dr. cleveland donald, jr.
1946-2012
Life Story
Biography
April 10, 1946 – January 26, 2012
Birth and Family Origins
Born in the Lawrence–Bethel community of Newton County, Mississippi, Dr. Cleveland Donald, Jr. was a nationally significant figure whose life reflected the intersection of faith, education, and civil rights during a pivotal era in American history.
Cleveland Donald, Jr. was born on April 10, 1946, to Cleveland Donald, Sr. (1925–1972) and Rosie Mae Flowers Donald (1927–2012). He was the oldest of five children. His paternal grandparents were John Donald (1891–?) and Addie B. Ware Donald (1898–1941).
His great-grandparents included Lewis Willis Donald (1847–1919) and Mattie Donald (1869–?), while his second great-grandparents were Rev. Abraham (Abram) Donald (1815–?) and Milly Donald (1825–?). Rev. Abraham Donald holds historical significance as the first African American preacher to preach in Newton County, establishing a religious legacy that influenced generations of the Donald family.
Early Religious Life and St. John Baptist Church
From an early age, Cleveland attended St. John Missionary Baptist Church with his parents. His father, Cleveland Donald, Sr., was born in Newton County on March 24, 1924, and joined St. John Baptist Church in his youth. He served the church in several leadership roles, including Superintendent of Sunday School, church clerk, and president of the choir.
On June 20, 1944, Cleveland Donald, Sr. married Rosa Mae Flowers, further uniting two families deeply rooted in church and community leadership.
Migration to Jackson and Civil Rights Networks
In the 1950s, the Donald family relocated to Jackson, Mississippi, joining Cade Chapel Missionary Baptist Church. Cleveland Donald, Sr. became active in the NAACP in Jackson, and through these connections, the family maintained strong ties to civil rights organizing linked to Newton County.
These overlapping networks likely supported the formation and early work of the Newton County NAACP, which organized at St. John Baptist Church, with Donza Jerry Walker serving as its first president. The Donald family thus served as a bridge between rural Newton County activism and urban civil rights efforts in Jackson.
Early Education
Dr. Donald received his early education in the Jackson public school system and graduated from Sam M. Brinkley High School. At the age of seventeen, he enrolled at Tougaloo College, the historically Black college in Jackson, Mississippi, where he completed one year of study.
Integration of the University of Mississippi
In 1964, Cleveland Donald, Jr. became the third African American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) under a federal court order. He entered the university in the aftermath of violent resistance to earlier integration efforts and under heightened security designed to prevent further unrest.
Donald later became the second African American student to graduate from Ole Miss, earning a degree in history in 1966. The first African American student to enroll and graduate was James Meredith, who entered the university in 1962 under federal protection.
Graduate Education and Academic Career
Following his undergraduate studies, Donald earned a doctorate degree from Cornell University. In 1978, he returned to Ole Miss, where he helped establish the university’s first Black Studies program, marking a significant institutional shift from the conditions under which he had first entered the campus.
Dr. Donald held faculty and administrative positions at several institutions, including the University of Texas, the State University of New York, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of Connecticut, where he served as Director of the Waterbury campus.
Death and Burial
Dr. Cleveland Donald, Jr. passed away on January 26, 2012, at his home in New Milford, Connecticut, of natural causes, at the age of 65. He was laid to rest at St. John Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery in Newton County, Mississippi, alongside his parents.
Historical Significance and Context
Dr. Cleveland Donald, Jr.’s life represents a critical transitional chapter in the desegregation of higher education in Mississippi. Entering the University of Mississippi after the violent crisis of 1962, he was able to complete his degree at a time when federal authority had begun to enforce compliance more consistently.
Placed alongside James Meredith, whose enrollment sparked violent resistance, and Cleve McDowell, whose enrollment was brief and contested, Donald’s experience demonstrates how persistence, education, and institutional accountability gradually reshaped access to public education in the Deep South.
Sidebar: Cleveland Donald, Jr. in Context — Meredith, McDowell, and the Arc of Integration
The story of Dr. Cleveland Donald, Jr. is best understood alongside James Meredith and Cleve McDowell, three men whose experiences collectively trace the early desegregation of the University of Mississippi.
James Meredith, the first African American student to enroll at Ole Miss in 1962, entered under federal court order amid extreme resistance. His arrival triggered violent riots that resulted in two deaths, hundreds of injuries, and the deployment of thousands of federal troops. Despite these conditions, Meredith persisted and graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1963, marking a historic breach in Mississippi’s system of segregated higher education.
Cleve McDowell, who enrolled in 1963, became the second African American student admitted to the university. His time on campus was brief. McDowell was later expelled after a firearm reportedly fell from his coat, an incident that underscored the continued hostility, surveillance, and instability surrounding early integration efforts.
Cleveland Donald, Jr., enrolling in 1964, entered a campus still resistant but increasingly constrained by federal authority. Unlike Meredith and McDowell, Donald was able to remain enrolled and complete his history degree, graduating in 1966. His experience reflected a shift from open confrontation to guarded compliance, signaling a new phase in the university’s desegregation process.
Together, Meredith, McDowell, and Donald represent three distinct stages of integration at Ole Miss:
- Meredith as the catalyst who forced the door open,
- McDowell as evidence of lingering resistance and institutional fragility, and
- Donald as proof that sustained access—and eventual institutional change—was possible.
Dr. Donald’s later return to Ole Miss as a professor and founder of Black Studies completes this historical arc, transforming a site once defined by exclusion into one of reform, representation, and intellectual recovery.
Resting Place
Saint John Missionary Baptist Church Graveyard
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1950 Federal Census
- U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current
- The Newton Record Wed, Oct 11, 1972 ·Page 18
- Clarion-Ledger, Fri, Feb 03, 2012 ·Page 14
- The Philadelphia Inquirer Fri, Feb 03, 2012 ·Page B06
- U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
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