Past Executive Directors of ASALH
Since our beginning, ASALH has been
sustained by its directors, who have been loyal
to the organization's mission and who
demonstrated an ability to weather the
vicissitudes of our institutional life.  From
Carter G. Woodson to the present, the
executive directors have been largely
responsible for making Black history part of the
fabric of American life.
Carter G. Woodson, 1915 ~ 1950
Rayford W. Logan, 1950 ~ 1951
Vacant, 1951~1964*
Charles Wesley, 1965 ~ 1972
Rupert J. Picott, 1972 ~ 1982
M. Sammye Miller, 1983 ~ 1984
Bonnie J. Gillespie, 1985 ~ 1987
Karen Robinson, 1988~1990
Gail Hansberry,  1990~1992
Karen McRae,  1993
Gerald R. Warren, Interim, 1994
Dixie Lee Baker, Interim, 1996
Irena Webster, 1996 ~ 2003
Sylvia Cyrus-Albritton, Current
*Between 1951 and 1958, as the Association actively sought an
executive director to replace Woodson, Charles Wesley effectively
fulfilled both the role of president and executive director.  In 1958, the
Annual Report of the Association ceased to mention the search for a
director and in 1964 the Annual Report states that Wesley served in both
capacities for fourteen years.  In 1965, when he ended his term as
president of Central State College and President of ASALH, Wesley
returned to Washington, D.C. and became the full~time director.
The ASALH Website and The ASALH Store are projects of the ASALH Publication Committee,
Daryl Michael Scott, Chair.  

Direct comments to
phughes@asalh.net

(C) ASALH, January 3, 2008
Founders of Black History Month