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First Science Ph.D.'s Awarded to African Americans

 

Anatomy

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Roscoe Lewis McKinney

University of Chicago – 1931

 

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Ruth Lloyd

Case Western University – 1941 

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Clarence William Wright

Ohio State University – 1965(First from Ohio State University)

 

Astronomy

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Harvey Washington Banks

Georgetown University -- 1961

 

Bacteriology

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Ruth Ella Moore

Ohio State University -- 1933

 

Bioscience

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Alfred O. Coffin

Illinois Wesleyan Univsersity – 1889

(Second Science Ph.D. awarded to an African American)

 

Botany

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Jessie Jarue Mark

Iowa State University -- 1935

 

Chemistry

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St. Elmo Brady

University of Illinois – 1916 

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Marie Maynard Daly

Columbia University -- 1948

 

Computer Science

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Clarence A. Ellis

University of Illinois -- 1969

 

Dairy Technology

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Emmett Bassett

Ohio State University -- 1956

 

Dentistry

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Robert Tanner Freeman

Harvard University -- 1867

 

Electrical Engineering

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Percy A. Pierre

Johns Hopkins University -- 1967

 

Engineering

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Walter Thomas Daniel

Iowa State University – 1941

(First African American engineer licensed in Louisiana)

 

Geology

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Marguerite Thomas Williams

Catholic University of America – 1942

 

Pure Mathematics

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Walter Richard Talbot

University of Pittsburgh – 1934

 

Mathematics

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Elbert Frank Cox

Cornell University – 1934 

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Evelyn Boyd Granville

Yale University – 1949

 

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Marjorie Lee Browne

University of Michigan – 1949

 

Metallurgical Engineering

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Frank Alphonso Crossley

Illinois Institute of Technology – 1950

 

Meteorology

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Charles Edward Anderson

Massachusetts Institute of Technology – 1960

 

Nursing (Public Health)

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Elizabeth Lipford Kent

University of Michigan – 1955

(First African American Nurse to earn a Ph.D.)

 

Pathology

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Robert Stewart Jason

University of Chicago – 1932

 

Pharmacy

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Ray Clifford Darlington

Ohio State University – 1948

 

Physics

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Edward Alexander Bouchet

Yale University – 1876

(First Ph.D. awarded to an African American.

 Elected to Phi Beta Kappa)

 

Physiology

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Julian Herman Lewis

University of Chicago – 1915

 

Psychology

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Francis Cecil Sumner

Clark Universitiy – 1920 

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Inez Beverely Prosser

University of Michigan – 1933 (Educational Psychology)

 

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Ruth Howard

University of Chicago – 1934

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Frederick Payne Watts

University of Pennsylvania -- 1941

Public Health

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Paul Bertau Cornely

University of Michigan – 1934

 

Veterinary Medicine

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Augustus Nathaniel Lushington

University of Pennsylvania -- 1897

 

Wood and Paper Science

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Chavonda J. Jacobs-Young

North Carolina State University - 1998

 

Zoology

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Roger Arliner Young

University of Chicago – 1940 

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Ernest Everett Just

University of Chicago – 1916 (Physiology and Zoology)

 

Sources:

 Princeton University, Mitchell C. Brown

 Blacks in Science and Education, Vivian O. Sammons (Washington, D.C.; Hemisphere Publishers), 1989, pp.278-279.

 Black First: 2,000 Years of Extraordinary Achievement, Jessie Carney Smith, editor; Caspar L. Jordan, Robert J. Johns, associate editors; foreword by Johnetta B. Cole (Detroit, MI; Gale research), 1994