Camille Cosby

Philanthropy Cosby's history of philanthropy includes donations to schools and educational foundations. Her philanthropic memberships include Operation PUSH, The United Negro College Fund, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the National Council of Negro Women, and Jesse Jackson's National Rainbow Coalition.

Beginning at the start of the 1980s, Cosby and her husband donated $100,000 to Central State University (CSU), a historically black university in Ohio, with a second gift of $325,000 in 1987. In September 1989, CSU held the "Camille and Bill Cosby Cleveland Football Classic" in honor of their contributions to the school.

In January 1987, the Cosbys donated $1.3 million to Fisk University. In November 1988, they donated $20 million to Atlanta's Spelman College, a top Historically Black women's college. According to The New York Times, the gift was the largest donation to a black college in American history. The college has since named the five-story 92,000-square-foot Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Academic Center after her, as well as designating a Camille Cosby Day. A few months after the Spelman donation, Cosby and her husband donated $800,000 to Meharry Medical College and $750,000 to Bethune-Cookman University.

In July 1992, during a gala held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women awarded Cosby the Candace Award, a recognition of minority women who have made valuable contributions to their communities. In April 2005, Cosby donated $2 million to St. Frances Academy, a Black Catholic high school in Baltimore. Because of the donation, the school could endow 16 scholarships in Cosby's name.

Bill Cosby sexual assault cases

Cosby has defended her husband against accusations that he has sexually assaulted women over his career. In 2014, Cosby released a statement saying that her husband had been the victim of unvetted accusations: "The man I met, and fell in love with, and whom I continue to love, is the man you all knew through his work. He is a kind man ... and a wonderful husband, father and friend."

On December 9, 2015, attorney Joseph Cammarata subpoenaed Cosby to give a deposition in a defamation lawsuit filed against her husband by seven women. Cosby's support of her husband has been questioned; in The Progressive Revolution, author Ellis Washington wrote: "...I am transfixed by the slavish complicity and psychotic denial of Camille" positing that she may be "the greatest sexual sociopath sympathizer in history".

After her husband's conviction for sexual assault on May 3, 2018, Cosby released a three-page statement defending her husband, in which she compared his conviction to the racially charged killing of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy who was lynched after a white woman said she was offended by him in her family's grocery store. Cosby also called for a criminal investigation into the Pennsylvania prosecutor behind the conviction and argued that her husband had a "binding agreement" with Bruce Castor that he would not be charged in the case. The Undefeated stated: "Camille Cosby's words show she's trapped in an outdated space." HuffPost called the statement "bizarre".

Personal life

While studying at the University of Maryland, Cosby went on a blind date during her sophomore year with Bill. and Evin (born 1976).

Ennis was murdered on January 16, 1997, at the age of 27. After his murder, Cosby wrote a letter to USA Today titled "America Taught My Son's Killer to Hate Blacks", in which she "excoriat[ed] America for teaching her son's murderer the bigotry that fueled his lethal act." The controversial letter was not well received by pundits or the press. Authors Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom wrote that they believed Cosby's article was "misguided despair ... [that] threatens further progress" in the development of race relations in the United States.

Cosby's daughter Ensa died February 23, 2018, of renal disease while awaiting a kidney transplant at the age of 44.

In 1982, Cosby joined the Reverend Jesse Jackson and his wife Jacqueline Jackson, congressman William H. Gray III, and historian Mary Frances Berry to meet Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, where the group was pictured with the pope.

Along with Bill, Cosby was featured on the cover of Ebony's September 1966 issue. In 1996, she was named one of the "15 most beautiful Black women" by the magazine. In her personal collection she has multiple works by Ellis Ruley. She has been the subject of multiple portraits by artist Simmie Knox. In December 1981, Cosby purchased Henry Ossawa Tanner's The Thankful Poor at Sotheby's, and gave to her husband for a Christmas gift.

Filmography Year Title Credit Notes 1986 The Cosby Show Extra (uncredited) Episode: "Off to the Races" 1987 Bill Cosby: 49 Director 1994 No Dreams Deferred Executive producer The American Experience Special funding Episode: "Malcolm X: Make It Plain" 1996 Bill Cosby: Mr. Sapolsky, with Love Co-executive producer 1997 10th Anniversary Essence Awards Self 1999 Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years Executive Producer, extra (uncredited) Television movie 2000 The Oprah Winfrey Show Self Episode: November 27, 2000 Ennis' Gift Executive producer Documentary film 2001 Being Bill Cosby Self 2002 Sylvia's Path Executive producer Television movie 2004 Fatherhood Special thanks Fat Albert Executive producer 2010 Queen Victoria's Wedding Special thanks Film short 2010–2012 OBKB Executive producer 2014 Extra Self Archive footage – Episode #21.55 CNN Newsroom Archive footage – November 21, 2014 episode OMG Insider Archive footage – December 16, 2014 episode