Willa Player, 94; First Black Woman to Head a 4-Year College

Willa Player, 94, the former president of Bennett College, a small liberal arts college for women, and the first black woman in the nation to head a four-year college, died Wednesday in Greensboro, N.C.

A supporter of the civil rights movement, Player organized a speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1958 when no other group in Greensboro would welcome him. The speech drew hundreds and planted the seed for many of the protests that followed in the city.

A native of Jackson, Miss., Player grew up in Akron, Ohio, and earned her bachelor’s degree at Ohio Wesleyan University. She got her master’s degree at Oberlin College and, years later, a doctorate from Columbia University.

Player began her career at Bennett College in 1930 as a Latin and French instructor. After studying at the University of Grenoble in 1935, she returned to Bennett and held a number of administrative posts, including director of admissions and acting dean.

She was named president of the school in 1955 and served in that post until 1966, when she quit to become director of the division of college support for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. She retired in 1986.