The first ever endowed chair in the Department of Afro-American Studies was named Wednesday in honor of two “working folks” who were also pioneers in the fight for better standards of living for black workers in the nation’s capital and across the country.
The John and Eula Cleveland Chair in Black History Studies was established last year with a generous $1.2 million gift from the couple’s estate. The gift will support Afro-American Studies programs and continue Howard’s tradition of educating students in the dynamics of the African-American experience.
“This is an important day for us, as we celebrate a sustaining gift that speaks to the Howard University identity,” President Sidney A. Ribeau said during a ceremony in Howard Hall to honor the couple and recognize their gift. “Times are tough. America is in crisis, and the world is in turmoil, but this gift says ‘keep doing the work that is important to us all.’”
John Cleveland was the first African-American to take over a major union at the local level and the first black man elected vice president of the 1.5 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters. His wife, Eula, was the first black woman to sit on the executive board of a local union.
Together, the Clevelands helped create the Teamsters National Black Caucus, an organization of black Teamster men and women united by their special concerns for rights and conditions of workers. John Cleveland was inducted into the Teamsters Hall of Fame in 2010.
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