List of African-American mathematicians facts for kids
The bestselling book and film, Hidden Figures, celebrated the role of African-American women mathematicians in the space race, and the barriers they had to overcome to study and pursue a career in mathematics and related fields. Although much of African Americans' other achievements in careers in mathematical science, in research, education, and applied fields have also been "hidden", the community of mathematicians has been growing. African Americans represented around 4-6% of the graduates majoring in mathematics and statistics in the US between 2000 and 2015. This list catalogs Wikipedia articles on African Americans in mathematics, as well as early recipients of doctoral degrees in mathematics and mathematics education and other landmarks, and books and studies about African-American mathematicians.
Contents
Historical landmarks
1792: Benjamin Banneker calculated planetary movements and predicted eclipses in his Almanac.
1867: Howard University established its Department of Mathematics.
1895: Joseph Carter Corbin, president of Branch Normal College (now University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff), published his first problem in American Mathematical Monthly.
1916: Dudley Weldon Woodard became a charter member of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
1925: Elbert Frank Cox is the first African-American awarded a doctoral degree in mathematics, from Cornell University.
1929: Dudley Weldon Woodard is the first African-American mathematician known to publish in a mathematics journal, with an article "On two-dimensional analysis situs with special reference to the Jordan curve-theorem" in Fundamenta Mathematicae.
1943: Euphemia Lofton Haynes is the first African-American woman to gain a doctoral degree in mathematics.
1951: The MAA Board of Governors adopted a resolution to conduct their scientific and business meetings, and social gatherings "without discrimination as to race, creed, or color".
1956: Gloria Ford Gilmer is believed to be the first African-American woman to publish mathematical research, co-authoring an article in Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society and another in Pacific Journal of Mathematics.
1969: 17 African-American mathematicians met in New Orleans, forming the National Association of Mathematicians to "promote excellence in the mathematical sciences and to promote the mathematical development of under-represented American minorities".
1973: Mathematician David Blackwell becomes the first African-American in any field to be elected to membership of the National Academy of Sciences.
1976: Howard University establishes the first PhD program in mathematics at a historically black college or university under mathematics department chair James Donaldson and professor J. Ernest Wilkins Jr.
1980: The Claytor Lecture – now Claytor-Woodard Lecture – is established at MAA.
1982: Civil rights leader, Bob Moses (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), used his MacArthur Fellowship to start the Algebra Project, a national mathematics literacy program for high schools.
1988: The MAA established a task force that led to the formation in 1990 of SUMMA, a program for the Strengthening of Underrepresented Minority Mathematics Achievement.
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Hidden Figures Screening at NMAAHC in 2016
1992: Mathematician Freeman Hrabowski becomes President of the University of Maryland.
1994: The Blackwell Lecture is established for MAA meetings, jointly by MAA and NAM, as well as the NAM Wilkins Lecture and Bharucha-Reid Lecture.
1995: The first CAARMS – Conference for African American Researchers in Mathematical Sciences – was held, to highlight the work of researchers and students and encourage the careers of under-represented groups in mathematics. Proceedings are published by the American Mathematical Society in its Contemporary Mathematics series.
1995: Gregory Battle becomes first African American awarded doctorate degree in theoretical algebra from Washington University in St. Louis.
1997: Kathleen Adebola Okikiolu was the first African American awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship and Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
1997 Scott W. Williams produced the website, Mathematicians of the African Diaspora, a collection of African-American mathematicians, newsletter, and resources on Africans in mathematics. By early 2007 it had close to 5 million visitors. The website has been cataloged by the Library of Congress.
1999: The mathematics departments of the 25 highest-ranked universities in the US had more than 900 faculty members, of whom 4 were African-American.
2003: Clarence F. Stephens is the first African-American to be honored with the Mathematical Association of America's (MAA) most prestigious award, for Distinguished Service to Mathematics.
2004: The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) and MAA formally established the Etta Zuber Falconer Lecture.
2015: Katherine Coleman Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
2016: Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterley, is published, going on to win multiple awards and reach number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. It tells the story of African-American women mathematicians at NASA during the space race.
2017: The film adaptation, Hidden Figures, is nominated for best movie at the Academy Awards, and Katherine Johnson makes an appearance at the ceremony.
2020: The updated website Mathematicians of the African Diaspora debuted in October. The new site is supported by the National Association of Mathematicians (NAM) and the Educational Advancement Foundation (EAF).
Doctoral degrees in mathematics
The lists of doctoral degrees, including the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in mathematics and Doctor of Education (EdD), draw from these sources: Turner (1971), Greene (1974), Williams (1997), Zeitz (2008), Shakil (2010), and the Mathematical Association of America. (Please add any further candidates for these lists here, or on the talk page.)
First men and women
These are the first 12 known PhDs by African-American men and women in mathematics, in alphabetical order for years with multiple doctorate holders, with women first.
| Year | Gender | Photo | Name | Awarded Byron | Dissertation title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1925 | (M) |  |
Elbert Frank Cox | Cornell University | The polynomial solutions of the difference equation af(x+1) + bf(x) = φ(x) | |
| 1928 | (M) | External | Dudley Weldon Woodard | University of Pennsylvania | On two-dimensional analysis situs with special reference to the Jordan Curve Theorem | |
| 1933 | (M) | External | William Schieffelin Claytor | University of Pennsylvania | Topological immersion of peanian continua in a spherical surface | |
| 1934 | (M) | External | Walter Richard Talbot | University of Pittsburgh | Fundamental regions in S6 for the simple quaternary G60, type I | |
| 1938 | (M) | External | Reuben Roosevelt McDaniel | Cornell University | Approximation to algebraic numbers by means of periodic sequences of transformations on quadratic forms | |
| 1938 | (M) | External | Joseph Alphonso Pierce | University of Michigan | A study of universe n finite populations with application to moment-function adjustments for grouped data | |
| 1941 | (M) |  |
David Harold Blackwell | University of Illinois | Some properties of Markoff chains | |
| 1942 | (M) | Robert Coleman | Columbia University | The development of informal geometry | ||
| 1942 | (M) |  |
Jesse Ernest Wilkins | University of Chicago | Multiple integral problems in parametric form in the calculus of variations | |
| 1943 | (F) |  |
M. Euphemia Lofton Haynes | Catholic University of America | Determination of sets of independent conditions characterizing certain special cases of symmetric correspondences | |
| 1944 | (M) | External | Joseph James Dennis | Northwestern University | Some points in the theory of positive definite J-fractions | |
| 1944 | (M) | External | Wade Ellis | University of Michigan | On relations satisfied by linear operators on a three dimensional linear vector space | |
| 1944 | (M) | External | Clarence F. Stephens | University of Michigan | Nonlinear difference equations analytic in a parameter | |
| 1949 | (F) | Evelyn Boyd Granville | Yale University | On laguerre series in the complex domain | ||
| 1950 | (F) | Marjorie Lee Browne | University of Michigan | Studies of oneparameter subgroups of certain topological and matrix groups | ||
| 1961 | (F) | External | Georgia Caldwell Smith | University of Pittsburgh | Some results on the anticenter of a group | |
| 1962 | (F) | External | Gloria Conyers Hewitt | University of Washington | Direct and inverse limits of abstract algebras | |
| 1965 | (F) |  |
Thyrsa Frazier Svager | Ohio State University | On the product of absolutely continuous transformations of measure spaces | |
| 1966 | (F) |  |
Vivienne Malone-Mayes | University of Texas at Austin | A structure problem in asymptotic analysis | |
| 1966 | (F) | External | Shirley Mathis McBay | University of Georgia | The homology theory of metabelian lie algebras | |
| 1966 | (F) | External | Eleanor Green Dawley Jones | Syracuse University | Abelian groups and their endomorphism rings and the quasi-endomorphism of torsion free abelian groups | |
| 1967 | (F) |  |
Geraldine Claudette Darden | Syracuse University | On direct sums of cyclic groups | |
| 1967 | (F) | External | Annie Marie Watkins Garraway | University of California, Berkeley | Structure of some cocycles in analysis |
Doctoral degrees 1925 to 1975
This list includes PhDs awarded to African-Americans and to African immigrants by academic institutions in the United States.
| Indicates first known African-American man or woman awarded a PhD at an academic institution |
| Year | Gender | Name | Awarded by | Dissertation title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1925 | (M) | Elbert Frank Cox | Cornell University | The polynomial solutions of the difference equation af(x+1) + bf(x) = [Phi](x) | |
| 1928 | (M) | Dudley Weldon Woodard | University of Pennsylvania | On two-dimensional analysis situs with special reference to the Jordan Curve Theorem | |
| 1933 | (M) | William Schieffelin Claytor | University of Pennsylvania | Topological immersion of peanian continua in a spherical surface | |
| 1934 | (M) | Walter Richard Talbot | University of Pittsburgh | Fundamental regions in S6 for the simple quaternary G60, type I | |
| 1938 | (M) | Reubin Roosevelt McDaniel | Cornell University | Approximation to algebraic numbers by means of periodic sequences of transformations on quadratic forms | |
| 1938 | (M) | Joseph Alphonso Pierce | University of Michigan | A study of universe n finite populations with application to moment-function adjustments for grouped data | |
| 1941 | (M) | David H. Blackwell | University of Illinois | Some properties of Markoff chains | |
| 1942 | (M) | Robert Coleman | Columbia University | The development of informal geometry | |
| 1942 | (M) | Jesse Ernest Wilkins | University of Chicago | Multiple integral problems in parametric form in the calculus of variations | |
| 1943 | (F) | M. Euphemia Lofton Haynes | Catholic University of America | Determination of sets of independent conditions characterizing certain special cases of symmetric correspondences | |
| 1944 | (M) | Joseph James Dennis | Northwestern University | Some points in the theory of positive definite J-fractions | |
| 1944 | (M) | Wade Ellis | University of Michigan | On relations satisfied by linear operators on a three dimensional linear vector space | |
| 1944 | (M) | Clarence F. Stephens | University of Michigan | Nonlinear difference equations analytic in a parameter | |
| 1945 | (M) | Warren Hill Brothers | University of Michigan | On the solution of boundary value problems in hyperbolic differential equations | |
| 1945 | (M) | Jeremiah Certaine | Harvard University | Lattice-ordered groupoids and some related problems | |
| 1949 | (F) | Evelyn Boyd Granville | Yale University | On laguerre series in the complex domain | |
| 1950 | (F) | Marjorie Lee Browne | University of Michigan | Studies of oneparameter subgroups of certain topological and matrix groups | |
| 1951 | (M) | George H. Butcher | University of Pennsylvania | An extension of the sum theorem of dimension theory | |
| 1953 | (M) | Luna I. Mishoe | New York University | On the expansion of an arbitrary function in terms of the Eigenfunctions of a nonself adjoint differential system | |
| 1953 | (M) | Fred B. Wright | University of Chicago | Ideals in operator algebras | |
| 1954 | (M) | Charles Bernard Bell, Jr | University of Notre Dame | Structures of measure spaces | |
| 1955 | (M) | Vincent V. McCrae | Catholic University of America | On the unitary similarity of matrices | |
| 1955 | (M) | Abdulalim A. Shabazz | Cornell University | On the distribution of eigenvalues of [Integral sign]a̳-a̳a(s-t)[phi](t)dt=p[[integral sign]a̳-a̳b(s-t)[phi](t)dt+[eta][phi](s)] | |
| 1956 | (M) | Lloyd K. Williams | University of California, Berkeley | On separating transcendency bases | |
| 1957 | (M) | Elgy S. Johnson | Catholic University of America | Properties of solutions of nonlinear differential equations | |
| 1957 | (M) | John Quill Taylor King | University of Texas | A statistical analysis of the economic aspects of nineteen Protestant church-related colleges in Texas | |
| 1959 | (M) | Israel Everett Glover | Oklahoma State University | On analytic functions having as singular sets certain closed and bounded sets | |
| 1959 | (M) | Laurence Raymond Harper Jr | University of Chicago | Some properties of partially stable algebras | |
| 1960 | (M) | Charles Gladstone Costley | University of Illinois | Singular nonlinear integral equation with complex valued kernels of type N | |
| 1960 | (M) | Beauregard Stubblefield | University of Michigan | Some compact product spaces which cannot be imbedded in euclidean n-space | |
| 1961 | (M) | Jesse Paul Clay | University of Pennsylvania | Proximity and equicontinuity in transformation groups | |
| 1961 | (M) | Rogers Joseph Newman | University of Michigan | Capacity and Tchebycheff polynomials | |
| 1961 | (F) | Georgia Caldwell Smith | University of Pittsburgh | Some results on the anticenter of a group | |
| 1962 | (F) | Gloria Conyers Hewitt | University of Washington | Direct and inverse limits of abstract algebras | |
| 1962 | (M) | Robert Oreece Abernathy | University of California, Berkeley | On singular fourth order elliptic partial differential equations | |
| 1962 | (M) | John Henry Bennett | Harvard University | Truncation errors in numerical solutions of the transport equation | |
| 1962 | (M) | Socrates Walter Saunders | University of Pittsburgh | Analytic continuation by certain product-summability methods | |
| 1962 | (M) | Theodore Roosevelt Sykes | Pennsylvania State University | On a generalization of orthogonal polynomials | |
| 1963 | (M) | Joseph Battle | University of Michigan | Imbedding of graphs in orientable 2-manifolds | |
| 1963 | (M) | Simmie Samuel Blakney | University of Illinois | Lusin's theorem in metric theory | |
| 1963 | (M) | Earl Owen Embree | University of Illinois | A class of linear differential equations involving distributions | |
| 1963 | (M) | William Andrew McWorter | Ohio State University | Phi algebras | |
| 1964 | (F) | Mary Rodriguez Embry | University of North Carolina | Subspaces associated with contractions in Hilbert space | |
| 1964 | (M) | Alfred D. Stewart | University of Texas | On the Abel equation in n-dimensions, n ≥ 2 | |
| 1965 | (F) | Thyrsa Frazier Svager | Ohio State University | On the product of absolutely continuous transformations of measure spaces | |
| 1965 | (M) | James Ashley Donaldson | University of Illinois | Integral representations of the extended airy integral type for the modified Bessel function | |
| 1965 | (M) | John Harris McAlpin | Columbia University | Infinite dimensional manifolds and Morse theory | |
| 1966 | (M) | William Thomas Fletcher | University of Idaho | On the decomposition of associative algebras of prime characteristic | |
| 1966 | (F) | Vivienne Malone-Mayes | University of Texas at Austin | A structure problem in asymptotic analysis | |
| 1966 | (F) | Shirley Mathis McBay | University of Georgia | The homology theory of metabelian lie algebras | |
| 1966 | (F) | Eleanor Green Dawley Jones | Syracuse University | Abelian groups and their endomorphism rings and the quasi-endomorphism of torsion free abelian groups | |
| 1966 | (M) | Harvey T. Banks | Purdue University | Optimal control problems with delay | |
| 1966 | (M) | John Albert Ewell | University of California, Los Angeles | On the determination of sets by sets of sums of fixed order | |
| 1966 | (M) | Charles Edward Morris | University of Illinois | Normal subgroups of the sympletic group on a countably infinite dimensional vector space | |
| 1967 | (F) | Geraldine Claudette Darden | Syracuse University | On direct sums of cyclic groups | |
| 1967 | (F) | Annie Marie Watkins Garraway | University of California, Berkeley | Structure of some cocycles in analysis | |
| 1967 | (M) | Llayron Leon Clarkson | University of Texas | A theorem concerning product integrals | |
| 1967 | (M) | Lloyd A. Demetrius | University of Chicago | Structural organization in cellular systems: a mathematical approach | |
| 1967 | (M) | Samuel Horace Douglas | Oklahoma State University | Convexity lattices related to topological lattices and incidence geometries | |
| 1967 | (M) | Melvin Heard | Purdue University | Linear functional differential equation of neutral type | |
| 1967 | (M) | Ralph Brooks Turner | Brown University | Low Reynolds number flow of particulate fluids | |
| 1968 | (F) | M. Lovenia DeConge-Watson | St. Louis University | 2-normed lattices and 2-metric spaces | |
| 1968 | (M) | John Chukwuemeka Amazigo | Harvard University | Buckling under axial compression of long cylindrical shells with random axisymmetric imperfections | |
| 1968 | (M) | Earl Russell Barnes | University of Maryland | The optimal control of systems with distributed parameters | |
| 1968 | (M) | Milton Andrew Gordon | Illinois Institute of Technology | On a class of degree one algebras | |
| 1968 | (M) | Phillip Eugene McNeil | Pennsylvania State University | The structure of certain semigroups with two idempotents | |
| 1968 | (M) | Wilbur Lee Smith | Pennsylvania State University | On infinite product measures and semi-regular measures | |
| 1968 | (M) | Donald Frank St Mary | University of Nebraska | Oscillation and comparison theorems for second order linear differential equation | |
| 1968 | (M) | Donald Derrick Weddington | University of Miami | k-Spaces | |
| 1968 | (M) | James Harris White | University of Minnesota | Self-linking and the Gauss integral in higher dimensions | |
| 1969 | (F) | Etta Zuber Falconer | Emory University | Quasigroup identities invariant under isotopy | |
| 1969 | (M) | Raymond Lewis Johnson | Rice University | A priori estimates and unique continuation theorems for second order parabolic equations | |
| 1969 | (M) | Robert S. Smith | Pennsylvania State University | (Title not identified) | |
| 1969 | (M) | James Ernie Warner | Case Western University | Asymptotic properties of multivariate permutation tests with applications to signal detection | |
| 1969 | (M) | Scott Warner Williams | Lehigh University | The transfinite cardinal covering dimension | |
| 1970 | (M) | Japheth Hall | University of Alabama | On the theory of structures in sets | |
| 1970 | (M) | Guy Theodore Hogan | Ohio State University | Variations on the Hp problem for finite p-groups | |
| 1970 | (M) | Lonnie Williams Keith | Kansas State University | Nearly distribution-free tests for equal variances in two populations when the means are unknown | |
| 1970 | (M) | Sonde Ndubeze Nwankpa | Michigan State University | Generalized Sylvester Gallai configurations | |
| 1971 | (F) | Dolores Margaret Richard Spikes | Louisiana State University | Semi-valuations and groups of divisibility | |
| 1971 | (M) | Orville Edward Kean | University of Pennsylvania | Abstract horn theories | |
| 1971 | (M) | Nguthu John Mutio | Syracuse University | Frobenius groups | |
| 1971 | (M) | Eddie Robert Williams | Columbia University | The Poincaré lemma with estimates | |
| 1970 | (M) | Nathan Frank Simms | Lehigh University | Stable homotopy in Frobenius categories | |
| 1971 | (M) | Charles Dwight Lahr | Syracuse University | Approximate identities and multipliers for certain convolution measure algebras | |
| 1972 | (M) | Ethelbert Nwakuche Chukwu | Case Western University | Symmetries and identification of linear control systems | |
| 1972 | (M) | Oscar Henry Criner | University of California, Berkeley | Regularity properties of the solutions of the two dimensional Lagrangian problem and the Lagrangiah multiplier | |
| 1972 | (M) | Christopher Olutunde Imoru | Northwestern University | The Jensen-Steffensen inequality | |
| 1972 | (M) | Carlos Ford-Livene | University of Southern California | Estimation, prediction, and dynamic programming in ecology | |
| 1972 | (M) | Curtis Sylvester Means | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Initial value problems for a class of higher order partial differential equations which are related to the heat equation | |
| 1972 | (M) | Floyd Leroy Williams | Washington University in St Louis | Reduction of tensor products of principle series representation of complex semi-simple lie groups | |
| 1972 | (M) | James E. White | Yale University | (Algebraic topology - title not identified) | |
| 1973 | (F) | Evelyn E. Wilson Thornton | University of Houston | Generalised Vietoris-Begle theorems | |
| 1973 | (M) | Annas Aytch | University of Pittsburgh | Consistency of complex Noerland transforms | |
| 1973 | (M) | Garth Arnold Baker | Cornell University | Projection methods for boundary value problems for equations of elliptic and parabolic type with discontinuous coefficients | |
| 1973 | (M) | Robert Edward Bozeman | Vanderbilt University | Periodic solutions in the plane four-body problem of mixed circular-elliptic type | |
| 1973 | (M) | Lloyd Alvin Gavin | Illinois Institute of Technology | On some classes of FK-spaces and on summability factors | |
| 1973 | (M) | Seyoum Getu | University of Missouri | Generalizing alternative rings | |
| 1973 | (M) | James Ervin Ginn | Texas A&M University | Product estimators in sample surveys | |
| 1973 | (M) | Isom Harris Herron | Johns Hopkins University | A fluid dynamical theory for the motion of a particle undergoing centrifugation | |
| 1973 | (M) | Frank A. James | New York University | (Title not identified) | |
| 1973 | (M) | Manuel Keepler | University of New Mexico | Backward and forward equations for random evolutions | |
| 1973 | (M) | Clement Aynsley Water McCalla | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Optimal control of linear hereditary systems with quadratic criterion | |
| 1973 | (M) | Michael Noel Payne | University of California, Berkeley | Structural stability and quadratic dynamical systems | |
| 1973 | (M) | Chester Cornelius Seabury | Stanford University | Some extension theorems for regular maps of Stein manifolds | |
| 1973 | (M) | Hampton Wright | University of North Carolina | Coefficient identities derived from symmetric function expansions | |
| 1974 | (F) | Elayne Arrington Idowu | University of Cincinnati | The p-Frattini subgroup of a finite group | |
| 1974 | (F) | Rada Ruth Higgins McCreadie | Ohio State University | On the asymptotic behavior of certain sequences | |
| 1974 | (M) | Roosevelt Gentry | Rutgers University | Compact interpolation between Banach spaces | |
| 1974 | (M) | Tepper L. Gill | Wayne State University | Tensor products of contraction semigroups on Hilbert spaces | |
| 1974 | (M) | Johnny Lee Houston | Purdue University | On the theory of fitting classes in certain locally finite groups | |
| 1974 | (M) | Arthur Melvin Jones | University of Iowa | On goodness-of-fit tests for normality | |
| 1974 | (M) | Nathaniel Knox | University of South Carolina | On the inverse semigroup coproduct of an arbitrary non-empty collection of groups | |
| 1974 | (M) | Kevin Ejere Osondu | State University of New York, Buffalo | A unified theory of extension of bins to semigroups and of semigroups to groups | |
| 1974 | (M) | Willie Elmer Taylor | University of Houston | Oscillatory properties of nonselfadjoint fourth order differential equations | |
| 1974 | (M) | Alton Smith Wallace | University of Maryland | Representation theorems for solutions of differential operator equations | |
| 1975 | (F) | Cheryll Suber-Gerelle | Kansas State University | A Markov process for predicting adult student behavior |
Doctoral degrees in mathematics education to 1975
This list includes doctorates specifically in mathematics education and doctorates in education by mathematicians/mathematics educators.
| First | Indicates first known African-American man or woman awarded a doctorate in education at an academic institution |
| Year | Gender | Name | Awarded by | Dissertation title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | (M) | Socrates Walter Saunders | University of Pittsburgh | Legal aspects of the education of Negroes with special emphasis on the equalization principle | |
| 1947 | (F) | Ethel M. Turner | Columbia University | Consumer mathematics in adult education | |
| 1950 | (M) | Caldwell Elwood Boulware | Columbia University | The emerging concept of mental arithmetic | |
| 1951 | (M) | Theodore A Love | New York University | The relation of achievement in mathematics to certain abilities in problem-solving | |
| 1954 | (F) | Angie Turner King | University of Pittsburgh | An analysis of early algebra textbooks used in the American secondary schools before 1900 | |
| 1954 | (M) | Wendell Primus Jones | University of Chicago | The Negro press and the higher education of Negroes, 1933-1952: a study of news and opinion on higher education in the three leading Negro newspapers | |
| 195? | (M) | Thomas E Bonner | Oklahoma State University | (Title not identified) | |
| 1956 | (M) | Henry Madison Eldridge | University of Pittsburgh | A study in the variation in accomplishment and subject preference in different secondary schools | |
| 1957 | (M) | Raymond Jackson Pitts | University of Michigan | An analysis and evaluation of supplementary teaching materials found in selected secondary school textbooks | |
| 1958 | (M) | James Horatio Means | Oklahoma State University | Objectives of mathematics instruction in seven Texas colleges | |
| 1959 | (M) | Major Boyd Jones | Cornell University | Techniques, methods, procedures and provisions used in selected Maryland public secondary schools in teaching mathematics to rapid learners | |
| 1960 | (F) | Lillian Katie Bradley | University of Texas | An evaluation of the effectiveness of a collegiate general mathematics course | |
| 1961 | (F) | Sadie Gasaway | Cornell University | The effectiveness of continued testing in mathematics of freshmen of varying proficiencies at Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State University | |
| 1962 | (F) | Louise Nixon Sutton | New York University | Concept learning in trigonometry and analytic geometry at the college level: a comparative study of two methods of teaching trigonometry and analytic geometry at the college level | |
| 1963 | (F) | Grace Alele Williams | University of Chicago | Dynamics of education in the birth of a new nation: case study of Nigeria | |
| 1964 | (F) | Beryl Eleanor Hunte | New York University | Demonstrative geometry during the twentieth century: an account of the various sequences used in the subject matter of demonstrative geometry from 1900 to the present time | |
| 1964 | (M) | Ulysses Hunter | Purdue University | Essential cluster sets | |
| 1964 | (M) | Louis Clinton Marshall | American University | Approximately continuous transformations on compact metric spaces | |
| 1965 | (M) | John Arthur Jones | Pennsylvania State University | An intensive investigation and analysis of means for improving the mathematics programs in the colleges and universities of the United States with predominantly negro student bodies | |
| 1966 | (M) | Eugene William Madison | University of Illinois | Computable algebraic structures and non-standard arithmetic | |
| 1967 | (M) | Matthew William Crawford | Colorado State College | An analysis of the mathematics curriculum in the negro public high schools in Louisiana | |
| 1967 | (M) | Calvin Elijah King | Ohio State University | A comparative study of the effectiveness of teaching a course in remedial mathematics to college students by television and by the conventional method | |
| 1967 | (M) | Irvin Elmer Vance | University of Michigan | Geometries of the Erlanger Program | |
| 1967 | (M) | Marcus Harold Whitfield | Oklahoma State University | Theory of maxima and minima and applications | |
| 1969 | (M) | Boniface | Iowa State University | Structure of inseparable composites | |
| 1969 | (M) | Paul Burgette Mohr | Oklahoma State University | A study of Negro mathematics faculties in predominantly Negro institutions | |
| 1969 | (M) | William Percy Hytche | Oklahoma State University | A comparative analysis of four methods of instruction in mathematics | |
| 1969 | (M) | Benjamin Joseph Martin | Purdue University | On a new integral equation arising in the theory of radiative transfer | |
| 1969 | (M) | Richard Lionel Price | Ohio State University | Scholastic aptitude test in mathematics as a predictor of student selection of algebraic versus geometric approaches to problem solving | |
| 1969 | (M) | Washington Theophilus Taylor | Oklahoma State University | A cross sectional study of the modification of attitudes of selected prospective elementary school teachers toward mathematics | |
| 1969 | (M) | Vernon Williams | Oklahoma State University | A multi-predictive measure to predict success at two levels in freshman college mathematics | |
| 1970 | (F) | Genevieve Madeline Knight | University of Maryland | The effect of a sub-culturally appropriate language upon achievement in mathematical content | |
| 1970 | (F) | Joella Hardeman Gipson | University of Illinois | Teaching probability in the elementary school: an exploratory study | |
| 1970 | (M) | David James Hickman | University of Notre Dame | The Tschebyscheff polynomials for regular polygons inscribed in the unit circle of the complex plane | |
| 1970 | (M) | Rufus Grier Pettis | Oklahoma State University | An analysis of the methods being used to make provisions for outstanding high school mathematics students in North Carolina | |
| 1973 | (F) | Therese Hance Braithwaite | University of California, Berkeley | The development of a function theory in education based on a construct of a unity | |
| 1974 | (F) | Della Pearl Domonek Bell | University of Texas | Some characteristics of high- and low- achieving seventh grade Black students in mathematics | |
| 1975 | (M) | Freeman Alphonsa Hrabowski III | University of Illinois | A comparison of the graduate academic performance of black students who graduated from predominantly black colleges and from predominantly white colleges |
Books about African-American mathematicians
This list includes books and dissertations published about individual African-Americans in mathematics, and studies, biographical anthologies or histories dedicated to African-Americans in mathematics. (This list is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.)
Individuals
- Benjamin Banneker:
- Bedini, Silvio A (1999). The life of Benjamin Banneker: the first African-American man of science. Maryland Historical Society.
- Hinman, Bonnie (2000). Benjamin Banneker: American Mathematician and Astronomer (Colonial Leaders).
- David Blackwell:
- Blackwell, David; Wilmot, Nadine (2003). An oral history with David Blackwell. Bancroft Library.
- Joseph James Dennis:
- Williams, Sherese LaTrelle (2016). To Humbly Serve: Joseph James Dennis and His Contributions to Clark College. Clark Atlanta University.
- Marjorie Kimbrough
- Kimbrouogh, Marjorie (1991). Accept no limitations: a black woman encounters corporate America. Abingdon Press.
- Shirley Mathis McBay:
- Verheyden-Hilliard, Mary Ellen (1985). Mathematician and Administrator, Shirley Mathis McBay. Equity Institute.
Anthologies and studies
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- Borum, Viveka; Hilton, Adriel Adon; Walker, Erica (2016). The Role of Black Colleges in the Development of Mathematicians. Journal of Research Initiatives.
- Carlson, Cob; Parks, Yolanda; et al. (1996). Breakthrough: profiles of scientists of color. Working with Numbers. Blackside.
- Dean, Nathaniel (ed) (1997). African Americans in mathematics: DIMACS workshop, June 26–28, 1996. American Mathematical Society.
- Farmer, Vernon L; Shepherd-Wynn, Evelyn (2012). Voices of historical and contemporary Black American pioneers.
- Harmon, Marylen; Guertler, Sherry (1994). Visions of a dream: history makers: contributions of Africans and African Americans in science and mathematics. M.E. Harmon.
- Houston, Johnny L (2000). The History of the National Association of Mathematicians (NAM): The First Thirty (30) Years, 1969–1999. NAM.
- Kenschaft, Patricia Clark (2005). Change is possible: Stories of women and minorities in mathematics.
- Lang, Mozell P. Contributions of African American scientists and mathematicians. Harcourt School Publishers.
- Newell, Victoria; Gipson, Joella; Rich, Waldo L.; Stubblefield, B (1980). Black Mathematicians and Their Works.
- Paul, Richard; Moss, Steven (2015). We Could Not Fail: The First African Americans in the Space Program. University of Texas Press.
- Shetterly, Margot Lee (2016). Hidden Figures: The American dream and the untold story of the black women mathematicians who helped win the space race.
- Walker, Erica N (2014). Beyond Banneker: Black mathematicians and the path to excellence.
- Williams, Lisa D (2000). The trials, tribulations, and triumphs of black faculty in the math and science pipeline: a life history approach (Dissertation). University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
For young people
- Becker, Helaine; Phumiruk, Dow (2018). Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13. Henry Holt and co.
- Pinkney, Andrea Davis (1998). Dear Benjamin Banneker.
- Schwartz, Heather E (2017). NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson. Lerner Publications.
- Shetterly, Margot Lee; Conkling, Winifred; Freeman, Laura (2018). Harper.
List of Wikipedia articles
This list includes Wikipedia articles for people from the African diaspora who have postgraduate degrees in mathematics or statistics, have worked in mathematics, or are known for mathematical accomplishments in the United States (African-Americans). The list is grouped by the time the person's first degree in mathematics was awarded, or when they began their work in mathematics. Individuals are listed alphabetically within time periods. PhDs in mathematics education are included.
Before 1900
- Thomas Fuller (1710–1782).
- Benjamin Banneker (1731–1806).
- Charles Reason (1818–1893).
- Kelly Miller (1863–1939) degrees from Howard University, including law degree.
1900s
- Dudley Weldon Woodard (1881–1965), degrees from Wilberforce University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania (PhD).
1910s
- Elbert Frank Cox (1895–1969), degrees from Indiana University, Cornell University (PhD).
- Euphemia Haynes (1890–1980), Smith College, Catholic University of America (PhD).
1920s
- Joseph J. Dennis (1905–1977), degrees from Clark College, Northwestern University (PhD).
- Angie Turner King (1905–2004), degrees from West Virginia State College, including chemistry, University of Pittsburgh (PhD, mathematics education).
- Georgia Caldwell Smith (1909–1961), degrees from University of Kansas, University of Chicago, University of Pittsburgh (PhD).
- Dorothy Vaughan (1910–2008), degree from Wilberforce University.
1930s
- David Blackwell (1919–2010), degrees from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (PhD).
- Marjorie Lee Browne (1914–1979), degrees from Howard University, University of Michigan (PhD).
- Katherine Johnson (1918–2020), degree from West Virginia State College.
- Clarence F. Stephens (1917–2018), degrees from Johnson C. Smith University, University of Michigan (PhD).
1940s
- Albert Turner Bharucha-Reid (1927–1985), degree from Iowa State University.
- Gloria Ford Gilmer, degrees from Morgan State University, University of Pennsylvania, Marquette University (PhD, education).
- Evelyn Boyd Granville (born 1924), Smith College, Yale University (PhD).
- Mary Winston Jackson (1921–2005), degree from Hampton Institute.
- Eleanor Green Dawley Jones (born 1929), degrees from Howard University, Syracuse University (PhD).
- Abdulalim A. Shabazz (1927–2014), degrees from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cornell University (PhD).
- Louise Nixon Sutton (1925–2006), degrees from North Carolina A&T State University, New York University (PhD, education).
- J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr. (1923–2011), degrees from University of Chicago, New York University (including degrees in engineering).
1950s
- Geraldine Claudette Darden (born 1936), degrees from Hampton Institute, University of Illinois, Syracuse University (PhD).
- M. Lovenia DeConge-Watson (born 1933), degrees from Seton Hill College, Louisiana State University, St. Louis University (PhD).
- Annie Easley (1933–2011), degrees from Xavier University, mathematics at Cleveland State University.
- Etta Zuber Falconer (1933–2002), degrees from Fisk University, University of Wisconsin, Emory University (PhD).
- William Thomas Fletcher, degrees from North Carolina Central University, University of Idaho (PhD).
- Gloria Conyers Hewitt (born 1935), degrees from Fisk University, University of Washington (PhD).
- Vivienne Malone-Mayes (1932–1955), degrees from Fisk University, University of Texas (PhD).
- Melba Roy Mouton (1929–1990), degrees from Howard University.
- Dolores Margaret Richard Spikes (1936–2015), degrees from Southern University, University of Illinois (PhD).
- Thyrsa Frazier Svager (1930–1999), degrees from Antioch College, Ohio State University (PhD).
- Argelia Velez-Rodriguez (b. 1936 in Cuba), degrees from Marianao Institute, University of Havana (PhD).
- Grace Alele Williams (b. 1933 in Nigeria), degrees from University of Ibadan, University of Chicago (PhD, education).
1960s
- Sylvia D. Trimble Bozeman (born 1947), degrees from Alabama A&M University, Vanderbilt University, Emory University (PhD).
- Christine Darden (born 1942), degrees from Hampton Institute, Virginia State University, George Washington University (PhD, engineering).
- James A. Donaldson (1941–2019), degrees from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (PhD).
- Fern Y. Hunt (born 1948), degrees from Bryn Mawr College, New York University (PhD).
- Jeanette Scissum, degrees from Alabama A&M University, computer science PhD.
- Raymond L. Johnson (born 1943), degrees from University of Texas at Austin, Rice University (PhD).
- Ronald Elbert Mickens (born 1943), degrees from Fisk University, Vanderbilt University (PhD, physics).
- Scott W. Williams (born 1943), degrees from Morgan State University, Lehigh University (PhD).
- Lloyd Demetrius, degrees from University of Cambridge, University of Chicago (PhD).
1970s
- Augustin Banyaga (b. 1947 in Rwanda), degrees from University of Geneva (PhD).
- Emery N. Brown, degree from Harvard College and Harvard University (PhD, statistics).
- Freeman Alphonsa Hrabowski III (born 1950), degrees from Hampton Institute, University of Illinois (PhD, higher education administration/statistics)
- Iris Marie Mack, degrees from Vassar College (double major with physics), University of California, Los Angeles, Harvard University (PhD).
- Carolyn Ray Boone Mahoney (born 1946), degrees from Siena College, Ohio University (PhD).
- William Alfred Massey (born 1956), degrees from Princeton University, Stanford University (PhD).
- Lee Stiff (1949–2021), degrees from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, North Carolina State University (PhD, education).
1980s
- Idris Assani (b. in Niger), degrees from Paris Dauphine University, Pierre and Marie Curie University (PhD, mathematics).
- Emery Neal Brown, degrees from Harvard University (PhD, statistics) and Harvard Medical School (MD).
- Melvin Currie (born 1948), degrees from Yale University and University of Pittsburgh (PhD, mathematics).
- Philip Emeagwali (b. 1954 in Nigeria), degrees from Oregon State University, George Washington University (MS, ocean and marine engineering), and University of Maryland (MS, mathematics).
- Clifford Victor Johnson (b. 1968 in UK), degrees from Imperial College London and University of Southampton (PhD, mathematics and physics).
- Bob Moses (1935–2021), degrees from Hamilton College, New York, and Harvard University (MA, philosophy). Founder of Algebra Project (1982).
- Arlie Oswald Petters (b. 1964 in Belize), degrees from City University of New York and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD, mathematics).
- Suzanne L. Weekes (b. in Trinidad & Tobago), degrees from Indiana University and University of Michigan (PhD, mathematics and scientific computing).
1990s
- Ron Buckmire (b. 1968 in Grenada), degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (PhD, mathematics).
- Edray Goins (born 1972), degrees from California Institute of Technology and Stanford University (PhD, mathematics).
- Rudy Horne (1968–2017), degrees from University of Oklahoma and University of Colorado Boulder (PhD, applied mathematics). Mathematical consultant for the movie Hidden Figures.
- Trachette Jackson (born 1972), degrees from Arizona State University and University of Washington (PhD, mathematics).
- Chawne Kimber (born 1971), degrees from University of North Carolina and University of Florida (PhD, mathematics).
- Marilyn Strutchens (born 1962), degrees from the University of Georgia (PhD, mathematics education).
- Aissa Wade (b. 1967 in Senegal), degrees from University Montpellier 2, France (PhD, mathematics).
- Talitha Washington (born 1974), degrees from Spelman College and University of Connecticut (PhD, mathematics).
2000s
- Carla Cotwright-Williams (born 1973), degrees from California State University, Long Beach, Southern University, and University of Mississippi (PhD, mathematics).
- Christina Eubanks-Turner, degrees from Xavier University of Louisiana and University of Nebraska-Lincoln (PhD, mathematics).
- Omayra Ortega, degrees from Pomona College and University of Iowa (PhD, mathematics).
- Candice Price, degrees from California State University, Chico, San Francisco State University, and University of Iowa (PhD, mathematics).
- Dionne Price, degrees from Norfolk State University, University of North Carolina, and Emory University (PhD, biostatistics).
- Chelsea Walton (born 1983), degrees from Michigan State University and the University of Michigan (PhD, mathematics).
- Talithia Williams, degrees from Spelman College, Howard University, Rice University (PhD, statistics).
- Ulrica Wilson, degrees from Spelman College and Emory University (PhD, mathematics).
2010s
- John Urschel (b. 1991 in Canada), degrees from Pennsylvania State University (MS, mathematics).
Other notable American mathematicians from the African diaspora
- Gregory Battle (born 1955), degrees from Morehouse College, Washington University in St. Louis (PhD).
- Anthony E. Clement, degrees from Brooklyn College, Graduate Center, CUNY(PhD, mathematics)
- Wilfred Graves, Jr (born 1972), degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Fuller Theological Seminary (PhD, historical theology).
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List of African-American mathematicians Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.