Photos: Prominent black women who rock their natural hair
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It took more than a century for the college founded specifically for the education of black women to hire one as president. But in 1987, Johnnetta Betsch Cole became the first black woman to serve as president of Spelman College. Known affectionately as "Sister President," she was a dynamic leader, who led the college during a time of heightened visibility as the school's national rankings and endowment increased. It was under Cole that Spelman got one of the largest single gifts in HBCU history, $20 million from Bill and Camille Cosby for the construction of the Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center, which houses the Spelman Museum of Fine Art. Cole led the college's most successful capital campaign, "The Spelman Campaign: Initiatives for the 90s," which raised $113.8 million for the endowment. In 1992, Spelman announced the receipt of $37 million from the DeWitt Wallace/Readers Digest Fund – the largest gift ever given to a historically Black college. The campaign brought Spelman's endowment to $141 million, the largest of any HBCU. Cole left Spelman in 1997. In 2002, she became the president of Bennett College in North Carolina, the only other HBCU dedicated to educate Black women. She is currently the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art.