Born this day in 1909, Willa Beatrice Player, an American educator, college administrator, college president, civil rights activist, and federal appointee. She was the first African-American woman to become president of a four-year fully accredited liberal arts college at Bennett College for Women..

"The black woman is expected to be a superwoman without acting like one" – Willa B. Player

On the Bennett students' 1960 protest: "We don't teach our students what to think. We teach how to think. If I have to give exams in jail, that's what I'll do. – Willa B. Player

On her presidency at Bennett College: "All I was thinking was I had a job to do."