After graduating as both the President of the Student Government Association and the salutatorian of the Booker T. Washington High School Class of 1944, Dr. C. Clayton Powell attended Morehouse College where he was a member of the Beta Kappa Chi National Scientific Society, Morehouse Glee Club and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

Upon graduating from Morehouse College in 1949, Dr. Powell enrolled in the Illinois College of Optometry where he was the only black student in his class. Dr. Powell received his Doctor of Optometry in 1953 and returned to Georgia where he “became not only the first Black doctor of optometry to join the Georgia Optometric Association but also the first doctor of optometry to head the Atlanta Southside Comprehensive Health Center. He would later be distinguished as the first Black doctor of optometry appointed to the National Eye Institute.” (American Optometric Association website).

A year after his return to Georgia, Dr. Powell married BTW alumna and attorney Romae Turner (will be featured later).

As a member and ultimately the Vice President of the NAACP, Dr. Powell filed cases alongside Justice Thurgood Marshall to desegregate Atlanta Public Schools. Furthering his dedication to African American students, Dr. Powell co-founded the National Optometric Association in 1969 to provide opportunities for African American students interested in studying Optometry.

In 1973, Dr. Powell became a charter member and ultimately chairman and executive director of the Development Authority of Fulton County, where he is credited for helping bring $3 billion of development and more than 350,000 jobs to the county. (AJC).

Dr. Powell recently passed in October of 2020 and leaves behind his wife of 26 years, Deborah Powell, two children and a grandson.

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