Cynthia Shepard Perry

In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed her U.S. Executive Director of the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and later, Tunis, Tunisia. She held this position until her retirement in 2007. Perry returned to Houston, where she continues to support education and development in Africa.

In 1998, Perry published her memoirs, All Things Being Equal: One Woman's Journey.

In 1993, Perry returned to her position at Texas Southern University and in 1996 she moved to Texas Woman’s University as regent.

In 1987 NAACP presented Perry with its President's Award. In 1988, UMass awarded Perry an honorary doctorate of Public Service. In 2002 she received a Distinguished Alumni Award, and in 2014 a Salute to Service Award for outstanding contributions to public service.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Perry chief of the Education and Human Resources Division in the Africa Bureau of the United States Agency for International Development. She was responsible for establishing policies and educational programs for the 43 Sub-Saharan nations receiving U.S. assistance at the time. In 1986, Pres. Reagan appointed Perry U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone; she held this position until 1990, when President George H.W. Bush appointed her U.S. Ambassador to Burundi. During this time Perry also served as Honorary Counsel General for Senegal.

Perry and her husband returned to Texas in 1978 and she was appointed dean of international affairs at Texas Southern University, a position she held until 1982.

In 1973, Perry returned to Africa for three years with her second husband, Dr. J.O.Perry, who had taken a position with UNESCO at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. During his three-year tenure, she trained Peace Corps paramedical volunteers, lectured at the University, and served as a consultant to the United States Information Agency in Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia. In 1974, She served as a member of diplomatic delegations to Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, and Liberia. In 1976, she was appointed to the staff of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Abba, Ethiopia.

In 1969 Perry visited Africa for the first time when she accompanied students from Colby College to Ethiopia and Kenya on a summer secretarial training project. The trip was part of the Operation Crossroads Africa project at the University of Nairobi.

Cynthia Shepard won a scholarship to Indiana State University and completed a B.A. in political science from the university in 1968.

In 1968 she joined the University of Massachusetts' Center for International Education to study for a doctorate in education, which she completed in 1972. For her doctoral degree, Perry proposed to improve race relations by developing African Studies curricula for public schools. She had never been to Africa, so she recruited over 30 former Peace Corps volunteers who had served in Africa to develop and test African Studies curricula using their own first-hand experience and the latest research into black history and affective education.

In November 1946, Perry married James Shepard, a mechanic. When she was invited to join the postgraduate program in Massachusetts in 1968, her husband, hoping to keep her home, demanded a divorce. Her divorce from Shepard was finalized in 1971, and she married James Olden (J.O.) Perry; he died in 2006. .mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%;margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}

Cynthia Helena Shepard Perry (née Norton; born 11 November 1928) is an American educator and diplomat. She served as U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone and Burundi and as American Executive Director of the African Development Bank. Throughout her career Perry promoted racial and gender equality, international cooperation, and African economic development.

Perry was born in 1928 in the mining town of Burnett, Indiana. She grew up in a segregated community called Lost Creek, Indiana, near Terre Haute, the sixth of nine children. She was one of the few blacks who graduated from Otter Creek High School in 1946. Perry credits her white high school principal with laying out for her what she needed to do to accomplish her dream of becoming an ambassador.