Cleophus Charles papers

In Memoriam: Cleo Charles, 1943–2020
The Department of History mourns the death of Dr. Cleophus Charles, beloved historian, teacher, mentor, and friend. Over a career of more than twenty-five years, Dr. Charles fought to put the study of African American history and culture at the heart of the college’s life. Not long after he arrived at Berea in 1973, he became the department’s first tenured African American professor. In 1981, he founded the Afro American Studies program, and in 1997 the college formally recognized his extraordinary contributions in teaching, scholarship, and service by naming him Berea’s first Carter G. Woodson Chair in African American history. We mourn Dr. Charles’s passing and remember his distinguished tenure as an intellectual and moral leader in the fight for interracial education.
Source: https://www.berea.edu/academics/departments-programs/history/his-department-pages (accessed 2025 December)


For additional information, view this brief 1988 WKYT-TV news feature on Dr. Charles.