Johnnetta Betsch Cole, Ph.D.
Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole was appointed the Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) in March, 2009. Founded as a small museum on Capitol Hill in 1964, NMAfA became a part of the Smithsonian Institution in 1979, and in 1987 it moved to its current location on the National Mall. The museum’s collection of over 10,000 objects represents nearly every area of the continent of Africa and contains a variety of media and art forms. NMAfA also has an extensive education program. Since the mid-1980’s, Dr. Cole has worked with a number of Smithsonian programs. She currently serves on the Scholarly Advisory Board for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, the construction of which will be completed on the National Mall by 2015.
Before assuming her current position, Johnnetta Cole had a long and distinguished career as an educator and humanitarian. Through her work as a college president, university professor and through her published works, speeches and community service she has consistently addressed the issues most important to her; creating racial and gender parity and redressing all other forms of inequality.
Dr. Cole served as president of Spelman College and Bennett College for Women. She is the only person to have served as president of these two historically Black colleges for women in the United States. She is also Professor Emerita of Emory University from which she retired as Presidential Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Women’s Studies and African American Studies.
After beginning her college studies at Fisk University and completing her undergraduate studies at Oberlin College, Johnnetta Cole earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Northwestern University. Dr. Cole made history in 1987 when she became the first African American woman to serve as president of Spelman College. At her inauguration, Drs. Bill and Camille Cosby donated $20 million dollars to the college; and during her presidency, Spelman was named the number one liberal arts college of the South. During her presidency at Bennett College for Women, an art gallery was opened and programs were initiated in women’s studies and global studies.
Dr. Cole has conducted research in Africa, the Caribbean and the United States, and she has authored and edited several books and scores of scholarly articles. She is a fellow of the American Anthropological Association and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also a member of the American Association of Museum Directors.
Johnnetta Cole has been awarded 55 honorary degrees and she is the recipient of numerous awards, including the TransAfrica Forum Global Public Service Award, the Radcliffe Medal, the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal, the 2001 Alexis de Tocqueville Award for Community Service from United Way of America, The Joseph Prize for Human Rights presented by the Anti-Defamation League, The Uncommon Height Award from the National Council of Negro Women, The John W. Gardner leadership Award from The Independent Sector, the Lenore and George W. Romney Citizen Volunteer Award from the Points of Light Foundation, Ebony magazines most influential 100 in 2010, George Washington Carver award 2011, Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate Award and Washingtonian Magazine’s 100 most powerful women 2011.
From 2004 to 2006, Dr. Cole was the Chair of the Board of United Way of America; the first African American to serve in that position. She has served on both corporate and not-for-profit boards, including Home Depot, Merck, and Nation’s Bank South and TransAfrica Forum. She was the first woman to serve on the board of Coca-Cola Enterprises.
Dr. Cole currently chairs the board of the National Visionary Leadership Project and she is on the board of KaBOOM! She is founding chair of the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute, and is on the Advisory Committee of America’s Promise and the Points of Light Foundation. Dr.Cole is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the Links and the National Council of Negro Women.
Dr. Cole is married to James D. Staton Jr. She is the mother of three sons and one step–son, and she has three grand children. Dr. Cole is also a mentor to many young women and men.
Photo credit: Jessica Suworoff, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Adrienne L. Childs
Adrienne L. Childs is a curator and art historian specializing in African American art of the twentieth century and race and representation in European art of the nineteenth century. She is an associate of the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center at Harvard University.
David C. Driskell
David C. Driskel is Distinguished University Professor of Art, Emeritus, at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is an artist and art historian who has written extensively on the subject of African American art. A 2000 recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities Medal from President Clinton, he is senior curator for the Camille O. and William H. Cosby Jr. Collection of Fine Arts.
Christine Mullen Kreamer
Christine Mullen Kreamer is deputy director and chief curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Her exhibitions and publications explore art, ritual, gender, African systems of knowledge, and museum practice. In addition to research in Togo and South Africa, she has worked on museum training projects in Ghana and Vietnam.
