Due Sunday, Sunday, February 28, 11:59pm
It’s Black History Month! For this assignment, you will write a short profile or biography of a Black mathematician or math educator (or someone else in the Black-in-math community). You have lots of choices for where to find this information and you can use whatever resources you like. Here are two suggestions:
- Suggestion 1: Back in November, the @BlackInMath account on Twitter hosted #BlackInMathWeek. It was a really fun week with different Twitter events planned for different days, but it kicked off with a roll call where people in the Black-in-math community introduced themselves. Later in the week, people tweeted about their own Black-in-math journeys. You do not need to have a Twitter account to see these introductions. In particular, check out the hashtags:
- Suggestion 2: The awesome website Mathematically Gifted & Black is honoring a new person every day this month. You can check out this year’s honorees or previous years’ on the Circle of Excellence tab at the top of their page.
Instructions
Pick one Black mathematician or math educator to learn about. Aside from their MG&B profile or their Twitter introduction, what else can you learn about them?Write a short biography (5 or 6 sentences….or more!) of this person. Include their name and where they are on their math journey (are they a graduate student? a professor? where? do they do research in math? are they involved in the Black math community in some other way?). Include the field of math that they study and anything else you can tell us about them! What makes this person so awesome and interesting to you? What questions do you have for them? Include links to the pages where you found information about them.
Submit your profile as a comment on this post for participation credit.
Fun fact
Most of you might be too young to know who the rapper MC Hammer is, but he was a childhood hero of mine. He’s an activist too and lately he’s used his Twitter platform to promote different #BlackInSTEM initiatives, including #BlackInMath.
During Black in math week, MC Hammer retweeted and followed my friend Marissa AND IT WAS SO EXCITING!!! (PS, Someone should totally profile Marissa for this assignment because she is a BOSS!)
Professor Francis Kofi Ampenyin Allotey, a Professor of Mathematics and Nuclear Physics, is arguably the greatest scientist Ghana has had so far. He was born in August 1932 in Saltpond, a town in the Central Region of Ghana. He went to Ghana national college and got a scholarship to study in the UK. In the UK he studied at University Tutorial College, London Borough Polytechnic and London Imperial College of Science and Technology respectively. He postulated Allotey’s Formalism from his work on soft x-ray spectroscopy. Allotey’s formalism is the technique used to determine matter moves in outer space. He received the Prince Philip Gold Prize for this discovery in 1973.He founded and was First Director of the KNUST Computer Centre and first to introduce computer education in Ghana. He served as a four-term Dean of Faculty of Science at KNUST and was appointed Pro- Vice Chancellor in 1978. Prof Allotey rose to become the first Ghanaian full Professor of Mathematics at KNUST. He held various national positions such as Chairman, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Chairman, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, President, Mathematical Association of Ghana, and served as consultant for United Nations Organization, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Atomic Energy Agency, Intergovernmental Bureau for Information, and United Nations Industrial and Development Organization.
My question I have for him is how was he able to endure through all his studies, cultural differences and language barrier but He died in 2017, may his soul rest in peace.
The person I chose to write about for this assignment is Nicole Michelle Joseph. She is an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University and currently holds a Ph.D. in mathematics. Initially, she was a business woman, however she wanted to do something that had more meaning for her, which was focusing on helping girls, specifically black girls, in ensuring that they succeed in math. I chose her specifically because I genuinely think it takes a special person to teach for the right reasons. She already had her education and was equipped to take on any type of career that she was qualified for, however, she took the initiative to help girls follow in her path that might have otherwise not even considered pursuing mathematics or who would have difficulty if they did. She does conduct research in two different but relevant categories. The first being about black girls and women in regards to their experiences in mathematics and their identity development and the second being how white supremacy shapes the underrepresentation of black girls and women in math. If I could ask her a question, it would be: when was the moment you knew it was time to leave the business world and go into teaching?
For this assignment the person I decided to write about is Elbert Frank Cox. Elbert Frank Cox was born on December 5, 1895 and past away on November 28, 1969. In 1925, Elbert Frank Cox was the first black man to earn a Ph.D in mathematics not only in the United States, but in the entire world. After receiving this honor, Cox became a professor of mathematics at Howard University in Washington D.C. and eventually became chairman of the mathematics Department in 1957. While holding this position Cox encouraged other people of color to also strive for greatness although back then there was a lot of racism which would make it harder. Elbert Frank Cox was such an influence that in 1975, the Howard University Mathematics Department established the Elbert F. Cox scholarship fund for undergraduate math majors to encourage young black students to pursue degrees in mathematics. A question I would have had for him was how was he able to do all these accomplishments with all the racial barriers that were set at the time?
Darien Willis is a junior at Brooklyn College. He is a experienced counselor and director of students at beam discovery. BEAM Discovery, a summer program, which stands for Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics. It is located in New York City and Los Angeles. It is a program is a 5-week day-camp focused around mathematics and problem solving. In the past, he has served as a math teacher’s assistant at The International School of Brooklyn. He would collaborate with the head teacher is create lesson plans for the 6th-8th grade students. He would also occasionally substitute for the head teacher when it was necessary. Rather then the person them self, I was mostly interested in the program itself. Beam was highlighting beam’s staff and students for black in math roll call, which is interesting in my opinion, as it boosts the excitement to do something when some is recognized for their efforts.
James L. Solomon is a retired professor of mathematics from Morris College as well as being a retired South Carolina Public Official as well as several other key state government positions under 3 governors. He left College to serve in the Air Force but later returned for his master’s degree in Mathematics in 1960. I was interested in this person after reading his thesis about Mathematics. I didn’t think you could write an essay about math. It was interesting to look at even though I understood none of it. I am interested in how he learned to do math.
Jesse Earnest Wilkins Jr was born on November 27th, 1923. Attending university at 13, Wilkins earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics at 17 and Master’s at 18. Jesse Wilkins Jr was one of the youngest to ever attend university and at 19 he became the seventh African American to get his Ph.D in mathematics from the University of Chicago met lab. In 1970 Wilkins became a professor of applied mathematical physics at Howard university. Wilkins even created the university’s Ph.D. program in Mathematics. The fact that Wilkins was able to complete so much as a young kid was what fascinated me most. Unfortunately Jesse Earnest Wilkins Jr passed in 2011, but a question I would’ve loved to ask him was, “how was his experience as a 13 year old in college?”.
James L. Solomon is a retired professor of mathematics from Morris College as well as being a retired South Carolina Public Official as well as several other key state government positions under 3 governors. He left College to serve in the Air Force but later returned for his master’s degree in Mathematics in 1960. I was interested in this person after reading his thesis about Mathematics. I didn’t think you could write an essay about math. It was interesting to look at even though I understood none of it. I am interested in how he learned to do math.
The person I chose to write about is Ranthony A.C. Edmonds, Ph.D. Ranthony Edmonds is a math Ph.D. currently working as a postdoctoral researcher in the department of mathematics at The Ohio State University along with her postdoctoral mentor Professor Jim Cogdell. Prior to the milestones from obtaining her two degrees in English and Mathematics at UK (University of Kentucky) in 2011 to her Master’s degree in Math Sciences at EKU (Eastern Kentucky University) in 2013 to her Ph.D. in Mathematics at UI (University of Iowa) in 2018, Ranthony first developed her passion in mathematics from her 4-year experiences in the School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCAPA) at Bluegrass in Lexington, Kentucky from 4th to 8th grade. Her experiences as a creative writing major in SCAPA helped solidify her passions for arts, creative expression, and communication. Because her experiences at SCAPA, it has shaped Ranthony’s perspective about mathematics, describing it to be like “logical poetry”, never viewing mathematics to be any different from arts, creative expression, and communication; instead, she viewed mathematics to be relatively the same as arts, creative expression, and communication. On the 27th of February this year, Ranthony was honored to be featured by the Mathematically Gifted & Black. What makes this person extremely influential to the entirety of the African-American math community lies in her most prominent career objective, what she desires for young African-Americans out there in the American states, and address the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in the hope to transform her objective into a reality. Ranthony Edmonds once said, “My career mission is to increase access to mathematics for Black Americans and other members of minoritized groups in the mathematical sciences and to facilitate the training of future STEM leaders that recognize the value of service as a part of science.”
Willie E. Taylor is the mathematician I chose to write about in this post. Taylor was born in Houston, Texas. He is currently a professor of mathematics at Texas Southern University and has a Ph.D. in mathematics. When he was in high school he was in between pursuing music or mathematics, he decided to pursue math because the university he attended did not have a jazz music curriculum. From his sophomore year in College, Taylor decided he wanted to become a professor by observing faculty members at his college. After pursuing his Ph.D. he went on to mentor students by exposing them to research. The reason I was interested in writing on this person is that he enjoys contributing to the math field by mentoring many students.
Ashley J. Swain
The person I went and read about. She was born in Philadelphia, PA. Currently, I reside in Buford, GA. She first Study at Spelman College. In mathematical science. She then continue with her studies and when she went an worked on an independent study. Research project that was both neuroscience and applied mathematics with Dr. Sylvia Bozeman. This is were she found her-self enjoying mathematics and went to further in mathematical sciences with computational neuroscience.
My only question for Swain Would be How did you not get mental fatigue from all the work? Was it simply because you were enjoying you’re work or was they more to it.
Here is the link to were I found her experiences ( https://mathematicallygiftedandblack.com/honorees/ashley-j-swain/ )
I have read and discovered about many mathematicians of color, celebrating this awesome month, who contributed a lot to the math world and its’ studies. But initially for this assignment I have chosen James L. Solomon. Solomon is the man of the mathematics and its’s history. He was born on the year of 1930, in Georgia. Growing up he knew he wanted more and better for his children so he moved out of Georgia town of McDonough to the center and the city, Atlanta which provided numerous opportunities for his family. He graduated high school at 16 and applied for college, but only attended for one year then he joined the Air Force during Korean War. After the Air Force he happened to move to South Carolina. There he met his wife, and completed masters degree in mathematics. Solomon worked in first in Morris College as a faculty, then rapidly was hired as an instructor. He funded for several years the numerous of programs for helping children in elementary schools. Also contributing to the society at the time as the man of color Solomon attempted to add mathematic contribution to the civil rights movement to gain professional growth. Solomon was one of the only three people of color to be in the university since reconstruction. These facts have a lot of value to the world we live in now. Solomon has contributed a lot to gain peace and success with the things he can do the best and enjoys the most, math.
The only question would come up to mind, is why James L. Solomon is rarely seen on any other article? I believe that his contributions affected many situations in life.