Biography
Elijah Heyward III was appointed as the first chief operating officer of the International African American Museum in 2018, a world-class educational center and genealogical library currently under construction in Charleston, South Carolina. The museum will open in 2022 with the mission of telling the untold stories of African diaspora journeys, the spread of African American culture and influence, and the movements for justice and equality.
A native of Beaufort, South Carolina, Heyward earned his bachelor’s degree at Hampton University. After receiving a master’s degree at the Yale Divinity School, he earned his PhD in American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the founder of the Youth Scholar Academy, a nationwide college-access program that he created while serving as a Yale President's Public Service Fellow.
During his time at Yale, Heyward was co-chair of the Yale Black Graduate Network. He has since been a YAA Delegate, a member of the Yale Divinity School Development Leadership Council, a class agent, and a member of the Divinity School’s committees on admissions and curriculum. He has served two terms on the board of the Divinity School Alumni Association, where he helped spearhead the commissioning of a portrait of James Pennington, Yale's first black student, by artist Jas Knight. He was recently appointed to the Dean's Advisory Council at the Divinity School.
