Black Mathematicians

1
Black Mathematicians

• By
• Alana Alexander
• June 1, 2006

2
Purpose for Students

• The purpose of this presentation is to recognize
  the black mathematicians that achieved great
  achievements in mathematics during a time when
  blacks were looked at as inferior.
• Young black students as well as all students need
  to know that even tough mathematics is looked at
  as a tough subject it can be achieved with great
  perseverance.

3
Purpose for Teachers

• The purpose of this presentation is to make
  teachers aware of great black mathematicians.
• Teachers can use this information to help their
  students, especially minority students relate to
  mathematics and find encouragement from those who
  persevered in mathematics.

4
Introduction

• There were many successful black mathematicians
  who went through great difficulty in trying to
  attain self-confidence in mathematics.
• Most of the people in this presentation are
  professional people who have earned degrees in
  mathematics and have taught mathematics to other
  mathematicians.
• This is a remarkable achievement for people who
  did not have all the rights and freedoms as other
  groups of people.

5
Introduction

• The history of blacks in mathematics dates back
  to the 1700s.
• The first recognized black mathematician
  recognized was a male.
• It was almost 200 years before women appeared in
  mathematics.

6
Benjamin Banneker

• Benjamin Banneker was the first Black recognized
  as a mathematician.
• He had little formal education.
• He displayed great talent in mathematics.
• He produced an almanac and was commissioned to
  survey Washington D.C..

7
Thomas Fuller

• It has been said that he is the first known
  mathematician.
• Fuller was a slave shipped from Africa.
• Like Banneker, Fuller had no formal education.
• He possessed remarkable powers of calculations.
• He acquired these great mathematical abilities
  from Africa.

8
Kelly Miller

• The first Black mathematics graduate student in
  1887.
• The first African American student admitted to
  John Hopkins mathematics program.
• He received a Master of Arts in Mathematics in
  1901.
• He continued his work in mathematics by being a
  professor of mathematics and sociology.

9
Elbert F. Cox

• He showed great abilities in mathematics and
  physics in high school.
• The first African American to earn a Ph.D. in
  Mathematics in 1925 from Cornell University.
• There were only 28 Ph.D.s that were given in
  1925 all over the country.
• Cox s achievement of a Ph. D. in mathematics was
  remarkable.

10
Dudley Weldon WoodardandWilliam Schieffelin
Claytor

• Woodard (1928) and Claytor (1933) were the second
  and third black men to earn a Ph.D. in
  Mathematics.

11
Dr. Dudley Woodard

• Dr. Woodard established the M.S. degree program
  in mathematics at Howard University.
• He helped to establish a mathematics library at
  Howard University.
• Woodard taught many of the upcoming black
  mathematicians to come.

12
William Claytor

• William Waldron Schieffelin Claytor earned his
  A.B. and M.A. from Howard University under
  Woodard.
• Dr. Claytor was the first African American to
  publish mathematics research.

13
African American Women of Mathematics

• It wasnt until 1943 that a woman earned a Ph.D.
  in mathematics.

14
Euphemia Lofton Haynes

• She became the first African American Woman to
  earn a Ph.D. in Mathematics.
• She taught in the public schools of Washington,
  DC for forty-seven years.
• She was the first woman to chair the DC School
  Board.
• Dr. Haynes established the mathematics department
  at Miners Teacher's College.

15
African American Women (contd)

• There were many women to follow in Dr. Hayes foot
  steps
• Evelyn Boyd Granville
• Marjorie Lee Browne

16
Evelyn Boyd Granville

• The second woman to earn a Ph.D. in Mathematics.
• She earned her Ph.D. from Yale University in
  1949.
• Evelyn Granville first worked as a mathematician
  with The National Bureau of Standards and IBM.
• She became an Assistant Professor of Mathematics
  at California State University.
• She taught prospective elementary school teachers
  new math.

17
Marjorie Lee Browne

• The third woman to receive a Ph.D. in
  mathematics.
• This was just six months after Evelyn Boyd
  Granville.
• Marjorie Lee Browne received her B.S. in
  Mathematics from Howard University(1935).
• She received her M.S. in Mathematics from the
  University of Michigan in 1939.
• She received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the
  University of Michigan (1950).

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Marjorie Lee Browne (contd)

• She authored four notes for secondary school
  teachers
• Sets, Logic, and Mathematical Thought (1957)
• Introduction to Linear Algebra (1959)
• Elementary Matrix Algebra (1969)
• Algebraic Structures (1974)

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Conclusion

• There were many more African American
  Mathematicians.
• These were just the first few African Americans
  who helped pave the way for pursuing mathematics.

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Conclusion

• As you can see, the people mentioned in this
  presentation helped to teach mathematics to
  others.
• This was a great achievement to give back to
  others, the knowledge that they gained from
  mathematics.

21
Conclusion

• Mathematics was and still is a very difficult
  subject.
• Many people shy away from mathematics.
• This is why teachers have to get students
  interested in mathematics.
• This presentation is just a start to inform
  students of great mathematcians who went against
  the odds of achieving in mathematics.

22
Resources

• To find out more about great African American
  Mathematicians, check out these websites and
  books
• http//www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/madhist.html
• Newell, Virginia K. Black mathematicians and
  their works (1980)
• http//womenshistory.about.com/od/sciencemath1/
• http//www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/02/2.28.02/E
  lbertCox.html
• http//www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/afram
  er/math.html