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This semester I immersed myself into an
environment of African American scholarship, learning about the accomplishments
of my people in the art world, literature, and politically. In my African American
Literature class, I read authors worthy of the Western canon and saw myself
reflected in their vivacious words. I discovered the world of postmodernist
duality and identity in my African American art class, researching the lives of
critically acclaimed leaders of the race. While I'm no science buff, I couldn't help
feeling a bit disaffected with the absence of African American theorists and
physicists in my Physics class. I decided to seek out those with the capacity
of the scientific masters, and therein revealed a world hitherto shielded from my
unquestioning consciousness: the reaffirmation of my self, and African American,
in all fields of expression and scholarship.
I decided to create an accessible resource for all students interested in learning
more about the often modestly acknowledged accomplishments of African
American physicists. By utilizing the internet for my venture, I can update and add to
the site, maintaining it as a means of chronicling even more physicists
achieving great things.
Below are a listing of African American
men and women who have contributed to the advancement of science and engineering.
The studying and heeding the accomplishments of the past and present can serve as pathfinders to
present and future engineers and scientists. African American have made contributions to
the various fields of science that tend to go unrecognized by the historic
record in general. Describing the scientific history of selected African American
men and women highlights the efforts of individuals who have advanced human
understanding in the world around us.
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