In observance of Black History Month, we will be recognizing and celebrating ground-breaking achievements and advocacy by Black scientists, social justice leaders, artists, and athletes throughout the month of February. We will highlight 7 individuals who have made lasting contributions to the world each week.
Week 1: Celebrating Scientists
Alice Ball
Alice Ball was a chemist known for developing an effective treatment for leprosy, known at the “Ball Method.” Ms. Ball was born in Seattle, WA in 1892 and earned two Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Washington. The first, in 1912, was in pharmaceutical chemistry, and the second, in 1914, was in the science of pharmacy. She then earned her Master’s degree from the College of Hawaii (now the University of Hawaii), where she studied the chemical properties of the Kava plant. This made Ms. Ball the first African American research chemist and instructor in in the chemistry department. Her work on Kava attracted the attention of Dr. Harry T. Hollman at Kalihi Hospital, who was studying chaulmoogra oil, which had been used starting in the 1300s to treat leprosy. At the time, many leprosy patients were exiled to the island of Molokai, where they were treated with chaulmoogra oil with little success. The sticky oil was difficult to apply, and when injected, it would clump and form blisters under the skin. Ms. Ball developed a method for producing an injectable formulation of the oil, which the body was able to absorb. This monumental achievement, which Ms. Ball accomplished at the age of 23, was unfortunately not published before her early death the following year. While the chemist (and later president of the University of Hawaii) Arthur L. Dean stole Ms. Ball’s work and published her findings, he claimed all of the credit. Several years after Ms. Ball’s death, Harry Hollman attempted to correct the record, with no success. The record would remain inaccurate until the 1970s, when University of Hawaii professors would search the archives and find Ms. Ball’s research. The Ball Method was the most successful treatment for leprosy until sulfonamides were developed in the 1940s. It was credited with saving 78 leprosy patients at Kalihi Hospital in 1920, alone.
Dr. Alexa Canady
Dr. Alexa Canady is the first Black woman to become a neurosurgeon, and is the former chief of neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital in Michigan. Dr. Canady was born in Lansing, MI in 1950, and her innate intelligence was initially hidden from her family by a teacher would switch her test scores with a white students. She earned her B.S. from the University of Michigan in 1971, and went on to graduate from the University of Michigan Medical School with honors in 1975. She became the first Black and first female intern in the surgical intern program at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and then the first Black female neurosurgery resident during her residency at the University of Minnesota. Becoming the first woman to specialize in pediatric neurosurgery, Dr. Canady went on to be the Chief of Neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital, where she specialized in congenital spinal abnormalities, hydrocephalus, trauma, and brain tumors. She adopted a patient-focused practice, and was known to play videogames with her patients. Dr. Canady was awarded the American Medical Women’s Association President’s Award in 1993, among several other honors. She retired to Florida in 2001, and maintained a part-time practice until her full retirement in 2012. She has noted that it was only after retiring that she realized how significant her accomplishments were and the impact they had on African American women in medicine.
Dr. Edward Bouchet
Dr. Edward Bouchet was a physicist and educator at the Institute for Colored Youth (ICY). The son of a former slave, he was born in New Haven, CT in 1852, and graduated as valedictorian from Hopkins School, the well-known college prep school, in 1870. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Yale in 1974, and became one of the first African Americans to graduate from the school. Following graduation, he pursued a doctoral degree in physics at Yale, and became the first African American to earn a PhD from an American university, as well as the sixth person of any race to earn a PhD in physics in the U.S. While Dr. Bouchet’s credentials would have made a white man highly qualified to hold an academic position, he had fewer career opportunities. He was recruited to teach at ICY by Alfred Cope, a philanthropist in Philadelphia. ICY was one of the few schools in Philadelphia where Black students could pursue an academic high school education, and Dr. Bouchet directed the science program, teaching physics, chemistry, astronomy, physical geography, and physiology. He spent 26 years teaching at ICY until the school’s managers decided to shift the academic focus to vocational training. Dr. Bouchet’s legacy lives on in the Edward A. Bouchet Award, given by the American Physical Society to outstanding physicists, and the Edward Bouchet Abdus Salam Institute, which promotes collaboration between African and American physicists.
Dr. Charles Drew
Dr. Charles Drew was a surgeon and researcher, known for his pioneering work on blood transfusions. He was born in Washington, DC, in 1904 and earned his Bachelor’s degree from Amherst College on an athletics scholarship. After graduation, he taught chemistry and biology at Morgan College to earn money for medical school, which he completed at McGill University in 1933. Dr. Drew spent a few years teaching and assisting with surgery at Howard University and Freedman’s Hospital before pursuing a graduate degree from Columbia University. His doctoral work on “Banked Blood” investigated an extensive number of blood preservation methods; he was the first African American to earn a Doctor of Science in Medicine for his research. Before the start of World War II, Dr. Drew was recruited to help establish a blood storage and preservation program, which became the Blood for Britain project. His efforts led to the creation of bloodmobiles and a central processing center to preserve and test all donated blood. He became the director of the American Red Cross in 1941, which supported the U.S. Army and Navy, but due to the exclusion of blood from African Americans, he resigned in 1942. He returned to Freedman’s Hospital and Howard University to continue his career as a surgeon and researcher. Dr. Drew’s contributions to blood banking and blood transfusions are recognized to have saved thousands of Allied lives during World War II. In recognition, numerous schools and health facilities have been named in his honor, including the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in California and the Charles Drew Memorial Culture House at Amherst College.
Katherine Johnson
Katherine Johnson was a NASA mathematician responsible for calculating flight trajectories, launch windows, emergency return paths, and rendezvous paths for Projects Mercury and Apollo. Mrs. Johnson was burn in White Sulphur Springs, WV in 1918, and graduated from high school at 14 years old. She enrolled at West Virginia State, where she took every math course available, including the new courses created by her professor, Dr. W. W. Schieffelin Claytor, just for her. In 1939, Mrs. Johnson enrolled in a graduate program at West Virginia University, the first African-American woman at the previously segregated school, though she left a year later to focus on her family. In 1953, Mrs. Johnson took a position as a computer at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor of NASA, and then became an aerospace technologist in 1958. She is now recognized as one of the first Africa-American women to work as a NASA scientist, helping to develop the math and make the necessary calculations that supported space exploration. In recognition of her achievements, NASA’s Langley Research Center was renamed the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility in 2016, and Mrs. Jackson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2017) and Congressional Gold Model (2019). Katherine Johnson’s story was part of the 2016 book Hidden Figures by Margo Lee Shetterly, and she was portrayed by Taraji P. Henson in the film adaptation the same year.
Dr. Percy Julian
Dr. Percy Julian was a synthetic chemist, holding over 130 patents, and was the first African-American chemist inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. He was born in Montgomery, AL in 1899 and earned his B.A. from DePauw University at a time when very few Africa-American students were accepted to the school. Because of segregation, Dr. Julian was not allowed to live in the dorms, and his boarding home refused to provide him with meals. He ultimately exchanged completing odd jobs at a fraternity house for living quarters in the attic and food. After graduation, Dr. Julian worked as a chemistry instructor at Fisk University, where he was awarded an Austin Fellowship to attend Harvard for his M.S. However, while working towards his PhD, his teaching assistantship was withdrawn due to concerns that students would resent being taught by a Black man. To complete his studies, Dr. Julian received a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship to attend the University of Vienna. During his career as a research chemist, Dr. Julian excelled at natural product synthesis, including physostigmine (the cholinesterase inhibitor), and developed new techniques for industrial-scale chemical synthesis of human hormones from plant sterols, which paved the way for steroid drugs, including cortisone and birth control pills.
Dr. Shirley Malcom
Dr. Shirley Malcom is the Head of Education and Human Resources Programs at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a trustee of Caltech, and a regent of Morgan State University. She was born in Birmingham, AL in 1946, and after graduating from high school at 16 years old, she earned a B.S. with distinction in zoology from the University of Washington. After earning her M.S. in zoology from UCLA, she taught high school before earning her PhD in ecology from Penn State in 1974. The lack of minorities and women in her among her classmates and faculty became the driving inspiration for her work. One of her early contributions during her time as a research associate at AAAS was a report she co-authored titled, The Double Bind: The Price of Being a Minority Woman in Science (1976). Dr. Malcom then became the program manager for the Minority Institutions Science Improvement Program at NSF, where she focused on providing federal funding to HBCUs for equipment, facilities, and increasing faculty salaries. Dr. Malcom was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded the Public Welfare Medal, their highest award, in 2003. She continues to advocate for increasing accessibility of STEM education and careers for girls and women.