African American Mathematicians Part 1

 Since the month of February is Black History Month, I’d like to take time to focus on several African American Mathematicians.  The movie “Hidden Figures” introduced us to Katherine Johnson who worked at NASA but was not recognized as a mathematician. Most of us are only familiar with the Europeans such as Descartes or the ancients like Pythagoras. 

If you look at many African American Mathematical figures, you will notice that  many of them contributed to the growth of mathematics.  For instance, Elbert Frank Cox influenced the mathematical program at Harvard.  He was born in Evansville, Indiana in 1895.  He was able to attend college and secured his Baccalaureate from the University of Indiana in 1917 with a major in mathematics.  After serving in World War I, he spent time teaching before returning to school to obtain a Masters and finally his Ph.D in Mathematics from Cornell University in 1925.

He is considered the first African American to be granted a Ph.D in Mathematics in both the United States and the World.  After graduating from Cornell, he spent four years working at West Virginia State University before moving to Howard University. At Howard University, he worked there until 1965 when he graduated.  He is said to be responsible for setting up the program which was later used by Ph.D students when Howard started granting Ph.D’s in 1975.  He also chaired the mathematics department from 1957 to 1961.  

Then there was Marjorie Lee Browne who was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1914.  She began college during the depression but using a combination of work, scholarships, and loans, she was able to attend Howard University. She graduated with her Baccalaureate in Mathematics in 1935. Upon graduation, she accepted a teaching position in New Orleans but left  after one year to pursue her Masters at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.  She received her Masters in 1939 while becoming one of the first African American women to receive this advanced degree.  

She accepted a job working as one of the teaching staff at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas after graduation but she worked during the summers on her Ph.D at the University of Michigan.  She ended up accepting a teaching fellowship at the University of Michigan where she completed her Ph.D around 1950.  In 1949, she accepted a position with North Carolina Central College where she worked for 25 years and she was the only one on staff with a Ph.D.  She is credited with obtaining enough grant monies for North Carolina Central College to purchase it’s first computer and to provide grant monies to outstanding mathematics students.  Furthermore, she spent her summers instructing secondary school teachers.  She passed away in 1969 of a heart attack at the age of 65.

I’ll be looking at more outstanding African American mathematicians later in the month.  This is just a start to show they are out there and made tremendous contributions.  Let me know what you think, I’d love to hear.  Have a great day.