Cecilia Nabrit Adkins, Executive Director of the Sunday School Publishing Board, recognized as the first layperson and first woman to ever hold the position. She directed the publishing efforts performed annually by the board and the people of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A. Inc. In her role as executive director of the Sunday School Publishing Board, she participated in the dedication of Nashville’s Baptist World Center on June 21, 1985.  Adkins, graduated from Fisk University in 1939 with a major in English and a minor in speech and drama. She was a member of the Signma Upsilon Phi honorary scholastic fraternity. she partnered with her husband John in opening the J. W. Adkins Funeral Home (1948), she was the first woman named to the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Nashville branch, and was, notably, the first woman of color appointed to the Metro Nashville Board of Education. In 1988 she became the first woman to chair the Fisk University Board of Trustees. She was the daughter of J.M. Nabrit.

Reverend James M. Nabrit, Sr., a son of former slaves, became President of the American Baptist Institute in Nashville, and Secretary of the National Baptist Convention. Himself a learned college graduate, who taught some of his children Latin, Greek and Physics, James M. Nabrit, Sr. was the father of 8 college graduates, and seven who earned advanced degrees. His son Samuel M. Nabrit, a marine biologist, became President of Texas Southern University and a member of the United States Atomic Energy Commission.