Margaret S. Collins, PhD
Dr. Margaret James Strickland Collins (September 4, 1922- April 27, 1996) was an entomologist, civil rights activist, and the first formally trained black female entomologist in the United States. Born and raised in Institute, West Virginia, she was a prodigious scholar at a young age and her father was a former colleague of George Washington […]
Thomas Wyatt Turner, PhD
Dr. Thomas Wyatt Turner (March 16, 1877 – April 27,1978) was an agricultural botanist, the first African-American to earn a PhD in Botany, and the first African-American to earn a PhD at Cornell University. Born to sharecropper parents in Hughesville, Maryland, he attended a Episcopal preparatory schools since catholic schools would not admit him. He […]
Garrett A Morgan
Garrett Augustus Morgan Sr. (March 4, 1887 – August 27, 1963) was an African-American inventor, activist, publisher, and entrepreneur whose inventions saved thousands of lives. Born and raised in Paris, Kentucky as the only child of freed slaves, Morgan realized his passion for mechanics early in life. Having only received a sixth grade education, he […]
Dr. Vivien T. Thomas, LL.D.
Dr. Vivien Theodore Thomas (August 29, 1910 – November 26, 1985) was a surgical technician who developed multiple operations used to treat severe vascular and cardiac injury today. Born in Louisiana in 1910, and grandson of a slave, he attended Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial college as a premed student where he was forced to drop […]
Dr. William Augustus Hinton
Dr. Wiliam Augustus Hinton (December 15, 1883 – August 8, 1959) was a bacteriologist and the first Black Professor at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School. Born in Chicago to formerly enslaved parents, he grew up in Kansas City. He started his academic career at the University of Kansas before transferring to Harvard, and earned […]
Dr. Charles Drew
Dr. Charles Drew (June 3, 1904 – April 1, 1950) was a surgeon and was the pioneer responsible for blood banking. Born in Washington, D.C., Dr. Drew was a student athlete, and one of thirteen black students, who attended Amherst College, obtaining a BA (1926). After taking a biology course, he was inspired to pursue […]
Dr. Alfred O. Coffin
Dr. Alfred O. Coffin (May 14, 1961 – September 6, 1933) was a botanist and anthropologist and the first African American to earn a PhD in the Biological Sciences. Born in Pontotoc, Mississippi, little is known of his upbringing. He received his BA (1885) from Fisk University, and MA (1888) and PhD in Biology (1889) […]
Dr. Patricia Era Bath
Dr. Patrica Bath (November 1942 – May 30, 2019) was an ophthalmologist, laser scientist, inventor, and humanitarian who is known for inventing a new device and technique for cataract surgery called the Laserphaco Probe. A Native of New York, she was encouraged by her parents at an early age to pursue education. While in high […]
Lewis Howard Latimer
Lewis Howard Latimer (September 4, 1848 – December 11, 1928) was a writer, poet, inventor and mechanical draftsman whose work contributed to the most popular inventions of his time. Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts to slaves that escaped from Virginia, he excelled in primary school while working under his father. His father was captured and defended […]
Dr. Roger Arliner Young
Dr. Roger Arliner Young (August 20, 1899 – November 9, 1964) was the first African American woman to earn a PhD in Zoology. Born in Clifton Forge, Virginia, she came from a poor family and still overcame racial and gender norms to excel. She was the only child to a father that was a coal […]