By  Gloria Wade-Gayles
LeMoyne-Owen College was created in 1968 when LeMoyne College (HBCU Founded in 1862) combined with Owen College (HBCU, Junior College, Founded in 1947). It is a private, Liberal Arts HBCU located in the historic Soulsville district of Memphis, Tennessee. The institution grants Associates and Bachelors degrees.
The campus features Steel Hall; it’s oldest and completely original building. It was built by African American architectural firm Tandy & Foster and is registered with the National Register. Vertner Woodson Tandy (1885-1949) was the first African American architect licensed by the State of New York.
The school features the highly coveted W.E.B Du Bois Scholars Program (DBSP). The school explains the program as follows, “The W.E.B. DuBois Scholars Program is designed to nurture and develop promising scholars at LeMoyne-Owen College. Students are expected to be committed to academic and personal excellence, oriented toward pursuing graduate and professional degrees, and dedicated to serving their communities. DuBois Scholars Program provides a forum where faculty and students develop new ideas and innovations that will benefit the class, the campus, and the community.”
The school boasts more than 50 endowed funds created by graduates and friends of the college to provide scholarship support to future graduates of LeMoyne-Owen. In 2020, The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis gifted LeMoyne-Owen a monetary sum that nearly tripled its original $13 million endowment, providing a permanent source of funding for the institution which pays out 5% of the average fund balance annually.
In 2024, At the school’s annual homecoming festivities, LeMoyne-Owen unveiled its first ever mascot, Walker, The Magician. LeMoyne-Owen students are known as The Magicians.
The school hosts sports teams that compete at the division II level of the SIAC conference of the NCAA. The school’s sports offerings include basketball, baseball, softball, cross country, volleyball, and tennis. In 1975, the LeMoyne-Owen men’s basketball team won the NCAA Men’s Division III championship and remains the only HBCU to ever do so.
LeMoyne-Owen’s own Dominique Worthen was the first golf player to win the SIAC Player of the Year award, was selected to the All-Conference Team, earned the Conference Championship MVP award, and earned an All-Tournament First Team award, all in a single week!
Notable Alumni:
Marion Barry – Former Mayor of Washington, D.C.
Annie Marie Watkins Garraway – Mathematician who specialized in telecommunications, electronic data transmission and philanthropist. One of Garraway’s brothers said of her work, “Her pioneering mathematical algorithms and inventions for Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies paved the way for the modern era of telecommunications and the electronic transmission of data around the world.”
Larry Robinson – Chemist and former President of Florida A&M University from 2017 to 2024.
Gloria Wade Gayles – (Passed away in early 2026) – Professor at Spellman from 1983-2026, famed Author, recipient of the Emory Medal for outstanding scholarship and service as an alumna of Emory University, Other awards included the Spelman College President’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship, the LeMoyne-Owen DuBois Scholar’s Award, and the Malcolm X Award for Community Service in the City of Atlanta for work as an activist in the Civil Rights Movement and her continued work for justice.
