Who Is Xerox's Emerson U. Fullwood?

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Who Is  Xerox's Emerson U. Fullwood?
Retired Xerox exec honored for civil rights work
Gary Craig, Staff writer

Surrounded by the likes of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and a close confidante of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., retired Xerox executive Emerson U. Fullwood was honored earlier this month for his contributions to civil rights.

Fullwood, who retired from Xerox Corp. in 2008 after 36 years there, was recognized as one of the first African-American students to integrate North Carolina State University in Raleigh, as well as for his corporate career that helped pave the way for many blacks who came after him.

Honoring Fullwood and other civil rights pioneers, including author Alice Walker, was a nonprofit organization in North Carolina, Fullwood’s home. The July 2 event, in Wilmington N.C., recognized the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

For Fullwood, who now lives in Pittsford with his wife Vernita, the event served as a potent reminder of the progress of the past five decades.

When he entered N.C. State in 1966, Fullwood was one of only a handful of black students, and often the only one in many of his classes.

“It really was the civil rights revolution, both at the university and in the classroom,” he said. “ … All of the pizza parlors and little places, they didn’t serve blacks back then.”

The local restaurants relied heavily on students, “but blacks weren’t able to sit in, so we picketed those establishments back then,” he said.

Recognizing similar segregation and racism on an international scale, he and other students also picketed events held by white South African students in which the country, then under apartheid, was being celebrated.

“You had the Vietnam War going, you had the civil rights (fight), so we were really active in trying to make change for the institution and for the community at large.

“It didn’t take very long before a change came about,” Fullwood said. “The administration at the university was a very enlightened administration.”

Fullwood majored in economics, then attended Columbia University for his masters in business administration. That springboarded him to a career with Xerox.

While there, he steadily advanced through the corporate ranks. He headed the company’s Worldwide Customer Services Group, its Latin America operations and served as executive chief staff officer at the company’s Developing Markets Operations. He retired as a corporate vice-president.

He still is active on the boards of several corporations and nonprofits.

Walker, who wrote the Pulitzer-winning The Color Purple, was the keynote speaker at the honors event, and told her own tales of battling segregation.

“It was just an extraordinary experience to have such a legend as Alice Walker there,” said Fullwood, who was recognized as a civil rights “Living Legend.”

Also honored was the Rev. C.T. Vivian, who worked hand-in-hand with King. At the event, Vivian received the President Lyndon B. Johnson Civil And Human Rights Legacy Award, and remembered how Johnson embraced King and the mission of equal rights.

“At that moment it was not easy for a president, especially backed by the South, to say good things about Martin King, who we now lift high,” Vivian said, as reported by the Wilmington StarNews.

There was a common refrain among honorees, Fullwood said.

“There has been tremendous progress,” Fullwood said. “There’s more work to be done.”

Who Is  Xerox's Emerson U. Fullwood?
Retired Xerox exec honored for civil rights work
Gary Craig, Staff writer

Surrounded by the likes of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and a close confidante of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., retired Xerox executive Emerson U. Fullwood was honored earlier this month for his contributions to civil rights.

Fullwood, who retired from Xerox Corp. in 2008 after 36 years there, was recognized as one of the first African-American students to integrate North Carolina State University in Raleigh, as well as for his corporate career that helped pave the way for many blacks who came after him.

Honoring Fullwood and other civil rights pioneers, including author Alice Walker, was a nonprofit organization in North Carolina, Fullwood’s home. The July 2 event, in Wilmington N.C., recognized the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

For Fullwood, who now lives in Pittsford with his wife Vernita, the event served as a potent reminder of the progress of the past five decades.

When he entered N.C. State in 1966, Fullwood was one of only a handful of black students, and often the only one in many of his classes.

“It really was the civil rights revolution, both at the university and in the classroom,” he said. “ … All of the pizza parlors and little places, they didn’t serve blacks back then.”

The local restaurants relied heavily on students, “but blacks weren’t able to sit in, so we picketed those establishments back then,” he said.

Recognizing similar segregation and racism on an international scale, he and other students also picketed events held by white South African students in which the country, then under apartheid, was being celebrated.

“You had the Vietnam War going, you had the civil rights (fight), so we were really active in trying to make change for the institution and for the community at large.

“It didn’t take very long before a change came about,” Fullwood said. “The administration at the university was a very enlightened administration.”

Fullwood majored in economics, then attended Columbia University for his masters in business administration. That springboarded him to a career with Xerox.

While there, he steadily advanced through the corporate ranks. He headed the company’s Worldwide Customer Services Group, its Latin America operations and served as executive chief staff officer at the company’s Developing Markets Operations. He retired as a corporate vice-president.

He still is active on the boards of several corporations and nonprofits.

Walker, who wrote the Pulitzer-winning The Color Purple, was the keynote speaker at the honors event, and told her own tales of battling segregation.

“It was just an extraordinary experience to have such a legend as Alice Walker there,” said Fullwood, who was recognized as a civil rights “Living Legend.”

Also honored was the Rev. C.T. Vivian, who worked hand-in-hand with King. At the event, Vivian received the President Lyndon B. Johnson Civil And Human Rights Legacy Award, and remembered how Johnson embraced King and the mission of equal rights.

“At that moment it was not easy for a president, especially backed by the South, to say good things about Martin King, who we now lift high,” Vivian said, as reported by the Wilmington StarNews.

There was a common refrain among honorees, Fullwood said.

“There has been tremendous progress,” Fullwood said. “There’s more work to be done.”

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July 17, 2014 at 12:13 PM