Background
Johnnetta Cole was born on October 19, 1936 in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. She was a daughter of John Thomas and Mary Frances (Lewis) Betsch.
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administrator anthropologist educator
Johnnetta Cole was born on October 19, 1936 in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. She was a daughter of John Thomas and Mary Frances (Lewis) Betsch.
Cole attended Fisk University from 1952 to 1953, and Oberlin College and get Bachelor of Arts degree from it in 1957.
Cole conducted her graduate work in anthropology at Northwestern University, from which she earned a doctorate in 1967.
Cole has received more than 40 honorary degrees, including those from Williams College and Bates College in 1989, Oberlin College in 1995, Mount Holyoke College in 1998, Mills College in 1999, and Howard University and North Carolina A&T State University in 2009.
Cole started her career at the position of the instructor of the University of California in 1964.
Cole began teaching at Washington State University, where she eventually helped establish a black studies program.
She held the position of professor of anthropology in the University of Massachusetts during 13 years from 1970.
In 1982 Cole moved to Hunter College of the City University of New York, where she taught anthropology and directed the school’s program in Latin American and Caribbean studies. She also continued her interest in subjects such as inequality in Cuba and Cape Verdean culture in the United States.
Cole left Hunter College for the presidency of Spelman College in 1987, and in the ensuing years she proved herself a commanding and inspirational force in the academic world.
While devoting a sizeable portion of her time and attention to fundraising, Cole also remained an active teacher, leading one course each spring term. In addition, she applied herself to the development of new programs, including one that brings together particularly accomplished students with leading corporation figures from the school’s Atlanta surroundings.
While president of Spelman College, Cole issued Conversations: Straight Talk with America’s Sister President.
In this volume she engages in a conversation with African-American women (with all others invited to listen in) on such topics as racism, sexism, education and community service. On June 30, 1997, Cole stepped down as president of Spelman College.
From 1998 to 2001 Cole was a professor of Anthropology, Women's Studies, and African American Studies at Emory University in Atlanta.
She was Director of the National Museum of African Art, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, during 2009–2017.
In 2018 Johnnetta was awarded the Legend in Leadership Award for Higher Education from the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute.
American Alliance of Museums Honors Dr. Johnnetta Cole with a 2017 Award for Distinguished Service to Museums.
In 2013, Cole received the highest citation of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, the Alston-Jones International Civil and Human Rights Award.
Cole has received more than 40 honorary degrees, including those from Williams College and Bates College in 1989, Oberlin College in 1995, Mount Holyoke College in 1998, Mills College in 1999, and Howard University and North Carolina A&T State University in 2009.
She received honorary membership in Phi Beta Kappa from Yale in 1996 and has served as a Phi Beta Kappa Senator.
She received a Candace Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women in 1988.
(The first African-American woman to head Spelman College ...)
President-elect Bill Clinton appointed Cole to his transition team for education, labor, the arts, and humanities in 1992. He also considered her for the cabinet post of Secretary of Education. But when The Jewish Daily Forward reported that she had been a member of the national committee of the Venceremos Brigades, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation had tied to Cuban intelligence forces, Clinton did not advance her nomination.
Quotations:
I pose that question to myself, why, in the 107 years of the history of this historically Black college for women, there has not been an African-American woman president.
The more we pull together toward a new day, the less it matters what pushed us apart in the past.
We are for difference: for respecting difference for allowing difference, for encouraging difference, until difference no longer makes a difference.
The ultimate expression of generosity is not in giving of what you have, but in giving of who you are.
She is past chair board trustees United Way. She is a fellow of American Anthropological Association.
Cole married Robert Eugene Cole. They divorced in 1982. They have 3 children: David, Aaron and Ethan. She married Arthur J. Robinson, Junior. They divorced in 2002.
