Industry and Government Labs

Dr. Hopkins is one of the few American women to have held a doctorate in science and a license to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Her career included academia, industry, and government. Esther was born Esther Arvilla Harrison on September 16, 1926, in Stamford, Connecticut. She was the second of three children born to George Burgess Harrison and Esther Small Harrison. Her father was a chauffeur and sexton at a church, and her mother worked in domestic service. Neither of her parents had an advanced education. Her father had some high school education; her mother attended only primary school. However, both of her parents wanted to make sure their children had a good education. When Esther was three and a half years old, her mother took her along to register her older brother for school. Because Esther was taller than her brother, the teacher suggested that she take the test to start school. She passed the test and was able to start kindergarten at the age of three and a half! She and her brother went to school together all through elementary school. Boys and girls were separated in junior high school; in high school they remained separate but attended the same school. She decided in junior high school that she wanted to be a brain surgeon. This was because she met a woman doctor in Stamford who had an office in one of the buildings that her father cleaned. The woman was a physician and graduate of Boston University Medical School. Esther decided that she wanted to be just like her. Therefore, when Esther entered high school, she chose the college preparatory math and science track. She took as many science courses as possible in order to get into Boston University. She spent a lot of time at the local YWCA, becoming a volunteer youth leader. One speaker at a YWCA luncheon discouraged her from entering science and suggested that she become a hairdresser. Esther was hurt but not discouraged by this. She graduated from Stamford High School in 1943.

Resources for Historical Background

Many historians have written about the history of African Americans in science, but most of the articles focus only on the men and very little is written about the women. It would take additional research to find information pertaining only to the women. However, since both men and women lived through the same era, much of what affected the men also affected the women. The background information about black women chemists could probably fit into another book or at least a paper, but that was not within the scope of this book. Dr. Wini Warren, author of Black Women Scientists in the United States, did some extensive research on the background history of black women in science, which she planned to put into a future book; due to health problems it was never written. However, the Introduction to Dr. Warren’s book is well worth reading for some of the background history of the women. The endnotes in that chapter provide an extensive bibliography about the history of blacks in science. In addition, Dr. Warren includes an extensive discussion about the background history of black women scientists in the introduction of her thesis, “Hearts and Minds: Black Women Scientists in the United States 1900–1960.” Sisters in Science by Diann Jordan features author interviews of black women scientists, some of whom are chemists. The Introduction of her book, discusses the background history. Dr. Jordan also includes a history of black colleges in the section “The Role of the Black College in Educating African American Scientists.” Since many of the women in this book had their first college education in a black college, it is worth reading. Information about several of the African American women chemists in this book can be found in Contributions of Black Women to America, Volume 2. The Introduction and Chapter 1 in the “Science” section give some background information about the history of women in science.

My Story

Jeannette Brown’s career has included accomplishments in industry, academia, and publishing. Her claim to fame is working in two different pharmaceutical firms, where she was able to contribute her skill to the research teams who produced several marketable drugs. She was also able to mentor minorities to encourage them to enter the field of chemistry, both as part of a corporate effort and as a volunteer. Jeannette Brown was born May 13, 1934, in Fordham Hospital in the Bronx, New York. She was the only child of Ada May Fox and Freddie Brown. She was born in the middle of the Depression, and times were tough. Her father worked a number of jobs in order to feed his family, including shining shoes on the street. Finally, when Jeannette was five, her father got a job as a superintendent in a building in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. This section of Manhattan was just becoming a home for middle-class blacks moving up from Harlem. Since her father was a super, he had a basement apartment in the building. One of the tenants in the house was Dr. Arthur Logan, who became Jeannette’s doctor when she became very ill. Jeannette was in and out of the hospital many times, and she remembers asking Dr. Logan how she could become a doctor. He told her that she would have to study science. Jeannette was only five or six at the time, but that conversation impressed her and she immediately decided to become a scientist. When Jeannette started school at the age of six, she went to the neighborhood public school, which all children did at the time. The children in the school were mostly black, and some of them taunted her because she was interested in being a good student. Her father decided that the only way that she was going to get a good education was for him to try to get a job as a superintendent in a white neighborhood so that Jeannette could go to the mostly white schools.

Marie Maynard Daly

Dr. Marie Maynard Daly was the first African American woman chemist to receive a PhD in chemistry. In addition, she was part of a research team that was working on the precursors to DNA . Marie was born Marie Maynard Daly on April 16, 1921, to Ivan C. Daly and Helen Page, the first of three children. Her father, who had emigrated from the West Indies, received a scholarship from Cornell University to study chemistry; however, he had to drop out because he could not pay his room and board, and he became a postal worker. Daly’s interest in science came from her father’s encouragement and the desire to live his dream.” He later encouraged his daughter to pursue his dream, even though she was a woman and had brothers who were twins. In the 1920s, as a result of the women’s suffrage movement, some women began to aspire to achievement in areas outside the domestic sphere. Marie’s mother encouraged reading and spent many hours reading to her and her brothers. Marie’s maternal grandfather had an extensive library, including books about scientists, such as The Microbe Hunters by Paul De Kruff; she read that book and many others like it. Growing up in Queens, one of the boroughs of New York City, she attended the local public school, where she excelled. She was able to attend Hunter College High School, an all girls’ school affiliated with Hunter College for women. Since this was a laboratory school for Hunter College, the faculty encouraged the girls to excel in their studies. Since Marie had an aptitude for science, the teachers there encouraged her to study college-level chemistry while still in high school. One of the many advantages of living in New York City during that time was that students who had good grades could enter one of the tuition-free colleges run by the City of New York. As a result, Daly enrolled in Queens College, then one of the newest institutions in the City College system, in Flushing, New York.

Chemical Engineers

Dr. Lilia Abron is an engineer, an entrepreneur, mother, and activist who works twelve-hour days. She is another true Renaissance woman. Lilia was born at home in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 8, 1945. She was small, premature, and almost did not survive were it not for her aunt, who rushed her to the hospital in a cab because ambulances were not available to black people at the time. She was the second of four daughters of Ernest Buford Abron and Bernice Wise Abron, who were both educators. Both of her parents had attended LeMyone College. Her father entered college and played football. Because of an injury he was ineligible to serve in the military in World War II. He then worked as a Pullman porter, because his father had been a Pullman porter. After the war, when the trains were not as popular, he became a teacher in the Memphis public schools. Lilia’s mother and father were very active during the civil rights era. Lilia’s mother was from Arkansas; and she typed the briefs for Wiley Branton, defense attorney for the Little Rock Nine, the group that integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Because Lilia’s parents were active in Memphis society, Lilia was involved in programs that included the Girl Scouts and the church. She went to public school in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, which led the United States to improve math and science education. The school system tracked each student’s education, even in the segregated schools. Therefore, Lilia was placed in the math and science track. This meant she participated in a science fair, which was held at Lemoyne College. In addition, she had to prepare other science projects. Her segregated schools were well equipped for science teaching. In addition to well-stocked labs, the Memphis high school that she attended offered higher-level mathematics, including algebra and introduction to calculus. She graduated from high school in Memphis and decided to go to college with the intention of studying medicine, which was the one of the few occupations available to black people at the time.

Chemical Educators

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.”

Early Pioneers

Born into a free black family in the early nineteenth century, Josephine Silone Yates was a pioneering woman faculty member at the historically black Lincoln Institute (now University) in Jefferson City, Missouri, where she headed the Department of Natural Sciences. Yates later rose to prominence in the black women’s club movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, serving as president of the famed National Association of Colored Women (NACW) from 1901 to 1905. Josephine was born in 1852 in Mattituck, New York, to Alexander and Parthenia Reeve Silone. She was their second daughter. Her maternal grandfather, Lymas Reeves, had been a slave in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, but was freed in 1813. Lymas owned a house in Mattituck, and Josephine’s parents lived with him. 1 Josephine’s mother was well educated for the time, and she taught her daughter to read and write at home. Josephine’s earliest and fondest memories were of being taught to read from the Bible while snuggled on her mother’s lap. Her mother made her call out the words as she pointed to them. Josephine began school at age six, where her teachers immediately recognized her preparedness and advanced her rapidly through the elementary grades. At the age of nine, she reportedly studied physiology and physics and possessed advanced mathematical ability. Silone also advanced her writing career at the age of nine, by submitting “a story for publication to a New York weekly magazine. Though the article was rejected for publication, she received a letter of encouragement, which increased her ambition to succeed.” Josephine’s uncle, Reverend John Bunyan Reeve, was the pastor of the Lombard Street Central Church in Philadelphia. Because of his interest in the education of his niece, he convinced his sister, Parthenia, to send Josephine at the age of eleven to live with him in Philadelphia so that she could attend the Institute for Colored Youth directed by Fanny Jackson-Coppin. It was probably felt that Josephine’s education would progress better under the mentorship of Jackson-Coppin.

The Reason for This Book and Why These Women Were Chosen

Many people have studied the history of African American women chemists, but the information is scattered in many references, articles, and trade books. Until now, there was no one place where one could access extensive information about these women. This book is a compilation of all the references to date about the lives of these women; the chapters include a brief biography of each woman, with citations to the published information. The back matter provides a list of references. Not all of the women that I have written about are primarily researchers; some of them chose to be educators or businesspeople. My selection includes women pioneers—women who were the first to enter the field and receive a degree in chemistry, biochemistry, or chemical engineering. Some of these women were able to work as chemists before obtaining an advanced degree in chemistry. They later chose to pursue the PhD degree when major colleges and university allowed all students, regardless of race, to study. Some of the women chose not to pursue PhD degrees, ending their education with an MS degree. I extended my research to try to find the earliest women to pursue chemistry after the Civil War. It was difficult to find such early documents; however, I have not stopped searching. The first woman in this book, Josephine Silone Yates, was born into a family of free blacks in the north in 1852, before the Civil War. The next woman, Bebee Steven Lynk, was born in Mason, Tennessee in 1872 but not much is known about her early life. Alice Ball was born in 1896 into a family of free blacks in Seattle. These women, who were born in the nineteenth century, studied chemistry. Only one obtained an advanced degree: a PhC, which may have been a two-year degree. Josephine Silone Yates is reputed to have obtained a master’s degree. Most of the women in this book were, as the expression is used today, “nerds.” They were outstanding students in school.

Next Steps

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.

From Academia to Board Room and Science Policy

Reatha Clark King is a woman who began life in rural Georgia and rose to become a chemist, a college president, and vice president of a major corporate foundation. Reatha Belle Clark was born in Pavo, Georgia, on April 11, 1938, the second of three daughters born to Willie and Ola Watts Clark Campbell. Her mother Ola had a third grade education and her father Willie was illiterate. Her families were sharecroppers in Pavo. Her mother and grandmother raised her in Moultrie, Georgia, after her parents separated when she was young. She and her sisters worked long hours in the cotton and tobacco field during the summer to raise money. She could pick 200 pounds of cotton a day and earn $6.00, which was more than her mother’s salary as a maid. 1 In the 1940s in the rural segregated South, the only career aspirations for young black girls were to become a hairdresser, a teacher, or a nurse. Reatha started school at the age of four in the one-room schoolhouse at Mt. Zion Baptist Church. Still more than a decade before Brown v. Board of Education , Reatha’s schools were segregated. The teacher, Miss Florence Frazier, became Reatha’s first role model. Reatha said, “I never wondered if I could succeed in a subject. It was only a question of whether I wanted to study the subject.” She later attended the segregated Moutrie High School for Negro Youth. Despite missing much school to attend to fieldwork, Reatha maintained her studies. She graduated in 1954 as the valedictorian of her class. Reatha received a scholarship to enter Clark College in September 1954, originally planning to major in home economics and teach in her local high school. These plans changed after her first chemistry course with Alfred Spriggs, the chemistry professor. He encouraged her to major in chemistry and go to graduate school. She found that chemistry was the perfect major for her. She says, “Both the subject matter and methodology were interesting and challenging; the laboratory and lecture sessions were exciting; and my fellow students in chemistry were both serious students and fun to work with.”