Russell Wigginton will become president of the National Civil Rights Museum on August 1st.
He brings 29 years of experience in education, philanthropy, executive management and program development, as well as strategic planning and partnership building.
Wigginton worked at Rhodes College, his alma mater, as a history professor and senior level administrator for 23 years. Graduating with a bachelor’s in history in 1988, Wigginton returned to Rhodes in 1996 as a William Randolph Hearst Fellow, later teaching full-time before moving into administration. He earned his doctorate in 2000 in African American History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
While at Rhodes, Wigginton published The Strange Career of the Black Athlete: African-Americans and Sports, as well as articles and essays on African American social and labor history. He has served on civic boards, including the National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis Zoo, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Facing History and Ourselves, Ballet Memphis, ArtsMemphis, UrbanArt Commission, BRIDGES USA, St. George’s Independent Schools, Promise Academy Charter School and KIPP Schools.
From 2006-2017, Wigginton served as vice president for external programs and vice president for college relations, where he helped establish and implement institutional strategy for the college’s engagement in Memphis and beyond, and oversaw the college grants, foundations and government relations, alumni relations, communications, career services, and continuing education departments. From 2017-2019 he served as vice president for student life and dean of students at Rhodes.
In 2019, he joined Tennessee’s State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) as its chief postsecondary impact officer. At SCORE, he leads the organization’s work for postsecondary access, retention, and completion while seeking opportunities and identifying gaps in advocacy, policy, and practice.
Wigginton succeeds Terri Lee Freeman as museum president and will resign his museum board post to assume his new leadership role. He is married to Tomeka Hart Wigginton, managing director for Blue Meridian Partners, and has a son, Ryan, who is a senior at the University of Richmond.
