John Wesley Rice
Reverend John Wesley Rice, Jr. (3 November 1923 – 24 December 2000), a Minister, college administrator, school guidance counselor and high school teacher, was the father of United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Rice was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to John Wesley Rice (b. Alabama, April 1895), who was also a Presbyterian Minister, in 1930 a Presbyterian Minister in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, later Founder of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Alabama, and wife (married c. 1920) Theresa Hardnett (Louisiana, September 1898 – living 1930), paternal grandson of John Wesley Rice (Alabama, January 1851 – between 1910 and 1920 ), a farmer in Greene County, Alabama, in 1880, and wife (married c. 1875) Julia Head (Alabama, March 1851 – ), also a farmer in Greene County, Alabama, in 1920 and 1930, and maternal grandson of Sylvester Hardnett (Louisiana, July 1857 – and wife (married c. 1879) Cora ... (Louisiana, January 1862 – East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, 22 August 1914 ), of some European American ancestry. His paternal grandmother was an illegitimate child of Burr Woodward Head (South Carolina, c. 1823 – living 1880), plantation owner near Clinton, Greene County, Alabama by a non-marital liaison with a black servant, and he was the son of James Head (North Carolina, 9 June 1791 – Greene County, Alabama, 23 July 1849) and wife Margaret Coates (7 February 1786 – Greene County, Alabama, 8 April 1857).
Rice was a Minister, teacher, and coach in Birmingham, Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Denver, Colorado, and Palo Alto, California. He is an alumnus of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Rice supported the civil rights movement, but kept his distance, since he did not believe children should be put in harm's way. He and his wife focused on helping their daughter become "twice as good", so that she could gain power. At the time, many black families focused on educating their daughters, believing racist white people would not view them as threats. In 1965, Rice became a college administrator, moving his family to Tuscaloosa and then Denver.
He helped found the Center for a New Generation in East Palo Alto, California, an after-school academic enrichment program.
He married Angelena Ray Rice in 1954. Widowed in 1985, Rice later married Clara Bailey Rice, a Palo Alto principal. He died in Palo Alto, California.
His children include daughter Condoleezza Rice and stepson, Gregory Stuart Bailey.