View source for Johnnetta Cole

{{Short description|American anthropologist (born 1936)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name        = Johnnetta Cole
|image       = Dr. Johnnetta Cole, Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.jpg
|caption     = Cole in 2015
|birth_name  = Johnnetta Betsch 
|birth_date  = {{birth date and age|1936|10|19}}
|birth_place = [[Jacksonville, Florida]], U.S.
|death_date  = 
|death_place = 
|party       = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|education   = [[Fisk University]]<br>[[Oberlin College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Northwestern University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
}}
'''Johnnetta Betsch Cole''' (born October 19, 1936) is an [[Americans|American]] anthropologist, educator, museum director, and college president. Cole was the first female [[African-American]] president of [[Spelman College]], a [[historically black college]], serving from 1987 to 1997. She was president of [[Bennett College]] from 2002 to 2007. During 2009–2017 she was Director of the [[Smithsonian Institution]]'s [[National Museum of African Art]].<ref>Trescott, Jacqueline (February 10, 2009). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/09/AR2009020902446.html "Johnnetta Cole Named New Director of the National Museum of African Art"]. ''[[The Washington Post]]''; accessed October 5, 2011.</ref> Cole served as the national chair and 7th president for the [[National Council of Negro Women]] from 2018 to 2022.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=September 2023 |title=Johnnetta B. Cole |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/johnnetta-b-cole |website=www.amacad.org |location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] |publisher=[[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=10 October 2023}}</ref>

==Background==
Johnnetta Betsch was born in [[Jacksonville, Florida]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johnnetta-Cole|title=Johnnetta Cole {{!}} Biography & Facts|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-03-02}}</ref> on October 19, 1936.<ref name="academy">[http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/col0bio-1 "Johnnetta B. Cole, PhD"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006015837/http://achievement.org/autodoc/page/col0bio-1 |date=2011-10-06 }} at the ''[[Academy of Achievement]]''</ref> Her family belonged to the [[African-American upper class]]; She was a granddaughter of [[Abraham Lincoln Lewis]], Florida's first black millionaire, entrepreneur and cofounder of the [[Afro-American Industrial and Benefit Association]],<ref name="ColeInterview">{{cite journal|last1=Yelvington|first1=Kevin|title=An Interview with Johnnetta Betsch Cole|journal=Current Anthropology|date=2003|volume=44|issue=2|pages=275–288|jstor=10.1086/367970|doi=10.1086/367970|s2cid=144776574}}</ref> and Mary Kingsley Sammis. Sammis' great-grandparents were [[Zephaniah Kingsley]], a white slave trader and slave owner, who purchased African slave [[Anna Kingsley|Anna Madgigine Jai]] in 1806, when she was 13 years old and he was 43 years old. Within 5 years, Anna bore three children, George, born June 1807; Martha, born July 1809; and Mary, born February 1811. When she was 18, Zephaniah freed Anna and she herself became a slave owner alongside her husband. It is claimed that Anna was a [[Wolof people|Wolof]] princess, originally from present-day [[Senegal]]. Today the [[Fort George Island]] Kingsley home is protected as [[Kingsley Plantation]], a [[National Historic Landmark]].<ref>Jackson, Antoinette; Burns, Allan (January 2006). ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20080920062853/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/timu/timu_ethno.pdf Ethnohistorical Study of the Kingsley Plantation Community]'', [[National Park Service]], p. 24.</ref>

Johnnetta Cole enrolled at the age of 15 in [[Fisk University]], a historically black college, and transferred to [[Oberlin College]] in Ohio, where she completed a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in sociology in 1957. Cole attended graduate school at [[Northwestern University]], earning her [[Master of Arts]] (1959) and [[Doctor of Philosophy]] (1967) degrees in [[anthropology]]. She conducted dissertation field research in [[Liberia]], West Africa, in 1960–1961 through Northwestern University as part of the university’s economic survey of the country.<ref name="ColeInterview"/>

==Teaching==
Cole served as a professor at [[Washington State University]] from 1962 to 1970, where she co-founded one of the US's first [[black studies]] programs. In 1970 Cole began working in the Department of Anthropology at the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]], where she served until 1982. While at the University of Massachusetts, she played a pivotal role in the development of the university's W. E. B. Du Bois Department of African-American Studies. Cole then moved to [[Hunter College]] in 1982, and became director of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program. From 1998 to 2001 Cole was a professor of Anthropology, [[Women's studies|Women's Studies]], and African American Studies at [[Emory University]] in Atlanta.<ref name="ColeInterview"/>

==Administration==
In 1987, Cole was selected as the first black female president of Spelman College, a prestigious [[historically black college]] for women. She served until 1997, building up their endowment through a $113 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=113000000|start_year=1997}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) capital campaign, attracting significantly higher enrollment as students increased, and, overall, the ranking of the school among the best liberal arts schools went up.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.spelman.edu/about-us/office-of-the-president/past-presidents/johnnetta-cole|title=About Johnnetta B. Cole, Ph.D.|access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref> Comedian [[Bill Cosby]] and his wife [[Camille Cosby|Camille]] contributed $20 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=20000000|start_year=2009}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) to the capital campaign.<ref name="post">Jacqueline Trescott, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/09/AR2009020902446.html "Johnnetta Cole Named New Director of the National Museum of African Art"], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', February 10, 2009.</ref>

After teaching at Emory University, she was recruited as president of [[Bennett College for Women]], also a historically black college for women. There she led another successful capital campaign. In addition, she founded an art gallery to contribute to the college's culture.<ref name="post"/> Cole is currently the Chair of the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity & Inclusion Institute founded at [[Bennett College for Women]]. She is a member of [[Delta Sigma Theta]] sorority.

She was Director of the [[National Museum of African Art]], part of the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in Washington, DC, during 2009–2017.<ref name="post"/> During her directorship the controversial exhibit, "Conversations: African and African-American Artworks in Dialogue," featuring dozens of pieces from Bill and Camille Cosby's private art collection was held in 2015, coinciding with accusations of sexual assault against the comedian.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/at-80-johnnetta-cole-reflects-on-her-career-and-the-controversial-cosby-exhibit/2016/10/27/e736a33a-9ae0-11e6-b3c9-f662adaa0048_story.html|title=At 80, Johnnetta Cole reflects on her career and the controversial Cosby exhibition|last=McGlone|first=Peggy|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref>

==Service==
Cole has also served in major corporations and foundations. Cole served for many years as board member at the prestigious [[Rockefeller Foundation]]. She has been a director of [[Merck & Co.]] since 1994. From 2004 to 2006, Cole was the Chair of the Board of Trustees of [[United Way of America]]<ref>[http://conferences.unitedway.org/wls_2011/biographies/johnnetta_cole "Dr. Johnnetta Cole"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110308010003/http://conferences.unitedway.org/wls_2011/biographies/johnnetta_cole |date=2011-03-08 }}. ''[[United Way of America]]''; accessed October 07, 2011.</ref> and is on the Board of Directors of the United Way of Greater Greensboro.<ref>[http://odi.osu.edu/administrative-offices/special-programs/national-conference/speakers/2011-keynote.php "Shifting Paradigms: Progressive Pathways to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415121532/http://odi.osu.edu/administrative-offices/special-programs/national-conference/speakers/2011-keynote.php |date=2012-04-15 }}, ''Ohio State University''; accessed October 7, 2011.</ref> She is a senior fellow at the [[Kettering Foundation]], an American [[Nonpartisanship|non-partisan]] research foundation.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Johnnetta Betsch Cole |url=https://kettering.org/fellow/johnnetta-betsch-cole/ |access-date=2025-03-06 |work=Kettering Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> <!--in the year of 2002.-->

Since 2013, Cole has been listed on the Advisory Council of the [[National Center for Science Education]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ncse.com/about/advisory-council |title=Advisory Council |website=ncse.com |publisher=[[National Center for Science Education]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810112828/https://ncse.com/about/advisory-council |archive-date=2013-08-10 |access-date=2018-10-30|date=2008-07-15 }}</ref> She is a member of [[The Links]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Graham|first=Lawrence Otis|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/877899803|title=Our kind of people|date=2014|publisher=HarperCollins e-Books|isbn=978-0-06-187081-1|location=[Place of publication not identified]|oclc=877899803}}</ref>{{Rp|page=105}}

==Political activity==
President-elect [[Bill Clinton]] appointed Cole to his transition team for education, labor, the arts, and humanities in 1992.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.makers.com/johnnetta-cole|title=Johnnetta Cole|last=MAKERS|website=MAKERS}}</ref> He also considered her for the cabinet post of [[Secretary of Education]].<ref>[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1106653 President of Spelman College, Johnnetta Cole], Fresh Air program, 1993.</ref> However, when ''[[The Jewish Daily Forward]]'' reported that she had been a member of the national committee of the [[Venceremos Brigade]]s, which the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] had tied to Cuban intelligence forces, Clinton did not advance her nomination.<ref>Susan Chira. [https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/10/weekinreview/conversations-johnnetta-b-cole-scholar-s-convictions-keep-her-pushing-power.html Conversations/Johnnetta B. Cole; A Scholar's Convictions Keep Her Pushing the Power of Words], ''New York Times'', January 10, 1993.</ref>

==Legacy and honors==
* In 2018 she was awarded the Legend in Leadership Award for Higher Education from the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://som.yale.edu/news/2018/01/chief-executive-leadership-institute-honors-johnnetta-b-cole-of-the-smithsonian-national-museum-of-african-art|title=Chief Executive Leadership Institute Honors Johnnetta B. Cole of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art|date=2018-01-30|access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref> 
* [http://www.aam-us.org/about-us/media-room/2017/american-alliance-of-museums-honors-dr-johnnetta-cole-with-2017-award-for-distinguished-service-to-museums American Alliance of Museums Honors Dr. Johnnetta Cole with 2017 Award for Distinguished Service to Museums]
* In 2013, Cole received the highest citation of the [[International Civil Rights Center and Museum|International Civil Rights Center & Museum]], the Alston-Jones International Civil and Human Rights Award.<ref name="gala2013">{{cite news |url= http://www.wschronicle.com/2013/02/sit-in-museum-to-present-awards/ |title= Sit-in museum to present awards |date= February 1, 2013 |work= The Winston-Salem Chronicle |access-date= April 11, 2013 |archive-date= April 8, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130408192846/http://www.wschronicle.com/2013/02/sit-in-museum-to-present-awards/ |url-status= dead }}</ref>
* 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, [[Howard University]] and [[North Carolina A&T State University]] in 2009, and [[Gettysburg College]] in 2017.
* She received honorary membership in [[Phi Beta Kappa]] from [[Yale]] in 1996,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fisk.edu/campus-life/phi-beta-kappa-delta-chapter|title=Phi Beta Kappa-Delta Chapter {{!}} Fisk University|website=www.fisk.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-03-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107100320/https://www.fisk.edu/campus-life/phi-beta-kappa-delta-chapter|archive-date=2017-01-07|url-status=dead}}</ref> and has served as a Phi Beta Kappa Senator.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbk.org/web/pbkdocs/Triennial_Council/39thCouncilBulletin.pdf |title=Bulletin |website=pbk.org |access-date=2017-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310220915/https://www.pbk.org/web/pbkdocs/Triennial_Council/39thCouncilBulletin.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* In 1995, Cole received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]] presented by Awards Council member and [[Morehouse College]] President [[Walter E. Massey]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]] |url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#public-service}}</ref>
* She received a [[Candace Award]] from the [[National Coalition of 100 Black Women]] in 1988.<ref name="page2">{{cite web |website=National Coalition of 100 Black Women |title=CANDACE AWARD RECIPIENTS 1982-1990, Page 2 |url=http://www.ncbw.org/programs/award2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030314212510/http://www.ncbw.org/programs/award2.html |archive-date=March 14, 2003 }}</ref>

==Quotes==
{{copy section to wikiquote}}
{{Blockquote|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.|Johnnetta B. Cole<ref name="academy"/>}}

{{Blockquote|This is a nation whose spoken and written vision is chillingly beautiful.|Johnnetta B. Cole<ref name=AA2>{{cite web|url=http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/steps/amd?target=col1-001|title=Keys to Success - The American Dream|work=Academy of Achievement|access-date=November 24, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109200230/http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/steps/amd?target=col1-001|archive-date=January 9, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

{{Blockquote|The more we pull together toward a new day, the less it matters what pushed us apart in the past.|Johnnetta B. Cole<ref name=AO>{{cite web|url=http://www.atlantaga.gov/media/speech_socaddress_010504.aspx|title=State of the City Address, Mayor Shirley Franklin|work=City of Atlanta Online|access-date=November 24, 2007|date=January 5, 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013084335/http://atlantaga.gov/media/speech_socaddress_010504.aspx|archive-date=October 13, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

{{Blockquote|We are for difference: for respecting difference for allowing difference, for encouraging difference, until difference no longer makes a difference.|Johnnetta B. Cole<ref name="AO"/>}}

{{Blockquote|The ultimate expression of generosity is not in giving of what you have, but in giving of who you are.|Johnnetta B. Cole<ref>[http://www.sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation/general-info/volunteer.shtml "Volunteer Opportunities"]. ''Sandiego.gov''; accessed October 5, 2011.</ref>}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{archival records|title=Johnnetta B. Cole Collection}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20180317233138/https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/166127 2002 Voices from the Gaps]
*[https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/at-80-johnnetta-cole-reflects-on-her-career-and-the-controversial-cosby-exhibit/2016/10/27/e736a33a-9ae0-11e6-b3c9-f662adaa0048_story.html At 80, Johnnetta Cole reflects on her career and the controversial Cosby exhibition]
*[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/press/releases/speech/drcole.shtml 1998 commencement speech, Mount Holyoke College] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606232414/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/press/releases/speech/drcole.shtml |date=2011-06-06 }}
*[http://new.oberlin.edu/events-activities/commencement/krislov-speech-2009address.dot 2009 State-of-the-College Address, Oberlin College]
*[https://www.makers.com/profiles/591f2765bea17771623a7f4a Johnnetta Cole: Groundbreaking Scholar & College President]. Video produced by ''[[Makers: Women Who Make America]]''
*{{C-SPAN|13330}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Johnetta}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:20th-century American educators]]
[[Category:20th-century American women educators]]
[[Category:African-American museum directors]]
[[Category:African-American anthropologists]]
[[Category:American people of Senegalese descent]]
[[Category:American social scientists]]
[[Category:American women anthropologists]]
[[Category:Bennett College faculty]]
[[Category:Delta Sigma Theta members]]
[[Category:Directors of the National Museum of African Art]]
[[Category:Fisk University alumni]]
[[Category:Kingsley-Ndiaye family]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Northwestern University alumni]]
[[Category:Oberlin College alumni]]
[[Category:Presidents of Spelman College]]
[[Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty]]
[[Category:University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty]]
[[Category:Women heads of universities and colleges]]
[[Category:American women museum directors]]
[[Category:African-American women academic administrators]]
[[Category:American women academic administrators]]
[[Category:African-American academic administrators]]
[[Category:Members of The Links]]