Happy Birthday: Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)

Benjamin Banneker was born on this date in 1731. He was a self-taught, Black astronomer and mathematician.

He was born in Ellicott, MD. At the age of 22, Benjamin Banneker created a working clock from wood after studying the watch of a friend. It took him two years to finish the clock, which kept accurate time in hours, minutes, and seconds until his death.

Banneker became interested in astronomy through a local surveyor named George Ellicott, who loaned him astronomy books. In 1791, George Washington commissioned George Ellicott and French engineer Pierre L'Enfant to help plan the construction of the nation's capital on a ten-square-mile area of land. Ellicott asked Banneker to be his assistant. A dispute between some Americans and Frenchmen led L'Enfant to abandon it and take the drafted plans with him. Over the course of two days, Banneker reproduced the intricate plans from memory, preventing a major delay.

Shortly after returning to his farm in April 1791, Banneker issued his first of some ten annual almanacs, which were published by several printers and sold widely in both England and the United States. Banneker charted the movement of heavenly bodies and successfully predicted several solar eclipses. Farmers and navigators relied on this important information.

Banneker and his sisters were born free and grew up on a self-sufficient, 100-acre tobacco farm. Growing up, he spent much of his free time devising and solving mathematical puzzles. It was not until after his retirement from farming at the age of 59 that Banneker began to study astronomy through borrowed books, becoming a man of science and mathematics through unassisted experimentation and close observation of natural phenomena.

Benjamin Banneker died in 1806.

OURstory: Jan Matzeliger (1852-1887)

I agree with President Obama ... Kanye West is a 'jackass'. However, he seems to be a cultural icon for African American youth. Perhaps it is time for us to get busy providing some alternative icons for our youth. We have large numbers of Black and Brown students with little or not preparation in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) subjects. Without STEM background in the future, these students may find themselves with no employment opportunities.

Jan Ernst Matzeliger realized as much. Did you know that Jan Matzeliger was born on this date in 1852. He used STEM knowledge to create a shoe-lasting machine that mechanically shaped the upper portions of shoes.

Matzeliger was born on September 15, 1852 in Suriname (South America), the child of a biracial marriage. His father was a white engineer from Holland and his mother was a Black woman in the Dutch colony. By his third birthday Matzeliger was sent to live with his father’s sister. By the time he turned 10 years old, Matzeliger became a worker in the machine shop that his father owned. It was at this time that he quickly became aware of his talent for working with machinery.

Although he was skilled in this area, Matzeliger did not initially pursue a career in engineering or inventing. In 1871 at the age of 19 he left Surinam and worked as a sailor for two years. By 1873 he settled in Philadelphia where he worked in a variety of trades.

In 1876 he moved to Lynn, Massachusetts. Matzeliger arrived in Lynn barely able to speak English. Nonetheless he began working in a shoe factory. Despite his language difficulties, Matzeliger began working on various innovations that would improve shoe manufacturing productivity. Working alone and at night for six months, he produced a model in wood and on March 20, 1883, received a patent. The patent number is 459,899.

His patent was subsequently bought by Sydney W. Winslow, who established the United Shoe Machine Company. The continued success of this business brought about a 50% reduction in the price of shoes across the nation, doubled wages, and improved working conditions for millions of people dependent on the shoe industry for their livelihood. Winslow’s corporation made $50 million in the next dozen years and put Lynn, MA on the map as the shoe capital of the world.

Matzeliger’s work habits and his neglect of his health, however, soon took a toll. In the summer of 1887, he caught a cold then developed tuberculosis. Jan Matzeliger died on August 24 of that year in his mid-30s, long before he had the chance to realize a share of the enormous profit derived from his invention.

Matzeliger is not a household name but it should be. He was honored on a 29 cent first class U.S. postage stamp in 1991.

I hope that he included in the 2010 history portion of the BDPA high school computer competition! Jan Matzeliger should be discussed with our young people ... not Kanye West.

OURstory: Lewis Latimer (1848-1928)

Lewis Howard Latimer was born on this date in 1848. He was an African American inventor and innovator in the electric lighting industry. [SOURCE]

As a boy Latimer worked in his father’s barbershop in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He joined the Union Navy during the Civil War and after an honorable discharge in 1865 he found work with a firm of patent lawyers. Although Latimer was hired as an office boy, he cultivated drafting skills in his spare time until he was qualified for blueprint work. Latimer brainstormed his own work, patenting in 1874 a "pivot bottom" for water closets on trains. His high-caliber draftsmanship impressed Alexander Graham Bell, whose 1876 telephone blueprints were drawn up by Latimer.

In 1880 Latimer went to work for the inventor Hiram Maxim, who ran the United States Electric Lighting Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut and was one of Thomas Edison's prime competitors in the institutionalization of electric light. Under Maxim, Latimer supervised the installation of electric light in New York, Philadelphia, London, and Montreal. He also developed other inventions of his own, co-patenting an electric lamp with Joseph V. Nichols in 1881, and, most important, refining light-bulb technology in 1882. In 1884 he was invited to work for Maxim's arch rival, Thomas Alva Edison, in New York.

An expert electrical engineer, Latimer's work for Edison was critical for the following reasons: his thorough knowledge of electric lighting and power guided Edison through the process of filing patent forms properly at the U. S. Patent Office, protecting the company from infringements of his inventions; Latimer was also in charge of the company library, collecting information from around the world, translating data in French and German to protect the company from European challenges. He became Edison's patent investigator and expert witness in cases against persons trying to benefit from Edison's inventions without legal permission.

Edison encouraged Latimer to write the book, Incandescent Electric Lighting: A Practical Description of the Edison System. Published in 1890, it was extremely popular as it explained how an incandescent lamp produces light in an easy-to-understand manner.

On February 11, 1918, Latimer became one of the 28 charter members of the Edison Pioneers, the only African American in this prestigious, highly selective group. [photo: Latimer is standing left; Edison is the one with the cane]

After leaving Edison, Latimer worked for a patent consultant firm until 1922 when failing eyesight caused an end to his career. His health began to fail following the death of his beloved wife Mary Wilson Latimer in 1924. To cheer and encourage him to carry on, his children, two daughters, had a book of his poems printed in 1925 in honor of his 77th birthday.

The poems are beautifully sensitive, and complement Latimer's designation as a "Renaissance Man" who painted, played the flute, wrote poetry and plays. Lewis Howard Latimer settled in Flushing, New York and lived there until his death in 1928. He was an active member of the local community, teaching English and drafting to immigrants at the Henry Street Settlement in 1906. In 1968, Latimer was posthumously honored by the borough of Brooklyn when a public school was named after him.

It is important that we tell OURstory ... we cannot rely on his-story!

OURstory: Charity Adams Earley (1918-2002)

The folks at the National Center for Women in Information Technology (NCWIT) recently issued a provocative slideshow called 'The Facts'. It talks about the challenges faced by women in the IT industry.

If it is tough for women in 2013 ... how much tougher must it have been for a Black woman back in the 1940s?

That is the thought that came to me as I saw the honors given to Charity Adams Earley in the America I AM exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center back in 2010.

It turns out that Earley held a degree in math and physics while attending Wilberforce University and the Ohio State University. She taught and attended graduate school before joining the Army. She did not let racism hinder her superior work. In fact, our BDPA Dayton chapter often celebrates their annual banquet at the auditorium in Sinclair Community College named after her.

At a time when a segregated military provided few opportunities for Blacks, Charity Adams was one of only two to hold a wartime rank in the WACs as high as major. A subsequent promotion made her a lieutenant colonel briefly before she left military service in 1946.

The Army first permitted Black members of the WACs to serve overseas in the winter of 1945, when it created the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-Black unit, and assigned some 850 African American women to it. The unit, based in Birmingham, England, and later in Rouen, France, and Paris, routed mail to millions of members of the armed forces in Europe.

The assignment of Major Adams as the battalion commander seemed a natural choice. Having grown up in Columbia, S.C. -- her father a minister in the A.M.E. Church, her mother a teacher -- she joined the WACs in 1942. She was among 39 Black women in the corps's first training class, at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, and became one of its first Black officers. She then held administrative and command positions at Fort Des Moines for two and a half years.

The members of the 6888th postal unit were the first Black women many Britons in Birmingham had ever seen, and they shattered stereotypes.

"These WACs are very different from the colored women portrayed on the films, where they are usually either domestics or the outspoken old-retainer type or sloe-eyed sirens given to gaudiness of costume and eccentricity in dress," The Birmingham Sunday Mercury said. "The WACs have dignity and proper reserve."

After her military service, she received a master's degree in vocational psychology from Ohio State, then became a dean at Tennessee A&I College and Georgia State College. The Smithsonian Institution has included her in its listing of the historically most important Black women.

In 1996, Mrs. Earley was honored at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum for her wartime service. Before leaving Dayton for the ceremony in Washington, she said: "When I talk to students, they say, 'How did it feel to know you were making history?' But you don't know you're making history when it's happening. I just wanted to do my job."

We need to know OURstory for inspiration and direction. I hope that this blog post has been an eye-opener for you ... and for our daughters!

National Women's History Month - Franne McNeal (Black History Maker)

During National Women's History Month, Roger Madison (CEO, iZania) is featuring some of the prominent Black Women entrepreneurs who have been meaningful to our historical journey as an online community. The cool thing is that one of our own was featured this week! Franne McNeal is the hostess of the bi-weekly BDPA iRadio Show. She was honored by iZania as its National Women's History Month Black History Maker.

The narrative read as follows:

Franne McNeal is a serial entrepreneur with corporate expertise that spans four industries, seven positions and thirty years in business. As a junior at Princeton University, she launched a successful catering recruiting business for student bartenders and wait staff and never looked back. When Franne was 26 years old, she was the youngest person ever to be awarded a professional services training contract with the City of Pittsburgh; and successfully financed her 18-computer training room in 1-month.

In 2001, Franne created Significant Business Results, an executive coaching practice, to help her clients approach business challenges with a fresh perspective grounded in market realities and creative optimism. Significant Business Results Coach, Franne McNeal is engaged by clients to create strategic plans, generate business opportunities, identify revenue streams, and re-evaluate systems. Franne is committed to ensuring that her clients grow brand value, manage cash flow, and increase profits by leveraging people, performance and process.

Franne's clients include: The Kauffman Foundation, Temple University, ModernThink, Priority Management, The Corporation for Positive Change, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, The Social Security Administration, The State of Delaware, The City of New York, State University of New York, Women's Business Development Center, and Elohim Cleaning Contractors Inc.

In corporate leadership positions at Strategic Computer Assistance Inc, Mellon Bank, FMC, and SmithKline Beecham, as well as Vice President of Training and Development at PNC Financial Services, Franne led restructuring initiatives that resulted in over $1M in measurable savings.

Ms. McNeal's work has been recognized through a Citation from the Mayor of Philadelphia; the Perseverance Award from Eastern University; and the 100 Most Influential Black Women in Philadelphia Award. She has appeared on CBS-TV and NBC-TV; been quoted in Black Enterprise Magazine and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

As a moderator for the Project for Civic Engagement, a facilitator for America Speaks, and a facilitator for the Kauffman Foundation's FastTrac® programs, Franne continues to contribute to community education initiatives. In 2009. Franne became a member of the e200 class sponsored by the Philadelphia District Office of the US Small Business Administration. Franne currently serves as a member of the West Chester University MBA Advisory Board, and she is a volunteer mentor for a 4th grade class in the Philadelphia Public School District.

Ms. Franne McNeal earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University and an MBA from Eastern University in Pennsylvania. Learn more at www.frannemcneal.com.

We are proud to highlight Franne's 30 year history in business as a model for women of the 21st Century.

Franne engages with young people at 2012 BDPA Conference

Franne has been a strong and consistent supporter of the BDPA mission and vision for many years. She is a proud member of our BDPA Philadelphia chapter and we are very honored to join in saluting her as a Black History Maker!

OURstory: Michael Anderson, NASA African American Astronaut

OURstory must be shared at all times of the year, not just in February. I think it is important that our young people challenge themselves in K-12 with science and math classes. Perhaps it will help if this blog shares examples of African American role models who used their knowledge of science and math to create exciting futures for themselves.

For example, Did you know that a young brother named Michael Anderson was born December 25, 1959, in Plattsburgh, New York. He graduated from Cheney High School in Cheney, Washington in 1977. He received a bachelor of science degree in physics/astronomy from University of Washington in 1981. Later he earned a master of science degree in physics from Creighton University.

He successfully got a job with NASA in December 1994. Anderson flew for over 593 hours in space. One of his spaces flight was in January 1988 on the Shuttle Endeavor.

His last flight was in 2003. Anderson was part of a 7-member shuttle mission launched by NASA on January 16, 2003. Space Shuttle Columbia was on a 16-day mission to research microgravity and other Earth science related experiments.

The seven member crew, David Brown, Laurel Clark, Michael Anderson, Ilan Ramon, Rick Husband, Kalpana Chawla and William McCool died on February 1, 2003 when Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during reentry.

It was later determined that a piece of foam broke free and struck the shuttles wing during launch, damaging the thermal heat tiles which protect the shuttle from extreme temperatures during reentry into the atmosphere.

Michael Anderson was a hero. He was a role model for all of us. May he rest in peace.

OURstory: Blacks Who Made Technology History in the Silicon Valley

Soulclap to Black Digerati for pointing out an important part of the Digital Revolution that has been left untold. Technology historian John William Templeton shares OURstory in the form of a documentary called 'Freedom Riders'. This documentary chronicles prominent African American Silicon Valley technologists from the 1950s and 1960s.

Roy Clay Sr., Dr. Frank Green and the late Ron Jones were inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Council Hall of Fame in 2003. This video shows these men being honored earlier this year for their accomplishments in an exhibit (created by John William Templeton) at the Palo Alto City Hall.


Props to Black Digerati and Bro. Templeton for sharing the soul of technology with us. Are there other aspects of OURstory that have been left out of his-story?

Amefika Geuka: Walking 1,000 Miles for African-Centered Education

Often we talk about the importance of education for our young people. For too many of us ... it is just talk. Here is the story of Amefika Geuka, a man who is willing to walk the walk. In fact, he is walking 1,000 miles from his home in Florida to Washington DC to raise awareness about the miseducation that children of African-descent get in our public education system.

“We feel the way to change that is to put a focus on education of those children being educated from their own perspective,” explains Geuka.

Which is why he and two others founded the Joseph Littles - Nguzo Saba Charter School in Florida.

“The public education system in America no matter how well intended it may be, it actually demoralizes black children and black people because it dismisses for the most part that people of African descent have ever contributed anything of any significance to the forward flow of civilization.”

Bro. Geuka documented his thoughts on African-centered Education a few years ago when he delivered a black paper at the University of Cincinnati. Geuka says once he arrives in Washington D.C. he plans on holding a rally and also reading a proclamation for African Centered Education Elevation Day.

NOTE: I appreciate the efforts of anyone ... including Amefika Geuka ... when it comes to turning around the abismyl results of our public education system. I encouage BETF-Blog readers to learn more about his travels and his school. I'm going to follow his progress via Twitter as well.

What are your thoughts on African-centered education (in general) or this man's walkathon (in particular)? What say u?

Diversity in Science Carnival: Women in STEM - Past and Present

March is Women's History Month. One way that the month is being honored is thru the Diversity in Science Carnival: Women in STEM - Past and Present.

The blog carnival shares timely information on subjects such as:

• Women in science through history
  
• Big ideas
  
• Everyday heroes of diversity
  
• The lived reality of the scientific life
  
• Teachers and role models

I am proud that our blog contributed to this month's Diversity in Science Carnival. The next carnival will be May 20th (there will be no DiS carnival in April), hosted by DN Lee at Urban Science Adventures!, on the topic "Dealing With Diversity - what have you done with it, what obstacles have you faced, what success stories do you have".

Celebrating Women Who Made History in Science and Technology

The Diversity in Science Carnival will continue to celebrate the people of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and share their stories of triumph, success and perseverance.

Last month's inaugural carnival celebrating Black History Month was a success. I would love to share stories of BDPA members who are Women Achievers in STEM- Past and Present! This is a great time to learn and recognize some of the unsung heroes in our midst. Do you have anyone in your chapter that you would like to see us submit for this month's blog carnival?

DN Lee (Urban Science Adventures) encouraged me to submit my post on the all-Black all-Female flight crew. I also submitted blog posts on two BDPA Hall of Famers ... Diane Davis and Betty Hutchins ... for this month's carnival. What other women achievers from BDPA should be added to the mix?

If fact, let's try to list the Top 10 Women in BDPA History. Who would you have on that list?

Diversity in Science Blog Carnival: Black History Month

DNLee of Urban Science Adventures! blog is launching a new blog carnival:

All year is great time to learn more about science and the people who make the discoveries. But February offers a great opportunity to learn about the achievements of African Americans (and others from the African Diaspora) in the sciences. So I'm introducing a new Blog Carnival - Diversity in Science. Blogs of every genre is invited to write a special feature post about a person who is a pioneer or innovator in any of the amazing fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Tell us all about him/her? How has this person impacted field of STEM or inspired you? Or why is his/her story
interesting?

This is a great chance for us to share information about our current and past Epsilon Award winners and other BDPA leaders. If you have something relevant, submit it through the Blog Carnival link by February 20th.