Clarence G. Newsome, better known as C.G., is the former President of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio. He will be the featured speaker at a “Turnage Talk” at the First Methodist Church (https://fmcwashington.com/) in Washington on Saturday, August 17 under the sponsorship of our Washington Underground Railroad Museum headed by Leesa Jones, the Beaufort County Arts Council, and the Building Integrated Communities Project of Washington NC. Dr. Newsome, a triple graduate of Duke University, will speak on “The Journey to Freedom.” Musicians Steve Creech on guitar, Barbara Valentine on piano, and Charles Smith on vocals will also perform. Doors open at 6:30p, the program begins at 7p, and a reception follows. The public is invited and admission is free. Donations are welcomed.
Newsome is an Ahoskie native who was one of the first African Americans to receive an athletic scholarship to Duke. He excelled athletically and academically in high school winning letters in three sports and leading his football and basketball teams to championships. Injuries hindered his college career but he was a star defensive end and received an invitation to the NFL Cardinals’ training camp. He graduated in three and a half years and made the All ACC Academic Honor Roll twice. At graduation, he shared the podium with Walter Cronkite as the first African American Student Commencement Speaker in Duke’s history.
He opted to remain at Duke for Divinity School and graduated magna cum laude. He earned his Ph.D as the first African American student to be awarded a James B. Duke Fellowship and began an eight year tenure as a member of The Divinity School faculty. Midway the students honored him as the outstanding teacher. He moved to Howard University in Washington, DC in 1986, became its Dean in 1991. Following an exemplary 12 years in that position, Shaw University in Raleigh chose him as its President where his outstanding record as a university administrator, Baptist leader, and innovator continued. His reputation for excellence and leadership led to his being named President of the Freedom Center in 2013. There he was joined by Bill Clinton,Lech Walesa, Ted Turner, Maya Angelou, and Loretta Lynch in the Center’s programming, and the NFL, NBA, and MLB all partnered with it.
Currently Dr. Newsome and his wife Lynne, whom he met at Duke where she earned two degrees, live in Charlotte where he is working on a religious biography of Mary McLeod Bethune, esteemed educator, advisor to four US Presidents, and early supporter of the United Nations. He is serving as a Trustee of The Duke Endowment and chairs its Division of Rural Church Affairs. They have two daughters and three grandchildren. Ware’s Chapel United Methodist Church on Market Street Extension just north of Washington, is honored to have Rev. Dr. Newsome as it’s preacher on Sunday, August 18 at 10:000 a.m..