Notable Black USC Alumni

By: Alexandria Frank ‘21

It is, of course, that magical time of year – Black History Month.

And even though February never lasts long enough (like can we please get a do-over BHM in March, please), USC churns out wonderful alumni all year long. Still, the Black alumni of this university can be overlooked at times in favor of Steven Whatshisname. No more! This February, we’re looking at some of USC’s notable Black alumni and letting them have their day in the sun.

Of course, there are plenty more wonderful folks that can be found through USC’s Black Alumni Association. But for now, I’ll just give you a little taste.

Allyson Felix

• Okay, so I used to have a photo of Allyson Felix on my wall. And she’s on this vision board I made in seventh grade. No shame in that. No judgement.
• In track and field, obviously, the goal is to win medals, and Allyson Felix has so many medals that I would’ve quit by now. Six Olympic golds. Three Olympic silvers. Thirteen World Championship medals. Can you imagine how heavy her neck is carrying American track and field sports on her shoulders? She is the only female track athlete with six gold medals, and she has the sixth fastest 200-meter split. That is vision board status.
• Felix was a star athlete during her time at USC, too, but she didn’t actually run for the team. Instead, she forwent college eligibility and signed with Adidas who paid her college tuition and then some. By the time she graduated with her degree in Elementary Education in 2008, Allyson Felix had already secured a silver medal in Athens in 2004, and she was ready to grab two more medals in 2008.
• And just to flex on the power of women, Allyson gave birth to a beautiful little baby girl in December 2018, and now she is gearing up to win some more Olympic medals in 2020.

Forest Whitaker

• Yes, Forest Whitaker did recently play Zuri in Black Panther. But he had made a name for himself in film long before that with movies like The Great Debaters, Last King of Scotland, The Butler, and a filmography as long as his rolled r’s. Sorry, Forest.
  
• Whitaker actually got his start at USC in the Music Conservatory singing opera as a tenor, which is wild, to say the least. But we love a man with range! He eventually was accepted to the Drama Conservatory and graduated from USC with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting in 1982.
• His role in the culture goes beyond acting and into activism, having been an active supporter of Hope North, “a boarding school and vocational training center in northern Uganda for escaped child soldiers, orphans, and other young victims of the country’s civil war.” His organization, the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, seeks to implement peace-building programs all over the globe.

Paula Patton

• While we may know Paula Patton from Hitch (though very, very briefly), she’s been in other big films like Déjà Vu with Denzel Washington, Precious, and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. And she was married for a bit to this guy Robin Thicke.
• Paula Patton has another lesser know role that you might know. In Usher’s infamous Confessions album, Patton sing-speaks the female vocals on “Can U Handle It?” That’s right, it’s Paula Patton saying she can handle it, she can go there, baby, with you, while Usher does that whispery mumble into high notes. And we love her for it.
• Although she started out at UC Berkeley, Paula Patton later transferred to USC’s School of Cinematic Arts (SCA). Shortly after graduation, she got a three-month assignment making documentaries for PBS because that’s the power of a USC storyteller.

Levar Burton

• If you know nerd, you know Levar. There are a million reasons he might’ve touched your childhood, though, for many of us, it was through Reading Rainbow on PBS. Levar also was one of the pioneers for the Black representation as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• Before all that, Levar Burton played a young Kunta Kinte in Roots, a role which he landed while still a sophomore at USC. Levar went to USC on a (clearly well-deserved) drama scholarship and graduated from the School of Theatre. 
• Burton also directed television, film (movies like Smart House, that crazy Disney movie about the crazy smart house), and theatre. He holds positions on the board of directors for the Directors Guild of America and the AIDS Research Alliance, showing he’s still dedicated to taking us to new heights.
• I still listen to his calming voice on his podcast Levar Burton Reads where he simply reads his favorite short stories in a way that makes you fall in love with life all over again.

Rodney Peete

• Look how iconic this photo is. Anyway, this entry is partly dedicated to my mother who is the main reason I know Rodney Peete and his family. Peete played in the NFL for 16 years but not before he played football as a Trojan where he was a runner-up for the Heisman trophy.
• But that’s not why my mother knows Rodney Peete. It’s not even from his spot as a host on the Fox Sports show The Best Damn Sports Show Period. My mother knows Peete because Oprah Winfrey (sadly, not a USC alumna) decided to make a docuseries about him and his family by the name of For Peete’s Sake, which just happens to be the cutest name for a reality show. And if there’s something my mother loves, it’s a reality show.
• What made For Peete’s Sake stick out to me is that it follows three generations under one roof: Holly and Rodney Peete, their children, and her mother. It’s a dynamic that is common to a lot of families but isn’t particularly shown on television. On top of that, the show is one of the few I’ve seen that shows what it looks like to parent a young son with autism and how they love their little boy. It was truly a great show, and I think they’ll be getting a new one in the future.

Xavier Burgin

• I just saw Xavier Burgin speak during a screening for his documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror which looks at the history of horror in the Black community— a way more extensive history than I ever thought. In fact, he’s part of the inspiration for this list because he’s a recent graduate already doing big things who we can support!
• Burgin is a writer/director, with extensive accolades. He graduated from USC in 2015 from the School of Cinematic Arts. He’s a Sundance Fellow, HBO Short Film Finalist, & Ryan Murphy Directing Program alumni.
• Besides having directed films like Olde E and On Time that have earned him these previous awards, he’s also a director on the Emmy-nominated Giants (watch the first episode here) which casts and uplifts Black millennials dealing with life in their late-20s. He’s discussed his commitment to hiring Black and Brown people both in front of and behind the camera, which is why I hope to see him on even larger projects.

Ryan Coogler

• Ryan Coogler is one of the premier directors of the past few years, and I had no idea he was from USC. Coogler made a name for himself with Fruitvale Station in 2013, which is his first of three more films starring Michael B. Jordan (thank you for that service).  After that, Ryan worked with him again in Creed and (the moment you’ve all been waiting for) Black Panther, which is now among the highest grossing films.
• Coogler started filmmaking while he was a still a student at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and won many awards for his short films, including the Jack Nicholson Award for Achievement in directing Gap.
• Beyond directing iconic films, Coogler is a founding member of the Blackout For Human Rights campaign, through which many filmmakers and artists seek to address the human rights violations happening now around the country.

Shonda Rhimes

• EVERYONE MAKE WAY FOR THE QUEEN! One of my personal icons is this woman right here, who has filled my Thursday nights with the utmost drama. Shonda Rhimes does it all – from writing to producing to full-on show running. Her projects speak for themselves: Grey’s Anatomy, How To Get Away With Murder, Scandal, Private Practice, and (surprise!) Princess Diaries 2.
• Before being named on TIME magazine's 100 People Who Help Shape the World list, Rhimes graduated top of her class at USC, where she studied screenwriting and earned her MFA from the School of Cinematic Arts. She secured the prestigious Gary Rosenberg Writing Fellowship and interned for Debra Martin Chase, another wonderful Black producer. Since then, Shonda Rhimes has received a Golden Globe award, three Emmy nominations, and several other awards from the Writer’s, Producer’s, and Director’s Guilds of America.
• But wait! There’s more!
• Shonda Rhimes just signed a NINE FIGURE SALARY to create eight projects for Netflix, which literally floored me because I was told there was no money in television, but Netflix is going to give Shonda all the money because she deserves all the money. One of the projects is based on The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson’s amazing, award-winning book which details the Great Migration. If you haven’t read it yet, read it and then watch Rhimes’ retelling. I know I will.

There are many, many more people I could add to this list, including Macy Gray, John Singleton, Maulana Karenga (the man invented Kwanzaa, give him some respect!), Rev. Thomas Kilgore Jr., Byron Allen, and a million more. So take some time this Black History Month and remember the folks who walked Trousdale before you. 

Want more from Trojans 360?

Visit Trojans 360 on Facebook & Twitter to stay up to date with more student content!

You can also Ask A Trojan an anonymous question, and we’ll try to answer it in a future post!

And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!

Trojans 360 is USC’s official student-run blog. Content created by students, for students.