Our Honorees

Some of the country's greatest inventors, doctors, authors, and performers are African American, and several of them have ties to Arkansas. For 30 years, the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame has recognized many of these outstanding individuals. Our inductees have distinguished themselves in their chosen fields of endeavor, and we are proud to acknowledge them and their contributions to African-American culture, the state of Arkansas and the nation.

Class of 2023

Join us in celebrating the 2023 class of Arkansas Black Hall of Fame inductees!

  • Harvey P. Wiley, Sr.
  • Dr. Ronda Henry-Tillman
  • Curtis Howse
  • James H. Leary
  • Judge Joyce Williams Warren
  • Rev. Jerry D. Black
  • Harvey P. Wiley, Sr.

    Pioneering Senior Level Agricultural Executive, Entrepreneur, and Mentor Extraordinaire

    Class of 2023

    Harvey P. Wiley Sr., was born in December 1940 and reared in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is a graduate of Philander Smith College (now Philander Smith University) where he was an honors graduate and served on the Board of Trustees from 2014-2019. In 1981, Wiley received an Executive Master of Business Administration from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army and proud member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated. He received the “Man of the Year Award” from the organization in Washington, D.C./Maryland for his commitment to public service.

    Appointed in 1994, Wiley was the first African American to serve as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the Senior Executive level in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Consolidated Farm Service Agency (CFSA). He began with the USDA in Missouri and continued his work up through the ranks over the next thirty years on assignments in Michigan, Kansas, Illinois, and back to Arkansas. As a Senior Executive in his last position with the agency, Wiley was solely responsible for oversight and disbursement of forty-five to fifty billion dollars annually to subsidize farmers throughout the United States. This role included services at locations in every county in the United States with the financial management program encompassing financial operations at 65 cost centers throughout the USDA. His service ended with retirement from the national office in Washington, D.C.
    Notably, Wiley holds the distinction of being the first Black person to be appointed to all the positions he held in the federal government. While working full-time, he was an adjunct faculty member at several colleges and universities and made many significant contributions in the field of Financial Management training. Eventually working at the USDA Graduate School, he redefined their entire curriculum and created the “Chief Financial Officers Council Fellows Program”.

    In 1986 to help African Americans attain promotions within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Wiley chartered a chapter of Blacks in Government (BIG) at the National Center of Toxicological Research (NCTR) in Pine Bluff/Jefferson, Arkansas. In 1995, he chartered the first chapter of BIG in Washington, D.C., to achieve the same goal within the USDA. His most notable achievement is his impact on helping qualified African Americans to become executives both within the ranks of the USDA and outside it.

    In 2009 after having worked for three consulting firms, Wiley launched Mega-K Enterprises, a business advisory firm where he still serves as president. His firm has successfully helped numerous African American businesses acquire millions of dollars in minority government contracts. Additionally, Wiley serves as a member on numerous boards.

    Harvey is married to Ruby L. Price Wiley, also a Little Rock native. Ruby has traveled the country and supported his endeavors for more than 60 years. He and Ruby are the proud parents of daughter, Anise Wiley-Little, now CEO of Mega-K Enterprises, and sons, Phillip Wiley, Jr., and the late Victor Wiley.

    Photo of Wiley, Sr.
  • Dr. Ronda Henry-Tillman

    Internationally-Renowned Surgeon, Oncologist, Teacher, Scientist and Philanthropist 

    Class of 2023

    Dr. Ronda S. Henry-Tillman, M.D., is Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery, Division Chief of the Breast Surgical Oncology Division, and a world-renowned breast cancer surgeon at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and has been recognized for her contributions in the field of breast cancer surgery. She holds the Muriel Balsam Kohn Chair in Breast Surgical Oncology, an endowed chair which is the result of a gift from the Tenenbaum Foundation, with the primary objectives including to provide humanitarian assistance to residents of central Arkansas, to promote awareness of breast cancer, and to fund research to reduce or eliminate deaths from the disease. Additionally, she serves as Director of Health Initiatives and Disparities Research and Co-Leader of the Diseases Oriented Committee (DOC) on Breast at UAMS. A graduate of University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Dr. Henry-Tillman completed her surgical residency at UAMS, as well as fellowship training with the UAMS fellowship in Diseases of the Breast and was then invited to join the surgical faculty team where she has served since 1999, as well as in many leadership capacities.

    Dr. Henry-Tillman has made a strong academic presence, having authored or co-authored at least 81 medical journal articles and numerous book chapters. In a partnership with Friends of Africa and the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, she has developed an early detection program for breast cancer and has established a breast surgery training program and provided lifesaving procedures at the University of Zambia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital in Kinshasa.

    Among her plethora of distinguished honors and recognitions, Dr. Henry-Tillman was appointed to the Breast Cancer Control Advisory Board by Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe and reappointed by Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and appointed to the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission by Governor Hutchinson; has served as the Society of Surgical Oncology Disparities Committee Chair; and National Accreditation for Programs and Breast Centers (NAPBC) board member; Co-chair of the Breast Cancer Control Advisory Board for the state of Arkansas; member of the Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health and the Minority Institutions Collaborative Cancer Center Grants Review Committee; and was recognized as honoree for the 2022 UAMS Dr. Edith Irby Jones Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Lifetime Achievement.

    Photo of Henry-Tillman
  • Curtis Howse

    Global Business Leader

    Class of 2023

    Curtis Howse, born in Little Rock, AR to Marion Howse, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Home & Auto Platform at Synchrony, one of the nation’s premier consumer financial service companies.

    As CEO, Curtis leads a $30 billion business platform that offers comprehensive financial solutions across a broad network of home and auto merchants. During his career, he has partnered with OneTen, a coalition of leading companies committed to creating a more inclusive corporate America and helped create the Synchrony Black Experience Plus Network (BE+), which fuels the aspirations of minority and marginalized groups, such as women, people of color, and the LBGTQ+ community within the industry. Additionally, Curtis became a leading voice of the GE African American Forum (AAF), a successful corporate diversity affinity group with more than 30,000 members worldwide that offers career guidance to thousands of Blacks in the industry and has led to double their number of senior-level executives.

    Curtis’ commitment to his community includes partnering with the Steve Landers Auto Network to develop an African American Affinity Network focused on creating career development forums, promoting racial equality, and mentoring African American employees of the auto network’s 38 locations across the U.S. Under his leadership, Synchrony made a substantial commitment to HBCUs including University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) and pledged their first contribution to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) “C-Suite” internship program in 2022. In addition, he attracted other senior-level Black executives to coach and mentor more than 2,000 students at UAPB. Curtis is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America (2021 & 2022), GE Vanguard Award for Diversity Leadership, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Presidential Citation for Developing Leaders, and 100 Black Men of America to name a few. He is mentioned in several publications, including Better Homes and Gardens and Furniture Today.

    Curtis is married to Regina Davis Howse, and they reside in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is a member of Second Baptist Church in Little Rock and identifies his faith as the foundation of his success in both career and community service endeavors.

    Photo of Howse
  • James H. Leary

    Internationally-Renowned Jazz Musician, Arranger and Composer

    Class of 2023

    James “Jimmy” Houston Leary III, a world-class musician, composer, and arranger, was born on June 4, 1946 in Little Rock, AR to James Houston Leary, Jr. and Margaret Torrence Leary (Brown).

    From a young age, James was continuously surrounded by musical influences. Born into a family of musicians, James studied the way his family members played the piano and eventually learned how to play the piano and the organ. In addition, he sang with the youth choir at his church, Duncan United Methodist.

    James joined the band at Horace Mann Senior High School under his music history teacher and choir director, Art Porter, Sr. While attending, James competed in local talent shows and by age 15, he was playing piano at multiple shows. Eventually, he was introduced to the bass when he heard the Art Porter Trio play and began to play the bass in high school band.

    Following his education at Horace Mann Senior High School, James attended North Texas State University where he took his first bass lesson with Alan Richardson. In addition to the piano, bass, and organ, James sharpened his knowledge of music theory with the support of bebop, Coltrane, and Pharaoh Sanders. During his sophomore year, James returned home to attend the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) where he continued his musical education and performed with local musical giants such as TeRoy Betton, Thomas East, Art Porter Sr., and York Wilborn. In addition, James performed with Albert King, Little Johnny Taylor, Major Lance, and George Duke, who he met and befriended at an intercollegiate jazz festival.

    After graduating from UAPB, James attended graduate school at San Francisco State University (SFSU) and reconnected with his friend, George Duke. While attending SFSU, James studied bass with Charles Siani and Ortiz Walton and became John Handy’s student teacher and band mate. He also joined the band The Fourth Way. During the 1970s, James toured with masters such as Roland Kirk, Eddie Harris, and Bobby Hutcherson. He also started his own musical group called James Leary Orchestra.

    During the 1980s, James relocated to Los Angeles to study film-scoring. James spent decades performing, recording, and touring the world with musical notables such as the Count Basie Orchestra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Liza Minelli, Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Eddie Harris, The Boston Pops with John Williams, Nancy Wilson, Dizzy Gillespie, Theolonius Monk, and many more. His musical gift earned him two Grammy Awards and induction into the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame. He was also featured in Persistence of the Spirit, a traveling exhibit of Arkansas African American history photographs. Throughout his career, James played at all of Los Angeles’ premier venues including the Hollywood Bowl and recorded with numerous artists. His stamp on Broadway includes They’re Playing Our Song, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Five Guys Named Moe, and Timbutku with Eartha Kitt. He was in the 1996 Tom Hanks movie That Thing You Do, and he is depicted in the 2007 Collector’s Edition of Vanity Fair Magazine in a performance with Jennifer Hudson.

    James worked tirelessly on his dream, “The James Leary Legacy Choir Project”, to record and perform his original compositions and musical tributes written for choirs and instruments in honor of individuals whom he dubbed “great humans who had inspired him and improved the plight of others in the world.”

    James passed away at his home in Los Angeles, CA on March 22, 2021. He was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers, Jesse T. (J.T.) Leary and John “Jon” Mark Leary.

    Photo of Leary
  • Judge Joyce Williams Warren

    Trailblazing Jurist and Youth Advocate

    Class of 2023

    Judge Joyce Elise Williams Warren was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, October 25, 1949, and grew up in Little Rock. Her parents were educators. She and her sister, Janice, were reared and nurtured by their mother and maternal elders, who were all school teachers. She attended LR public schools and broke a color barrier herself at age 11 when she was one of ten Black students who integrated West Side Junior High School—just four years after the media spectacle of the Little Rock Nine integrating Central High School from where she graduated in 1967. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and earned her Juris Doctorate degree in 1976 at the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law as the school’s first Black female graduate. After becoming a judge, Warren also earned a Diploma of Judicial Skills from the American Academy of Judicial Education in 2001. Judge Warren is best known for her tireless work as a juvenile judge who formed, joined, and led collaborative efforts to improve the lives of Arkansas children and families.

    Her list of firsts includes being Arkansas’ first Black female judge, first Black person ever elected to an Arkansas state-level trial court judgeship, first Black law clerk for the Arkansas Supreme Court, first Black female appointee and first Black Chairperson to serve on the Arkansas State Board of Law Examiners, first Black person to be elected to the Arkansas Judicial Council Board of Directors, first Black President of the Arkansas Judicial Council, and first Black person to receive the Outstanding Jurist Award from the Arkansas Bar Association and the Arkansas Bar Foundation in 2021. She helped to create a new Arkansas juvenile justice system that improved many areas, such as adoption laws, legal representation for children and parents in child abuse and neglect cases, and accountability for attorneys providing services to children in need and protecting children in correctional facilities and/or medical facilities. Her equally impressive career history includes appointments by then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton.

    Warren has received numerous honors and awards; and she authored A Booklet for Parents, Guardians, and Custodians in Abuse and Neglect Cases, which has been published and updated in English and Spanish and distributed nation-wide.

    The former Joyce Wiliams and James Warren were married in 1972, and they reside in Little Rock. They have three sons, Jonathan (Courtney), Jamie (Kassie), and Justin (Heather); and the blessing of eleven grandchildren. She is a member of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, where she serves on the Vestry.

    Photo of Warren
  • Rev. Jerry D. Black

    National Icon among Preachers and Pastors known as “The Preacher’s Preacher”

    Class of 2023

    The Reverend Jerry D. Black, Sr., is a world-renowned humble servant of God. He is the Senior Pastor at Beulah Missionary Church in Decatur, Georgia. He hails from the small town of Blytheville, Arkansas, where he was born in December 1953 and reared by his great-grandmother, the late Mrs. Pearl “Mama Pearl” Grant, and where he developed a love and compassion for others which has been the foundation for his life in the ministry of God.

    Reverend Black, best known for his gift of preaching, began his ministerial journey in music when he began playing the piano at age eight and by his teenage years served as Minister of Music at his church, the West End Baptist Church in Blytheville. Having accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior at age 12, young Jerry soon realized that the true calling upon his life was to preach the Gospel, a call he accepted at age 21. Reverend Black was called to serve as pastor of the Greater Paradise Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he served for 15 years. He grew the church’s membership from just 17 members to 3,000 by the time he left; and countless others in the Little Rock area were blessed through his popular television and radio ministries.

    In November 1991, Reverend Black accepted God’s new divine assignment as the pastor of the Beulah Baptist Church where he has preached and taught the Gospel ever since. With the Word of God as his guide, he has grown his flock to megachurch proportions; and the pandemic has opened Beulah’s virtual membership up to an even broader national audience. In 1996, Pastor Black shared God’s vision with the church to build a new Beulah campus in two phases on a 40-acre former golf course the church had bought that is now their home. Phase I was the Worship Center completed in 1999 and Phase II was the Family Life Center which opened in 2006. Under Pastor Black’s guidance, the church has become the H.E.L.P. Station with the mission of “Helping You Get Where God Wants You to Be.”

    Pastor Black has been the recipient of many honors and awards which include being named one of Georgia’s best preachers by the Georgia Informer; receiving the 2011 Trombone Award and the NAACP Faith-Based Award; being honored with a United States Postal stamp named for him for 20 years of service to Beulah and 35 years of service in the ministry; and induction into the 2015 Class of the Board of Preachers of the Martin Luther King, Jr., College of Ministers and Laity at Morehouse College. A graduate of Arkansas Baptist College and Quachita University, he was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters by Arkansas Baptist College at its 2022 Commencement.

    Pastor Black was married to the late Glenda J. Harris Black for 32 years, until her heavenly transition in 2008. Their union had been blessed with four children—Tangie, Jerry Jr., Erica, and Terica. After much prayer, he was blessed to begin a new chapter in his life when he met the former Ms. Kate F. Wiley. They were united in marriage in 2014 and enjoy four children and six grandchildren.

    Photo of Black

Make a Nomination

Without nominations, we would not be able to recognize the great Arkansans. If you know someone who is worthy of being inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, please consider nominating them. Nominees must have Arkansas roots (birthplace or place of residence) and have significantly contributed to African-American culture, the state of Arkansas, and/or the nation. Nominations are open year round, so submit your completed form for consideration today.

Nomination submissions must include:

A letter explaining why the nominees should be inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.

Any supporting materials, i.e. articles featuring or about the nominee.

You can submit a nomination form below or print a copy and mail a completed packet to:

ABHOF Nominations Committee PO Box 1042 Little Rock, AR 72223

**Note: Mailed material will NOT be returned. Please do not send original copies.**

Nomination is not paramount to selection. Nominees will be placed in a pool for consideration by the Nominations Committee. If you have questions about how to submit your nomination form, please contact us at arkansasblackhalloffame@gmail.com.

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