
to Florida during the Spanish rule; Research
led her to write the essays, “Matilda
Madrid: One Woman’s Tale of Bondage and
Freedom” (National Genealogy Society
Quarterly 91, March 2003) and “From
Agustina to Ester: Analyzing a Slave Household
for Child-Parent Relationships,” National Genealogical
Society Quarterly 85 (December 1992).
ALEXINE CLEMENT JACKSON (C’56) – ALEXINE
CLEMENT JACKSON (C’56) – Board
Chair of the Intercultural Cancer Council,
whose mission is to promote policies, programs,
partnerships and research to eliminate the
unequal burden of cancer among racial and ethnic
minorities and medically underserved populations;
Past
president of the YWCA of the U.S.A.;
A breast cancer survivor, she has appeared
in national advertisements for America’s
Pharmaceutical Companies’ awareness campaign
surrounding the search for cures.
MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN, JD (C'60) - MARIAN
WRIGHT EDELMAN, JD (C'60) - Founder
and President of the Children's Defense Fund
(CDF), a private, nonprofit child advocacy
organization based in Washington, DC; Veteran
civil rights lawyer; Recipient of the Robert
F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award for
her writings, which include the books: Families
in Peril: An Agenda for Social Change; The
Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children
and Yours; Lanterns:
A Memoir of Mentors,
written in part from a journal kept while
she was a Spelman student; Awarded the Presidential
Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest
civilian honor, by President Bill Clinton
in August 2000.
MARCELITE J. HARRIS (C'64) – Upon
her retirement
as a major
general
in 1997,
she was
the highest-ranking
female
officer
in the U.S. Air Force, and the first African- American woman
general in the history of the U.S. Air Force.
RUTH
A. DAVIS,
(C’66) – Career Member of
the United
States Foreign Service, presently on detail from the Department
of State serving as Distinguished Advisor for International
Affairs at Howard University; Previously served as Director General of the
Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources, a position for which she was
nominated by President George W. Bush, with responsibility for over 36,000
employees in the U.S. and throughout the world; Served as Ambassador to the
Republic of Benin, consular general in Barcelona and consular officer in Zaire,
Kenya, Japan and Italy.
JANE
E. SMITH, Ed.D. (C'68) –– Appointed as
the first Executive Director of the Spelman College Center for
Leadership and Civic Engagement (LEADS) in 2004; Formerly served as Chief Executive
Officer of Business and Professional Women/USA (BPW/USA) and President & CEO
of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW).
BERNICE KING (C’85) – A Minister,
attorney
and author,
this a
nationally
renowned
speaker
is the youngest daughter of Coretta Scott King and the late
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
NA’TAKI OSBORNE, (C’95) – An
environmental engineer turned social change activist who grew
up in an area along the 85-mile strip of land between Baton
Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana known as “Cancer Alley,” home
to over 134 chemical waste facilities and identified as having
the highest rates of cancer, miscarriages and birth defects
in the country; A sustainable community organizer with the
National Wildlife Federation’s Atlanta office, she was
named one of the “30 Leaders of the Future” in
the February 2001 issue of Ebony magazine.
HEATHER MCTEER-HUDSON, JD (C'98) – Sworn
in as the first African-American and first female mayor of
Greenville , Mississippi at the age of 28, after having been
elected to the post in November 2003.
ALISHA THOMAS (C’2000) –The
first
African-American
state legislator
elected in Cobb
County
of Georgia; As a member of the house of representatives, she
represents a majority-white district.
