Notable Alumni of Lincoln University

Kwame Nkrumah 1909–1972

First president of Ghana

Bachelor of Arts · Theology

Also attended: University of Pennsylvania

Nnamdi Azikiwe 1904–1996

First president of Nigeria

Also attended: Howard University, Columbia University in the City of New York, University of Pennsylvania

Saara Kuugongelwa 1967–

Speaker of Namibia's National Assembly, former Prime Minister

Thurgood Marshall 1908–1993

First African-American Supreme Court justice

Bachelor's degree · American literature, Philosophy · Class of 1930

Also attended: Howard University

Child: John W. Marshall (Georgetown University, Virginia Commonwealth University)

Child: Thurgood Marshall, Jr. (University of Virginia-Main Campus)

Cherelle Parker 1972–

100th mayor of Philadelphia

Sheila Oliver 1952–2023

Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey from 2018 to 2023

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York

Ebenezer Ako-Adjei 1916–2002

Ghanaian statesman, one of the Big Six

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York, Hampton University

Thomas E. Miller 1849–1938

African-American educator, lawyer and congressman

Also attended: University of South Carolina-Columbia

Ericka Huggins 1951–

Activist and former leading Black Panther Party member

Spouse: John Huggins (Lincoln University)

Francis James Grimké 1850–1937

Presbyterian minister and NAACP co-founder

Spouse: Charlotte Forten Grimké (Salem State University)

Julia Evangeline Brooks 1882–1948

Educator and Alpha Kappa Alpha incorporator

Also attended: Howard University

Langston Hughes 1901–1967

Poet and leader of the Harlem Renaissance

Also attended: Lincoln University, Lincoln University, Columbia University in the City of New York

Cab Calloway 1907–1994

Jazz singer and bandleader at the Cotton Club

Sibling: Blanche Calloway (Morgan State University)

Gil Scott-Heron 1949–2011

Jazz poet, singer, musician and author

Also attended: Lincoln University, Johns Hopkins University, Lincoln University

Roscoe Lee Browne 1922–2007

Actor and director, narrator in Babe

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York, Middlebury College

Keorapetse Kgositsile 1938–2018

South African poet laureate and political activist

Also attended: University of New Hampshire-Main Campus, Columbia University in the City of New York, The New School

Oscar Brown, Jr. 1926–2005

Singer, songwriter, playwright and civil rights activist

Also attended: University of Wisconsin-Madison

Father: Oscar Brown, Sr. (Howard University)

Charles R. Saunders 1946–2020

Author and journalist, pioneer of "sword and soul" genre

Julian Mayfield 1928–1984

Actor, writer, director and civil rights activist

Fayette Pinkney 1948–2009

Singer and original member of The Three Degrees

Also attended: Temple University

Waring Cuney 1906–1976

Harlem Renaissance poet

Also attended: Howard University

Monte Irvin 1919–2016

Hall of Fame baseball player for the New York Giants

Clive Terrelonge 1969–

Jamaican middle-distance runner and university coach

Robert Walter Johnson 1899–1971

Physician and tennis coach of Arthur Ashe

Also attended: Meharry Medical College