Notable Alumni
| Name | Class year | Notability | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| John H. Adams | 1951 | he was a pastor at Seattle’s First African Methodist Episcopal (FAME) Church from 1962 to 1968 and a leader in the city’s civil rights struggle. He moved to other cities and states after 1968, rising to national prominence as a religious and civil rights leader. | |
| Frederick C. Branch | 1942 | first African American officer in the United States Marine Corps | |
| Eva M. Clayton | 1955 | Clayton and Mel Watt were the first African Americans elected to the House of Representatives from North Carolina since 1898 (since Clayton won the special election, she took office before Watt). | |
| Gregory Clifton | was an NFL Player with the Washington Redskins and the Carolina Panthers | ||
| Dorothy Counts | 1964 | was one of the first black students admitted to the Harry Harding High School in the United States. After four days of harassment that threatened her safety, her parents forced her to withdraw from the school. | |
| Grover Covington | was a Canadian Football League defensive end for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He often led the league in quarterback sacks and was a division All-Star seven times. He won the Schenley Award for Most Outstanding Defensive Player once and also lead the Tiger-Cats to a Grey Cup victory in 1986. He finished his career with 157 sacks, a CFL record. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2000. | ||
| Charlie S. Dannelly | 1962 | is a Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing the state's thirty-eighth Senate district since 1995. | |
| De'Audra Dix | 2009 | 2008 Division II 1st Team All-American. He plays for the Montreal Allouettes in the Canadian Football League. He was the starting cornerback when the Allouettes won back-to-back Canadian Football League Grey Cup Championships in 2009 and 2010. | |
| Edward R. Dudley | 1932 | from the Gainsboro neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia, was the first African-American to hold the rank of Ambassador of the United States, serving as ambassador to Liberia (where he had been serving with the rank of minister) from 1949 through 1953. | |
| Richard Erwin | 1947 | In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Erwin as the first black federal judge in North Carolina. | |
| Ferdinand Kwasi Fiawoo | 1933 | was a Ghanaian minister of religion, playwright and educator, founder of Zion College, the first secondary school in Ghana's Volta Region. | |
| Leford Green | 2011 | Division II Collegiate Indoor and Outdoor Regional and National Track Athlete of the Year in 2010 and 2011. Green was a member of the 2012 Summer Olympics Jamaican National Olympic Track and Field team. | |
| Chet Grimsley | 1978 | recognized as the first Euro-American to garner accolades as All-CIAA and All-American at JCSU and at an HBCU. Author of "White Golden Bull." | |
| Larry D. Hall | 1978 | is an American politician from Durham, North Carolina. A Democrat, he has served in the North Carolina House of Representatives as the member from North Carolina’s 29th representative district since 2006. Hall was appointed to the position in 2006 by then Governor Mike Easley and won reelection in 2008. | |
| Dr. Henry Hill | the first African American to become President of the American Chemical Society. | ||
| Cheris F. Hodges | 1999 | author of African American romance novels. | |
| Josephus Cox | 1999 | Computer Engineer (IBM), First to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from an HBCU | |
| Earl "The Goat" Manigault | a Rucker Park legend. Attended JCSU for 1964–65 school year. | ||
| Dr. Albert E. Manley | 1930 | president of Spelman College from 1953–1976. | |
| Vincent Matthews | 1970 | winner of two gold medals at the 1968 Summer Olympics and 1972 Summer Olympics. | |
| Eddie McGirt | 1948 | a CIAA football coach legend. | |
| Mildred Mitchell-Bateman | was the first African-American woman to be named to a high-ranking office in West Virginia state government. In 1962, she became director of the Department of Mental Health and served in that capacity for fifteen years. | ||
| Fred "Curly" Neal | 1962 | former member of the Harlem Globetrotters | |
| Pettis Norman | 1962 | tight end with the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers. He is on the top-50 greatest Dallas Cowboys of All-Time. (the school's annual award given to the outstanding student-athlete is called the Pettis Norman Award.) | |
| Obie Patterson | 1965 | former member, Maryland House of Delegates | |
| Don Pullen | jazz pianist and organist | ||
| Zilner Randolph | jazz trumpeter and music educator | ||
| James "Twiggy" Sanders | 1974 | Harlem Globetrotters member | |
| Gary Siplin | 1976 | politician, Member of the Florida Senate from the 19th district | |
| Marvin Scott | 1966 | Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Indiana in 2004 | |
| Richard Lewis Spencer | attended JCSU in 1961. Grammy Award Winner Composer and performer 1969 R&B Song Of The Year "Color Him Father". | ||
| Clarence F. Stephens | 1938 | Ninth African American to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics | |
| Sandra L. Townes | 1966 | District Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York | |
| Skeets Tolbert | Jazz clarinetist | ||
| Avon Williams | 1940 | Tennessee State Senator from 1972 to 1992 |
|
| Robert F. Williams | Civil Rights leader, author, and president of Monroe, NC, NAACP chapter. He wrote the notable book "Negroes with Guns", in 1962. | ||
| Shermaine Williams | 2011 | Jamaican track & field sprinter. | |
| Irene Gunter Wyatt | 1954 | Educator and First Black Girl Scout in North Carolina | |
| John Wesley Rice | 1946 | Presbyterian minister, college administrator and the father of former U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice |
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For he did great wrong, and maintained little right.”
—Unknown. King John and the Abbot of Canterbury (l. 2–4)