Edward R. Dudley

Edward R. Dudley (1911-2005), from the Gainsboro neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia, was the first African-American to hold the rank of Ambassador of the United States, serving as ambassador to Liberia (where he had been serving with the rank of minister) from 1949 through 1953. [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/po/com/10906.htm]

Dudley, who graduated from Johnson C. Smith University with a bachelor's degree and from St. John's University School of Law in Brooklyn with a law degree, later served as a New York state supreme court judge and as borough president of Manhattan.

Dudley was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.fact|date=August 2007

External links

* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_n7_v86/ai_15480320 Diplomats laud first black U.S. ambassador (1994)]