The Charles F. Kettering Foundation is proud to share the sixth and final video in a series featuring Kettering senior fellow Johnnetta B. Cole. Kettering president and CEO Sharon L. Davies sat down with Cole to document and celebrate her extensive and multifaceted journey over more than eight decades. Cole is a noted anthropologist, educator, author, speaker, and consultant on diversity, equity, accessibilities, and inclusion in workplaces. She is also the former president of both Spelman College and Bennett College and the former director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. 

In this discussion, Cole reflects on her deep family roots in Florida. Cole traces her lineage to a 15-year-old Senegalese girl captured in 1793 and brought to the US to be sold as a slave. Since that time, Cole’s family history has been marked by resilience and service. Her great-grandfather, Abraham Lincoln Lewis, cofounded Florida’s first Black-owned insurance company and established American Beach as a place for African Americans to “find recreation without humiliation.” Cole shares her experience as the first Black woman president of Spelman College and emphasizes the importance of service, a value she learned from her family and believes is vital to living a meaningful life.