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