People, Locations, Episodes

Benjamin Banneker, Astronomer and Mathematician born

Benjamin Banneker was born on this date in 1731. He was a self-taught, Black astronomer and mathematician.

Banneker and his sisters were born free and grew up on a self-sufficient, 100-acre tobacco farm in Ellicott, MD. Growing up, he spent much of his free time devising and solving mathematical puzzles. It was not until after his retirement from farming at the age of 59 that Banneker began to study astronomy through borrowed books, becoming a man of science and mathematics through unassisted experimentation and close observation of natural phenomena.

Josephine Silone Yates, STEM Professor born

*Josephine Silone Yates was born on this date in 1859.  She was a Black chemist, journalist, and educator.   Josephine Silone was the second daughter of Alexander and Parthenia Reeve Silone and was born in Mattituck, NY. During her childhood, her family lived with her maternal grandfather, a freed slave, Lymas Reeves. Her mother taught […]

Herman Marie Moens, Ethnologist born.

*Herman Marie Moens was born on September 25, 1875. He was a white self-proclaimed anthropologist and admirer of eugenics. Herman Marie Bernelot Moens was born in the Netherlands, the son of a naval officer. Although he initially showed little interest in country life, after a mediocre high school result, he enrolled in an education in […]

Frank Mann, Aviator, and Engineer born

On this date we mark the birth of Frank Mann in 1908. He was an African American engineer and designer.

Bessie Blount, Inventor, and Forensic Scientist born

On this date, we mark the birth of Bessie Blount in 1914, an African American inventor and forensic scientist.

She was born in Hickory, Virginia. Little else is known of her family or her childhood except that she had long wanted to work in the medical field. Blount left home and traveled north to New Jersey to become a physical therapist. She studied at both Panzar College of Physical Education and at Union Junior College. Then she moved to Chicago where she finished her training.

Carolyn B. Parker, Physicist, and Professor born

*Carolyn Parker was born on this date in 1917.  She was a Black physicist and professor.  Carolyn Beatrice Parker was born in Gainesville, Florida. Her father, Julius A. Parker, was a successful physician and pharmacist who graduated from Meharry Medical College, the first medical school for Blacks in the South. Her mother was Della Ella […]