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Distinguished Alumnus William A. McClain Earns Wittenberg Medal Of Honor

Wittenberg University has awarded the school's highest non-academic award, the Wittenberg Medal of Honor, to The Honorable William A. McClain, class of 1934.
 
McClain was the first African-American member of the Cincinnati Bar Association and also became the first African American judge of the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

Wittenberg dedicated The William A. McClain Culture House in his honor in 2004. In 2012, it was re-named  the William A. McClain Center for Diversity, which now houses the offices of the American International Association, Concerned Black Students and the Gay/Straight Alliance.

The only African American student in Wittenberg’s class of 1934, McClain was the first African American to win the state and national Intercollegiate Oratorical Associations’ contests. Three years after earning his bachelor of arts degree from Wittenberg, McClain earned his law degree from the University of Michigan.