People, Locations, Episodes

Vivienne Malone-Mayes, Math Professor born

*Vivienne Malone-Mayes was born on this date in 1932. She was a Black mathematician and professor.   Vivienne Lucille Malone was born in Waco, Texas, to Pizarro and Vera Lucille Estelle Allen Malone.  Growing up in a Black community in the Jim Crow South was difficult. This included racially segregated schools, but the encouragement of […]

James A. Harris, Nuclear Chemist born

*James Harris was born on this date in 1932. He was a Black nuclear chemist who discovered elements 104 and 105 (rutherfordium and dubnium).   James Andrew Harris was born in Waco, Texas. His parents divorced when he was young, after which he moved to Oakland, California, with his mother and finished high school. Harris […]

Annie Easley, Rocket Scientist born

*Annie J. Easley was born on this date in 1933.  She was a Black computer scientist, mathematician, and rocket scientist.  Annie Easley was born to Samuel Bird Easley and Mary Melvina Hoover in Birmingham, Alabama. From the fifth grade through high school, Annie attended Holy Family High School and was valedictorian of her graduating class.  In […]

Caldwell McCoy, Engineer born

Dr. Caldwell McCoy, Jr. was born this date in 1933. He was an African American electrical engineer.

He was born in Hartford, CT, graduated from Weaver High School, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Connecticut. He received a Master of Science degree in Mathematics, and Doctor of Science degrees in Telecommunications from George Washington University, Washington, D.C. From 1956 to 1959, McCoy served in the United States Air Force where he was a combat flyer with the Strategic Air Command.

Joan Murrell Owens, Marine Biologist born

*Joan Murrell Owens was born on this date in 1933. She was a Black educator and marine biologist.   Joan Murrell was born to William and Leola Murrell in Miami, Florida. She was the youngest of their three daughters. Her father was a dentist. Encouraged by her parents, Joan developed an interest in the life […]

Raye Montague, Engineer born

*Raye Montague was born on this date in 1935. She is an African American internationally registered professional engineer (RPE) with the U.S. Navy (retired). Raye Jean Jordan Montague was born in Little Rock, Arkansas to Rayford Jordan and Flossie Graves Jordan. She attended St. Bartholomew School before moving to Merrill High School in Pine Bluff, where she graduated in 1952.

Bettye Washington Greene, Research Chemist born.

*Bettye Washington Greene was born on this date in 1935. She was a Black industrial research chemist. Bettye Washington was born in Fort Worth, Texas. She attended segregated public schools and graduated from I.M. Terrell High School around 1952. Washington graduated from Tuskegee Institute with a B.S. in chemistry in 1955. She earned her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from […]

Arthur Walker, Solar Physicist born

*Arthur Walker was born on this date in 1936. He was an African American Solar Physicist and educator. This form of science focuses on many aspects of the solar system.

William Lester, Chemist born

*William Lester, Jr., was born on this date in 1937. He is a Black theoretical chemist. Born in Chicago, Illinois, his mother, Elizabeth Francis Lester, was born in Chicago and worked as a seamstress and a doctor’s assistant. His father, William Alexander Lester, was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but moved to Chicago with his family […]

Reatha Clark King, Scientist, and Philanthropist born

Reatha Clark King was born on this date in 1938. She is an African American administrator, educator, scientist, and philanthropist.

From Pavo, Georgia, her father Willie was a farm laborer who left the family when Reatha was a child. Her mother, Ola Watts Campbell then moved the family to Moultree, Georgia where she worked as a domestic to support her three children. Clark-King spent her childhood years working in the cotton fields and on her aunt’s farm and on the property of landlords.

Genevieve Knight, Math Educator born

*Genevieve Knight was born on this date in 1939. She is an African American mathematician and teacher.

John Macklin, Chemist, and Environmentalist born

*John W. Macklin was born on this date in 1939. He is an African American analytical chemist and educator.

George Alcorn, Physicist born

*George Alcorn was born on this date in 1940. He is a Black physicist and inventor. George Edward Alcorn is the son of George and Arletta Dixon Alcorn in Indianapolis, Indiana.  His father was an auto mechanic who sacrificed so Alcorn and his brother could get an education. Alcorn attended Occidental College in Pasadena, California, where he maintained an excellent academic […]

Wangarĩ Maathai, Environmental Activist born

*Wangarĩ Maathai was born on this date in 1940. She was a Black Kenyan social, environmental justice, and political activist.   Wangarĩ Muta Maathai was born in Ihithe, Nyeri District, in the central highlands of Kenya. Her family is Kikuyu, the most populous ethnic group in Kenya, and has lived in the area for several […]

Franklin McCain, STEM Administrator and Activist born.

*Franklin McCain was born on this date in 1941. He was an African American Chemical Administrator, Civil Rights leader and one of the Greensboro Four.