Dr. Howard Fuller has committed his life to activism and educational reform, specifically serving Black children from low-income backgrounds. He was born in Shreveport, LA. He moved to Milwaukee with his mother at a young age, where he emerged as a gifted student, athlete, and leader. He played basketball and served as student body president at Carroll College (now University). He was the only Black student at Carroll when he enrolled there in 1958.
He is the first Black male to graduate from Carroll. He went on to earn a master’s degree from Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve) and a doctoral degree from Marquette University. His experiences in his youth enabled him to “ … see all races as equals, hate income disparity and choose civil and human rights activism as the only career” for him. Dr. Fuller spent his early career years as a community organizer in North Carolina. He worked in community action programs that were created by the Economic Opportunity Act, which was a part of President Lydon Johnson’s effort to attack poverty in the United States. Returning to Milwaukee in 1976, he has spent the past four decades in Wisconsin tirelessly committed to improving outcomes for the Black community, especially for children from low-income backgrounds.
In 2004, Dr. Fuller along with 8 Black Faith Leaders founded a 9-12 Christian high school (CEO Leadership Academy) to serve mostly low-income Black students living on the Northside of Milwaukee. The school was originally a part of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, a state-funded voucher program in Milwaukee. In 2011, the school became a tuition-free, non-profit, public charter high school open to all students in the city of Milwaukee. In 2019 the school was named after Dr. Fuller. Since 2012 the Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy has had a 100% college acceptance rate for its graduating seniors.
