People, Locations, Episodes

Marie M. Daly, Biochemist born

Marie Daly was born on this date in 1921. She was an African American biochemist.

From Corona, NY, Marie Maynard Daly earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Queens College in 1942 and a Master of Science from New York University in 1943.

Margaret Collins, Entomologist and Activist born.

*Margaret Collins was born on this date in 1922. She was a Black entomologist (zoologist) and a civil rights advocate. Margaret James was born in Institute, West Virginia. Collins was the fourth child of Rollins James and Luella Bolling James. Institute was an all-Black town and a college town. Collins’s father earned his bachelor’s degree […]

Ralph Gardner, Chemist born

On this date in 1922, Ralph Gardner was born. He was an African American scientist who specialized in the development of hard plastics.

Ralph Alexander Gardner’s was born in Cleveland to Vivian Hicks Gardner, a teacher and housewife, and Clarence Chavous Gardner, a musician and government worker. His mother earned a degree from the University of Illinois. While in the eighth and ninth grade Gardner realized that chemistry was his direction in life. Gardner attended the Cleveland Public Schools, graduating from John Adams High School.

Henry Washington Banks, Astronomer born

*Harvey Washington Banks was born on this date in 1923.  He was a Black Astronomer. Harvey Washington Banks was from Atlantic City, New Jersey. He attended Dunbar High School and Howard University. While at Howard, Banks earned his B.S. and M.S. in Physics in 1947 and 1948, respectively.  He remained at Howard, where he taught physics until 1952. […]

J. Ernest Wilkins Jr., Math Educator born

*J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr. was born on this date in 1923. He was an African American mathematician and teacher.

William Darity Sr., Public Health Advocate born

*William Darity Sr. was born on January 15, 1924. He was a Black public health advocate, academic administrator, and activist. William Alexander (Bill) Darity Sr. was born in East Flat Rock, N.C. Neither of his parents, Aden Randall and Elizabeth Smith Darity, had been educated beyond the sixth grade. Still, they managed to provide a […]

Jewel Plummer Cobb, Biologist, and Educator born

*Jewel Plummer Cobb was born on this date in 1924. She is an African American Educator and Research Scientist.

Evelyn Granville, Math Educator born

Evelyn Boyd Granville was born on this date in 1924 in Washington, D.C. She is an African American mathematician, teacher, and scientist.

She attended a then-segregated Dunbar High School, and was encouraged in the subject by two of her mathematics teachers. Granville attended Smith College on a partial scholarship. In 1945, she graduated summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She worked with Einar Hille, her Ph.D. faculty adviser at Yale University, in functional analysis.

Albert Antoine, Scientist, and Teacher born

Albert Cornelius Antoine was born on this date in 1925. He is an African American scientist and educator.

Hosea Williams, Activist born

On this date, Hosea Williams was born in, 1926. He was an African American civil rights activist.

Williams was the son of blind Black parents, from Attapulgus, Georgia. After studying at Morris Brown College and Atlanta University, he found employment as a research chemist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Randolph Bromery, Geophysicist born

*Randolph Bromery was born on this date in 1926. He is an African American Geophysicist, educator. Bromery was born and raised in Cumberland, Maryland during the Depression.

Alma Levant Hayden, Chemist born.

*Alma Levant Hayden, a Black chemist, was born on this date in 1927 in Greenville, South Carolina. She graduated from South Carolina State College with honors in 1947. Originally planning to be a nurse, she found herself so interested in chemistry that she gained a master’s degree in chemistry from Howard University. Levant joined the National Institute of […]

Jessie Price, Microbiologist born

*Jessie Price was born on this date in 1930. She was a Black veterinary microbiologist. She isolated and reproduced the cause of the most common life-threatening disease in duck farming in the 1950s and developed vaccines for this and other avian diseases. Early life and education.  Jessie Isabelle Price was born in Montrose, Pennsylvania. Her […]

Gladys Mae West, Mathematician born

*The birth of Gladys Mae West is celebrated on this date in 1930. She is a Black mathematician and teacher recognized for her contributions to the mathematical modeling of the Earth’s shape.  She was born Gladys Mae Brown in Sutherland, Virginia, in Dinwiddie County, rural south of Richmond. Her family was a farming family in […]

George Wiley, Chemist born

*George Wiley was born on this date in 1931. He was a Black chemist and civil rights leader.   George Alvin Wiley was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of a postal clerk and one of six children. His family eventually moved to Warwick, Rhode Island. Wiley earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Rhode Island in 1953 and […]