Johnnetta Betsch Cole (born October 19, 1936) is an American anthropologist, educator, museum director, and college president.

[4] Her family belonged to the African-American upper class; She was a granddaughter of Abraham Lincoln Lewis, Florida's first black millionaire, entrepreneur and cofounder of the Afro-American Industrial and Benefit Association,[5] and Mary Kingsley Sammis.

Cole attended graduate school at Northwestern University, earning her Master of Arts (1959) and Doctor of Philosophy (1967) degrees in anthropology.

[5] Cole served as a professor at Washington State University from 1962 to 1970, where she co-founded one of the US's first black studies programs.

Cole then moved to Hunter College in 1982, and became director of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program.

[8] During her directorship the controversial exhibit, "Conversations: African and African-American Artworks in Dialogue," featuring dozens of pieces from Bill and Camille Cosby's private art collection was held in 2015, coinciding with accusations of sexual assault against the comedian.

[13]: 105 President-elect Bill Clinton appointed Cole to his transition team for education, labor, the arts, and humanities in 1992.

[15] However, when The Jewish Daily Forward reported that she had been a member of the national committee of the Venceremos Brigades, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation had tied to Cuban intelligence forces, Clinton did not advance her nomination.