Below are biographies of the first graduates from the Institute for Colored Youth. For some, photographs or sketches have survived; but for most, their likenesses have been lost to history. Despite their many achievements and contributions as students, teachers, and leaders, we are unable to attach a face to their name.
1856

Jesse Ewing Glasgow, Jr.
1857

Jacob C. White, Jr.
1858

Mary E. Ayres

Octavius V. Catto

Martha A. Farbeaux

Samuel G. Gould
1859

George B. Roberts, Jr.
1860

Raymond J. Burr

Sarah L. Daffin

William T. Jones

Lumberd L. Nicken

Letitia C. Burr

Cordelia A. Jennings

Sarah A. Stevens
1861

Henry Boyer, Jr.

Estellana Johnson

Andrew J. Jones

Joseph S. White

Martin M. White
1862

John Quincy Allen

James Fields Needham

John Henry Smythe
1863

Rebecca J. Cole

Ellis Y. Dingle

Caroline R. Lecount

James Lecount, Jr.

Joseph H. Rodgers
1864

James M. Baxter, Jr.

Thomas H. Boling

Mary V. Brown

John Wesley Cromwell

Elizabeth Handy

Harriet C. Johnson

Frank J.R. Jones

Margaret A. Masten

M. Gertrude Offit

James L. Smallwood