Regenia A. Perry, Ph.D.

When Regenia A. Perry earned a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1965, she became the first African American woman to hold a doctorate in art history and the first African American to hold a doctorate in American art.

The daughter of a poor tobacco farmer, Perry was born and raised in Virgilina, Virginia, and had to fight her way to the top.

“I have made sacrifices,” she said. “It’s not luck. It’s hard work.”

Perry, now a professor emerita, taught art history at VCU for 25 years. During her tenure, she took unpaid leave to travel across the country, discovering and documenting the work of often overlooked African American folk artists. She founded Raven Arts, an art consulting firm, to represent such artists.

Perry fondly recalls her years teaching in VCU’s School of the Arts. In 2000, Perry established the Regenia A. Perry Merit Scholarship in Art History.

“I feel benevolently toward scholarships because every year of my education — undergraduate and graduate — was financed by scholarships and fellowships. I would be remiss if I didn’t reach back and try to help someone else the way I was assisted,” Perry said.