Bessie Blount Griffin: A physical therapist in the late 1940’s who helped teach her amputee clients how to write using their mouths and feet. She also invented a portable apparatus that enabled amputees to feed themselves. https://bit.ly/3L1rcKx
George Washington Carver: An accomplished botanist and inventor. He developed techniques to improve soils depleted by repeated plantings of cotton using crop rotation. He ensured the success of this technique by popularizing the new crops by developing hundreds of applications for them. https://bit.ly/3oxlfeN
Dr. Mae Jemison: Fluent in Russian, Japanese & Swahili, was a Peace Corps medical officer and had her own private medical practice. She was the first Black woman in space (STS-47, aboard Endeavor). She was also the first real astronaut on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation at the invitation of LeVar Burton. https://bit.ly/3LfTp0o
Dr. Guion Bluford Jr.: An Air Force pilot who flew 144 combat missions in Vietnam. He was the first first Black man to travel into space (STS-8, aboard Challenger), and laughed the entire way: “It was such a fun ride.” Inducted into US Astronaut Hall of Fame 1997. https://bit.ly/3LeU4Po
Alice Ball: A chemist, teacher, and researcher. She developed an injectable treatment for leprosy. She was also the first woman to graduate with a Masters in chemistry from College of Hawaii, and became the institute’s first woman chemistry instructor when she was only 23. https://bit.ly/3rwRrRp
Dr. William Warrick Cardozo: A physician and pediatrician as well as professor at Howard University. He was a pioneer investigator of sickle cell anemia and a leader in medical research of problems affecting people of African descent. https://bit.ly/3ouNtqB
Dr. Bettye Washington Greene: An industrial research chemist. She was the first Black female Ph.D. chemist to work in a professional position at Dow Chemical Company. She worked with latex and polymers, including interactions between latex and paper. https://bit.ly/3otEBBe