Clark Atlanta Magazine
that teaching went beyond academics. I learned a lot that summer.” Ralph Long Jr., first cousin to Ouida (his father and her mother were siblings) and Susan and the family’s oldest living member, graduated from Clark College in 1966 with a dual bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics and a minor in education. A transfer from Georgia Tech, he arrived at Clark already having pledged Omega Psi Phi, another affiliation that runs deep among the Long men. He played competitive tennis, and as an alumnus, he and two other alumni started the Clark Atlanta Athletic Booster Association in 1989. Retired after a pioneering career that included being IBM’s first Black new hire in the southeastern region and managing technology departments at the City of Newark Board of Education, Rutgers University, AT&T, and MARTA, Ralph affirms that Clark helped prepare him to be a trailblazer. But when he asked to share one of his most enjoyable memories as a student, he says it was presenting the Q.E.D. (the abbreviation for the Latin phrase quod erat demonstrandum, which loosely translates to “end of proof”) to his professor and seeing the smile on his face. “It was my senior project, and I was before Dr. James Dennis. My task was to prove to him that parallel lines meet in infinity, using mathematical, geometric letters.” Ralph is the uncle to the fifth generation, which includes Rolanda Blanding Fowler (Clark College ’88) and Beth “David” Blanding (Clark College ’87), siblings, as well April Long Banks Wyatt (Clark College ’87). They are the children of his late sisters Wylma Long Blanding (whose husband was also a graduate of Clark College) and Carolyn Long Banks, both of whom were proud graduates of Clark College.
THE FIFTH GENERATION
April Long Banks Wyatt, Carolyn’s daughter, is an attorney and educator. From Clark, she earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing and finance and later earned both a doctorate in education as well as a law degree. She says, “When it came time for me to choose a college, attending Clark was a natural decision,” she recalls. “It was more than a school; it was a continuation of my family’s legacy and a testament to the principles my grandparents lived by.” A member of the tennis team and the Marketing Club, April attributes her commitment to service and excellence to her family. “From an early age, I witnessed firsthand the countless sacrifices my grandparents made to ensure that the needs of students, athletes, and families with limited resources were met.” And later, she experienced her mother, Atlanta’s first Black woman to be elected to city council, serving on the national and internation stage. “Watching her serve the community with grace and strength instilled in me a deep sense of responsibility to serve others. Her example inspired me to follow in her footsteps as an educational leader and to become a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.” April adds, “Clark also instilled in me the importance of pursuing the highest level of education and excellence. But my greatest
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