9781422283233

Black Achievement I N SC I E NC E

Chemistry

TK

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Mason Crest

Black Achievement I N SC I E NC E

Biology Chemistry Computer Science Engineering Environmental Science

Inventors Medicine Physics Space Technology

Black Achievement I N SC I E NC E

Chemistry

By JANE GARDNER Foreword by Malinda Gilmore and Mel Poulson, National Organization for the Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, PA 19008 www.masoncrest.com © 2017 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-3554-6 Hardback ISBN: 978-1-4222-3556-0 EBook ISBN: 978-1-4222-8323-3

First printing 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Produced by Shoreline Publishing Group LLC Santa Barbara, California Editorial Director: James Buckley Jr. Designer: Patty Kelley Production: Sandy Gordon www.shorelinepublishing.com

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Contents

Foreword. 6 Introduction. 8 George Washington Carver. 12 Alice Ball. 18 Lloyd A. Hall. 24 Henry McBay. 28 Marie Daly. 34 James A. Harris. 38 Willie May . 42 Jennie Patrick . 48 Careers in Chemistry . 56 Text-Dependent Questions . 60 Research Projects. 61 Find Out More . 62 Series Glossary of Key Terms. 63 Index/Author. 64

Key Icons to Look for

Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text, while building vocabulary skills. Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented here. Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains terminology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field. Educational Videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in history, speeches, iconic moments, and much more!

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cience, Technology, Engineering and Mathe- matics (STEM) are vital to our future, the future of our country, the future of our regions, and the future of our children. STEM is everywhere and it shapes our everyday experiences. Sci- ence and technology have become the leading foundation of global development. Both subjects continue to improve the quality of life as new findings, inventions, and creations emerge from the basis of science. A career in a STEM disci- pline is a fantastic choice and one that should be explored by many. In today’s society, STEM is becoming more diverse and even internationalized. However, the shortage of African Americans and other minorities, including women, still

exists. This series— Black Achievement in Science — reveals the numerous ca- reer choices and pathways that great African-Ameri- can scientists, technologists,

By Malinda Gilmore, NOBCChE Executive Board Chair and Mel Poulson, NOBCChE Executive Board Vice-Chair

engineers, and mathematicians have pursued to become successful in a STEM discipline. The purpose of this series of books is to inspire, motivate, encourage, and educate people about the numerous career choices and pathways in STEM. We applaud the authors for sharing the experi- ences of our forefathers and foremothers and ultimately in- creasing the number of people of color in STEM and, more

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Black Achievement in Science: Chemistry

Series Foreword

specifically, increasing the number of African Americans to pursue careers in STEM. The personal experiences and accomplishments shared within are truly inspiring and gratifying. It is our hope that by reading about the lives and careers of these great sci- entists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians, the reader might become inspired and totally committed to pursue a career in a STEM discipline and say to themselves, “If they were able to do it, then I am definitely able to do it, and this, too, can be me.” Hopefully, the reader will realize that these great accomplishments didn’t come easily. It was because of hard work, perseverance, and determination that these chosen individuals were so successful. As Executive Board Members of The National Organi- zation for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) we are excited about this series. For more than 40 years, NOBCChE has promot- ed the STEM fields and its mission is to build an eminent cadre of people of color in STEM. Our mission is in line with the overall purpose of this series and we are indeed committed to inspiring our youth to explore and contribute to our country’s future in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. We encourage all readers to enjoy the series in its en- tirety and identify with a personal story that resonates well with you. Learn more about that person and their career pathway, and you can be just like them.

Series Foreword

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W

hen you think about chemistry class do you picture yourself in a lab coat, hunched over a beaker of bubbling liquid? Or do you see tables and charts and calculations with arrows and numbers, subscripts and superscripts? Those are all things that students of chemistry, and actual chem- ists, do in their careers. But the study of chemistry and the role chemistry plays in our lives is so much more than lab work and formulas. Chemistry is the study of everything about matter— from its composition, to its structure, to its properties, and

Using lab equipment like this, chemists can study just about everything in the world that is made of matter.

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Black Achievement in Science: Chemistry

Introduction

how it reacts with other things. Chemistry is all around you. Consider this. Did you make toast this morning for break- fast? Fry an egg in a pan? Wash your hair with shampoo? Take a vitamin? Add bleach to a load of laundry? Or ride in an automobile? All of these things happened because of chemistry, chemical reactions, and interactions of different types of matter. Chemists study chemicals. Chemicals always have the same composition and the same properties, nomatter where they are found. Chemicals make up everything around you. And chemists work with chemicals and their properties in different settings. Some chemists may work in a lab to come up with new ways to keep our foods safe. Environmental chemists collect water samples from contaminated streams and devise ways to clean them up. Medical chemists work with medicine to come up with new cures for diseases, new vaccinations, and new drug treatments. Hazmat chemists protect us from hazardous waste and radioactivity. Forensic chemists help to solve crimes with sophisticated technolo- gy. Chemists work in laboratories, conducting experiments, and analyzing data. And chemists even interpret data from outer space, expanding our knowledge of the chemicals that shape the worlds far beyond our own. This book is part of a series highlighting the achieve- ments of black scientists. As you will read, many of the black chemists in this book were met with opposition and prejudice. The chemists introduced here range from George Washington Carver, who was born into slavery in the 1800s,

Introduction

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to Willie E. May who heads the National Institute of Stan- dards and Technology. Even the more modern-day chem- ists met with opposition. These scientists have arrived to job interviews only to be told that they should be applying for the position of janitor, or given the task of doing sim-

ple math, rather than the sophis- ticated science they were trained to do. Not only are these scientists notable for their scientific and ed- ucational accomplishments, but also for the social and personal obstacles they overcame in their pursuit of education and science. The chemists featured in this book came from all over the US and the world. Some gave back to society by discovering import- ant treatments for disease, or by leading government agencies to improve everyone’s health, or by inspiring groups of African- American elementary students to pursue careers in science or engi- neering. Others became teachers,

Pursuing a career in chemistry will start with learning how to work in a lab.

passing their love of science on to generations of students. Others looked beyond the borders of the US, working to establish schools and access to education in remote African villages. These chemists were, and are, more than simply

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Black Achievement in Science: Chemistry

scientists in lab coats. They are examples of how science can help others. There are countless chemists, scientists of all races, who have done amazing things and overcome obstacles along the way. This is the story of only eight of these chemists. But, perhaps you will be inspired by their strength and de- termination and use their model as a model for part of your own life. • Chemists learn symbols and a system of diagrams that help them explain chemical elements and bonds.

Introduction

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Words to Understand botany

the study of plant biology chemurgy use of food products for nonfood uses pathology the study of diseases and the changes they cause in organisms

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Chapter 1

George Washington Carver

Born: 1864(?)

T he exact date of George Wash- ington Carver’s birth is uncer- tain. He was born a slave in Mis- sissippi sometime around 1864. This was toward the end of the American Civil War and Carver’s mother, Mary, was owned by Mr. Moses Carver. Carver’s father was a slave owned by a neighbor, but he was killed in an accident before Carver was born. Carver and his mother were kidnapped when he was a baby. Their owner, Mr. Carv- er, hired someone to find Mary and her baby. Mary died under suspicious circumstances and only baby George was returned to the Carver home. With the end of the Civil War and slav- ery in 1865, young Carver had a new home. Moses Carver and his wife, Susan, took him in and raised him. He was sickly as a young boy, and was not much help in the fields or

Died: 1943 Nationality: American Achievements:

Pioneered multiple uses of crops such as the peanut;

inventor, educator, botanist, chemist.

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on the farm. He spent most of his time helping with house- hold chores such as cooking, laundry, and sewing. The Carvers taught George to read and write. As a re- sult, he gained an appreciation for learning and a thirst for knowledge. George left the Carver home when he was young to go to a school for black children. Eventually, af- ter attending several different schools, he graduated from Minneapolis High School in Kansas. He was accepted to Highland College but when he arrived on campus, he was asked to leave. The administrators did not realize he was black, and indicated that they did not accept students of his race. Several years later, he applied and was accepted to Iowa State Agricultural College in Ames. Carver was interested in many things: music, art, bot- any, chemistry, and agriculture. He eventually decided to study botany and went on to earn both a bachelor of science degree and a master’s degree in plant pathology at Iowa State. He wanted to take his knowledge of botany and share it with other students as a teacher and a researcher. In 1896, he was hired by Booker T. Washington to run the agricul- tural department at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Tuske- gee, a school for blacks only, was founded in 1881 as part of the effort to expand education for blacks after the Civil War. George Washington Carver enjoyed special status at Tuskegee. He had received much attention for his research and studies and was one of the only faculty members with a degree from a school that typically did not admit black students.

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Black Achievement in Science: Chemistry