Gloria Leah Johnson Powell

1936 - 2017
Gloria Johnson Powell, beloved mother, grandmother, friend, and prominent child psychiatrist, passed away on October 11, 2017, in Hamburg, Germany. Dr. Johnson Powell's career was shaped by her experiences at Mount Holyoke College (1958) and later at Meharry Medical School (1962), where she was active in the civil rights movement, working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King and other leaders. Dr. Johnson Powell later became a Professor of Child Psychiatry at the UCLA Medical School's Neuropsychiatric Institute. She later joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School, where she was the institution's first African-American female Professor. Dr. Johnson Powell completed her career at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, where she was Associate Dean for Cultural Diversity and Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics and founded the Center for the Study of Cultural Diversity in Healthcare, the precursor to the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. She is the author of numerous publications, including "Black Monday's Children: A Study of the Effects of School Desegregation on the Self-Concepts of Southern Children." Dr. Johnson Powell also worked and taught at universities in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa and Brazil. She is survived by her former husband and lifelong friend, Dr. Rodney N. Powell and his spouse, Dr. Charles Eddinger, and their three children, April Powell-Willingham, Allison Powell Schueler, and Daniel Befakadu Powell, and eight grandchildren, Taharqa Willingham, Kamilah Willingham, Muj Powell, David Powell, Miazia Schueler, Kasmira Schueler, MJ Powell, and Norma Lilith Schueler. At the request of her family and in lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of Dr. Johnson Powell may be mailed to Mount Holyoke College, Office of Advancement, attention: Gwyneth Merner, 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075. A Celebration of Life is planned for early Spring 2018. For more information please send an e-mail to GJPCelebrationofLife@gmail.com.