Willa Beatrice Player (August 9, 1909 – August 29, 2003) was an American educator, college administrator, college president, civil-rights activist, and federal appointee. Player was the first African-American woman to become president of a four-year, fully accredited liberal arts college when she took the position at
Bennett College in
Greensboro, North Carolina. From 1955 to 1966, Player served as president of the
historically black college during a period of heightened civil-rights activism in the South. She supported Bennett students who took part in the lengthy
sit-ins started by the
Greensboro Four to achieve integration of lunch counters in downtown stores. After leaving the Bennett presidency, Player was appointed in 1966 by President
Lyndon B. Johnson as the first female director of the Division of College Support in the
United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, serving in that role until 1986. This 1930 photograph of Player is from the archives of
The Crisis.
Photograph credit: unknown; restored by Adam Cuerden