What’s good, everyone? This first post for Black History Month will be more of a vibe. I love a good story and with that, I invite you all to learn a bit about some dope Black innovators from across the pantheon of the African diaspora. As you read, I invite you to not stop here, but to go deeper into learning more about the lives and contributions of these profound STEM professionals. To get you started, I’ve shared a short list of resources linked below each summary and throughout this post.
There are tons of resources to kick off your learning journey, one of which is a limited time free three-part course from Masterclass on Black History, Black Freedom, and Black Love. For you techies, if you’re an educator or simply curious about the state of tech and how to get youth involved, check out a short list of some excellent resources for youth as well as a state-of-play in the space from SMASH , The Kapor Center, The Hidden Genius Project, and Black Tech Street. We out here, yall! I’ll be sharing some exciting news about Career Catalyst soon!
Kick back and enjoy the post. Oh, and Black history is American history. That is all.
As time goes on, the more we learn about lesser known heroes of the African Diaspora, we realize the importance of equity in the systems that impact everyday life such as the environment, science and medicine, and economics and politics. In the world of STEM, some of the individuals highlighted in this blog may or may not be household names. However, each champion mentioned, worked with great intent to advance respective fields and change the operating systems and norms of their day so that future generations would have a chance to live healthy lives in more equitable systems. In many instances, not all mentioned in this write-up, the fields of science were advanced by nonconsenting African-Americans by institutions and researchers who abused their authority and power (sorry y’all, I know I said I wasn’t gonna go heavy, but I had to state this fact). Okay, let’s jump in!
Mathematics
Nine planets faithfully keep in orbit. With the probable tenth, the universe expands length. – Yasiin Bey FKA Mos Def
Katherine Johnson and the “Hidden Figures” of NASA
Before IBM or Apple, there was Katherine Johnson, the “human computer”. Katherine Johnson, a native of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, earned a PhD in mathematics with the highest honors of her class. She joined the core group of engineers of NASA’s (known back then as National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) Space Task Group in 1958 and performed trajectory analysis for the 1961 mission Freedom 7, America’s first human space flight, then the Friendship 7 mission involving Sen. John Glenn, who completed an orbital flight thanks to Johnson’s groundbreaking equations. Her work marked a turning point in the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union in space. Johnson and West Arena Computing section cohorts – Mary W. Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan – of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory made history during an era in which female engineers of any background were a rarity. “We have to do something like this to get them interested in science,” said Mary Jackson, NASA’s first black engineer, of the importance of exposing youngsters to the field. “Sometimes they are not aware of the number of black scientists, and don’t even know of the career opportunities until it is too late.” As a respected mathematician and NASA’s first African-American manager at Langley, Vaughan collaborated with white female engineers and demanded equity for all female engineers that handled equations for the calculating machines that were pivotal to research and projects.
Resources:
Book: Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson
Film: Hidden Figures (2016)
Website: https://katherinejohnson.net/
Biology
“I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA” – Kendrick Lamar
Henrietta Lacks’ HeLa cells
Today’s science students have probably heard of the name Henrietta Lacks from the HBO film, ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ by Rebecca Skloot which starred Oprah Winfrey. The film and book on which the film is based, touches on bio-ethical issues related to informed consent, medical records privacy and communications with tissue donors and research participants. Lacks was a mother of five when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at age 31 at Johns Hopkins, the only treatment facility for Black people in the 1950s. Cancerous cells were taken from her body without her consent and mass produced and distributed around the world for profit. Those “HeLa” cells, according to a World Health Organization statement, allowed for scientific breakthroughs related to the human papillomavirus vaccine, polio vaccine, drugs for HIV and cancers, COVID-19 research and effects of zero gravity. Johns Hopkins’ work with members of the Lacks family since 2010 developed programs to recognize and honor Henrietta and her contribution to clinical research and advancement of health equity worldwide. Her cells continue to impact the world, and a research building erected in her name is anticipated to be completed this year.
Resources:
Book: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Film: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017)
Website: Henrietta Lacks: Science Must Right a Historical Wrong (Nature.com)
General Surgery
“We bleed from similar veins.” – Tupac
Dr. Charles R. Drew, “Father of the Blood Bank” and Innovator of Plasma
Let’s talk plasma for a second–not TV’s, blood. The major scientific achievements of Dr. Charles R. Drew in the mid-twentieth century are responsible for the modern system of collecting and preserving life-saving blood products. His research and developments of the use and preservation of plasma during World War II and innovation of the blood banking process raised the awareness of all humans bleeding the same, despite systemic racism preventing patients of color from donating blood, being treated in the same hospital wards and receiving blood transfusions as white patients. Drew’s work with plasma became the model for the Red Cross pilot program to mass produce dried plasma and he became assistant director for the National Blood Donor Service, creating mobile blood donation trucks with refrigerators. “While one must grant at once that extraordinary talent, great intellectual strength and unusual opportunity are necessary to break out of this prison of the Negro problem,” Drew said, “we believe that the Negro in the field of physical sciences has not only opened a small passageway to the outside world, but is carving a road in many untrodden area, along which later generations will find it more easy to travel. The breaching of these walls and the laying of this road has not been, and is not easy.”
Resources:
Article: It Happened Here: Dr. Charles Drew (New York Presbyterian Hospital)
Article: Charles Richard Drew: “Father of the Blood Bank” (American Chemical Society)
Environmental Justice & Biology
“Mother nature feeds all in famine and drought. Tell those selfish in ways, not to share us out.” – Nas and Damian Marley
Wangari Maathai, Kenya’s Greenbelt Movement founder
A 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Wangari Maathai received her education in multiple countries while spreading goodwill and environmental justice through her grassroots foundation, the Greenbelt Movement, in her native Kenya. The first woman in East and Central Africa to have taught veterinary anatomy, Maathai’s Nobel recognition came from her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace. In her four books, Maathai’s work in environmental justice showed the world how releasing strongholds of colonization can lead to greater care for the environment, show the people their political and economic power and how collaboration across the Diaspora can heal the world. Her “Why” is clear in this quote on her Foundation’s website: “We cannot tire or give up. We owe it to the present and future generations of all species to rise up and walk!”
Resources:
Article: Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Dies at 71 ( The New York Times)
Website: The Greenbelt Movement
Please enjoy and share the above resources. Catch you next post!
