Next Steps

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeannette Brown
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
African American ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Role Model ◽  
African American Girls ◽  
Civil Rights Era ◽  
Good Education ◽  
American Women ◽  
Young Girls

This book covers the stories of African American women chemists who entered the field before the civil rights era or shortly thereafter. The women in this book were swimming against the tide. They chose to enter a career in which they were among the first persons of their gender and race. There are many young American women currently active in the profession of chemistry. Young girls are still interested in becoming scientists; however, they still have to fight to make sure they receive a good education in science. This need for good education is discussed in a book titled, Swimming against the Tide: African American Girls and Science Education, by Dr. Sandra L Hanson. Dr. Hanson studied young African American girls in high school and their attitudes toward science, which has traditionally been a male profession. One of Dr. Hanson’s conclusions is that these young girls had never seen a role model, African American women chemists, either in books or in person. She also discovered that the young women were still interested in science, even though they received little encouragement from their teachers. Dr. Hanson found that the parents of the girls encouraged their interest in science, with mothers being their biggest cheerleaders. Dr. Hanson would like to see more science teachers encourage young African American girls to study science. One of the women in this book, Allene Johnson, served as a high school chemistry teacher and made a career both of mentoring science teachers and of encouraging African Americans, both male and female, to enter careers in chemistry. Most of the other women in this book also have mentored women who wanted to become chemists either in academia or in industry. What resources are available to young people if they are interested in chemistry as a career? There are many organizations that are focused on careers in chemistry. The major one is the American Chemical Society (ACS). However, one should first consider this question: What is chemistry? Chemistry is a varied profession.

Chemical Educators

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeannette Brown
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
African American ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Historically Black ◽  
Home Economics ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
American Women ◽  
Spelman College ◽  
Washington High School ◽  
The University

Johnnie Hines Watts Prothro was one of the first African American women scientists and researchers in the field of food chemistry and nutrition. Having grown up in the segregated American South, Dr. Protho became particularly interested in promoting healthy nutrition and diets for African Americans. Johnnie Hines Watts was born on February 28, 1922, in Atlanta, Georgia, in the segregated South. Her parents emphasized the importance of an education and she graduated from high school at the age of fifteen. She enrolled in the historically black Spelman College in Atlanta as a commuter student and received a BS degree with honors in Home Economics from Spelman in 1941. Following her graduation, she obtained a position as a teacher of foods and nutrition—the usual career path for African American women who earned bachelor’s degrees in science during the Jim Crow era—at Atlanta’s all-black Booker T. Washington High School. Watts taught at Booker T. Washington High School from 1941 to 1945, then moved to New York City to attend Columbia University, from which she received her MS degree in 1946. Armed with her master’s degree, Watts became an instructor of chemistry at a historically black Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She worked there during the 1946–1947 academic year before deciding to pursue a PhD. Watts enrolled in the University of Chicago after researching the doctoral offerings of several universities. She was the recipient of a number of scholarships and awards at the University of Chicago. Among the awards were the Laverne Noyes Scholarship (1948–1950), the Evaporated Milk Association Award (1950–1951), the Borden Award from the American Home Economics Association (1950– 1951), and a research assistantship (1951–1952). Watts married Charles E. Prothro in 1949. It is said that they met in Connecticut, but this is not clearly documented. Watts Prothro received her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1952. Her dissertation title is “The Relation of the Rates of Inactivation of Peroxidase, Catecholase, and Ascorbase to the Oxidation of Ascorbic Acid in Vegetables.”

scholarly journals Oppression and Emancipation of African American Women in Suzan Lori Parks’ Venus

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 142
Author(s):  
Muhannad Hassan Jasim ◽  
Lajiman Janoory
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
African Women ◽  
Civil Rights Era ◽  
American Women ◽  
History Of ◽  
Postcolonial Feminist Theory ◽  
Postcolonial Feminist

The aim of this paper is to critically explore various challenges faced by oppressed and suppressed African American women in the western societies. It also explores the varied emancipatory efforts they make when striving to absolve themselves of the forces of oppression and dehumanization as portrayed by Suzan Lori Parks in her play, Venus. The paper uses the postcolonial feminist theory of the Subaltern as the basis for the analysis to thoroughly examine the play extrinsically and intrinsically. In her play, Suzan- Lori Parks portrays African American women facing the turbulence of racism, discrimination and inequality in the western socio-geographical setting. She confidently and aesthetically reveals various challenges hindering the progress and life fulfilment of the African American women through the heroine of her play. The paper traces the history of Venus, unveils the cruelty of the European mentality and racial discrimination against African women. It also shows the rights of African women and identifies new ways for them to express their identities. Finally, the paper reveals that despite the obvious and prevalent acts of discrimination for African women for over the years, the problem persists. However, unlike the pre–Civil Rights era, today’s discrimination is less readily identifiable.

African American Adolescent Girls’ Beliefs About Skin Tone and Colorism

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 169-194
Author(s):  
Jasmine A. Abrams ◽  
Faye Z. Belgrave ◽  
Chelsea D. Williams ◽  
Morgan L. Maxwell
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
African American Girls ◽  
Dark Skin ◽  
American Women ◽  
African American Adolescent ◽  
Light Skin

Colorism is a pervasive system of inequality shown to negatively affect psychosocial and economic outcomes among African American adults. Among African American women and girls in particular, the social and psychological implications of colorist practices can be severe. The present study aimed to better understand African American girls’ understanding of this phenomenon during adolescence. Using a phenomenological approach, interviews and focus groups were conducted with African American girls ( N = 30) in order to determine which colorist messages are perceived and potentially internalized as communal beliefs. Iterative coding and subsequent thematic analysis revealed three primary themes and four subthemes: (a) Skin tone and attractiveness (Subthemes: Light skin as beautiful; Dark skin as unattractive), (b) Skin tone and social standing and education level (Subthemes: Dark skin as lower class; Light skin as higher class), and (c) Skin tone and personality/behavioral traits. Findings revealed that African American girls reported contemporary colorism biases similar to those found among African American women, suggesting temporal and generational continuity.

A Leavening Force: African American Women and Christian Mission in the Civil Rights Era

2012 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 873-902
Author(s):  
Mary K. Schueneman
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Christian Missions ◽  
Civil Rights Era ◽  
American Women ◽  
Christian Mission ◽  
Historical Continuity ◽  
New Vision ◽  
Missionary Service

After Josephine Beckwith and DeLaris Johnson broke the color barrier at two southern missionary training schools in the 1940s and 50s, their religious vocations led them and other African American women on a trajectory of missionary service resonate with what we recognize today as civil rights activism. While histories of African American women's mission organizing and those of their civil rights organizing typically are framed as separate endeavors, this article teases out the previously unexamined overlaps and connections between black women's missionary efforts and civil rights activism in the 1940s and 50s. In doing so, it bridges a disjuncture in African American women's religious history, illuminating the ways beliefs about Christian mission shaped the community work of black missionary women so that narratives of civil rights organizing and Christian missions are no longer discrete categories but are seen in historical continuity. In shedding light on the ways mission organizing and service served as a site for cultivating leadership and engaging segregation and racism, a new vision and practice of mission for the civil rights era is revealed and our understandings of the religious lives and activism of African American women are greatly enriched and expanded.

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