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Biographies, Science Experiments, and Teacher Resources

Welcome to Black-Scientists.com!



This site includes biographies, science experiments, and teacher resources which are related to the contributions of historic black scientists and inventors.

“I am an invisible man…I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”
 
(from Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, 1952)
 

Does the term black scientist cause you to think of George Washington Carver? Can you name another black scientist? Although Carver was a scientific giant, other black scientists have contributed significantly to various fields of science and technology. Because history, however, is filtered through the eyes of the majority, the contributions of these great men and women have been generally ignored. Black scientists have remained conspicuously absent from our consciousness, our textbooks, and our classrooms. Please help us popularize these great men and women!
Granville Woods

The main purpose of Black-Scientists.com is to enable teachers to incorporate the contributions of black scientists into their classrooms. This will be accomplished by:

  1. Building a virtual community which will expand the knowledge base about black scientists. We invite you to contribute information on these scientists below via the easy-to-use "wiki" editing system at www.wikipedia.com.
  2. Providing classroom resources which will enable elementary and middle school teachers to seamlessly integrate the work of black scientists into their lessons. These resources will include:
    a. Lesson plans (corresponding to national curriculum standards) which relate to the contributions of these scientists.   
    b. Videos of master-teacher demonstrations which will serve as models for teachers.
    c. Links to pre-packaged kits for classroom experiments/demonstrations.
  3. Presenting a historical context related to the lives of black scientists.
  4. Promoting these men and women as role models for teachers and students.

Important Black Scientists/Inventors

  • Lewis Latimer (1848-1928)
  • Joseph Lee (1849-1905)
  • Granville Woods (1856-1910)
  • George Washington Carver (1864-1943)
  • Ernest Just (1883-1941)
  • William Augustus Hinton (1883-1959)
  • Lloyd Hall (1894-1971)
  • Frederick McKinley Jones (1893-1961)
  • Percy Julian (1899-1975)
  • Charles Drew (1904-1950)
  • Flemmie Pansy Kittrell (1904-1980)
  • Walter Lincoln Hawkins (1911-1992)
  • Henry Cecil McBay (1914-)
  • John Edward Hodge (1914-)
  • Lloyd Noel Ferguson (1918-)
  • Marie Maynard Daly (1921-)
  • Emmett Chappelle (1925-)
  • Juanita Simons Scott (1936-)
  • Cornelia Denson Gillyard (1941-)
  • Margaret Tolbert (1943-)
  • Carolyn Branch Brooks (1946-)
  • Ronald McNair (1950-1986)
  • Denise Stephenson-Hawk (1955-)


Walter Lincoln Hawkins:

First black American to join the technical staff at Bell Laboratories.

Sample Lesson Plans (Hawkins)
Hawkins--Slime Preparation (Teacher Version)
Hawkins-Slime Preparation (Student Version)

Questions? Contact Executive Director Cathy Ivey at cathy@black-scientists.com.