Joseph Monroe Segars (November 6, 1938

Hartsville, South Carolina Hartsville is the largest city in Darlington County, South Carolina, United States. It was chartered on December 11, 1891. The population was 7,764 at the 2010 census. Hartsville was chosen as an All-America City in 1996 and again in 2016. Harts ...

– July 20, 2014 Lakewood Ranch, Florida) was an American Career Foreign Service Officer who served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

from 1992 until 1996. When Segars’ parents moved to Philadelphia in search of better jobs, he was raised by his maternal aunt and uncle Walter and Francis Hines. After graduating from Butler High School in 1956, he joined his family in Philadelphia to work before starting College. Segars graduated in 1961 from

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania Cheyney University of Pennsylvania is a public historically black university in Cheyney, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1837, it is the oldest university out of all historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States. It is a m ...

with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Education. After graduating, he taught sixth grade in

Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the ...

’s public school system until 1967. At that time, he returned to Philadelphia and began teaching sixth grade in their public school system. Segars joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1970 and became the first African American to be assigned to the U.S. Embassy in

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Segars remained in this position until 1973. He served as Consul General several times. In 1976, he began in that capacity in

Johannesburg, South Africa Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to D ...

. One of the first African Americans to be assigned to South Africa, his arrival in Johannesburg coincided with the Soweto Uprising which was a student protest against the Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974. He was Consul General in Kingston, Jamaica from 1978 to 1980 and in 1983, Segars was appointed Consul General, this time in

Lagos, Nigeria Lagos ( Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 ...

where he served until 1986.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Segars, Joseph 1938 births 2014 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Cape Verde People from Hartsville, South Carolina Cheyney University of Pennsylvania alumni African-American diplomats 20th-century American diplomats United States Foreign Service personnel American consuls African-American schoolteachers 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people