Celebrating Black History Month: Percy Lavon Julian, African American chemist

Percy Lavon Julian, born April 11, 1899 in Montgomery, Alabama, was a research chemist and a pioneer in synthesizing medicinal drugs from plants.  His work paved the way for the steroid drug industry's production of cortisone, and artificial hormones that led to birth controls.

He attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, which only accepted a few African-Americans.  He was not allowed to live in the dormitory, and at first, stayed in a boarding home, which refused to serve him meals.  He was allowed to live in a fraternity house, in their attic (or basement, according to which source), and do servant work.  He graduated from DePauw in 1920 as valedictorian.

In 1929, he received a Rockefeller Foundation to continue his education at the University of Vienna, where he earned his PhD. In Europe, he didn't have the racial prejudices that had stifled his opportunities in the states.  However, his freedoms and liberties in Europe would cause trouble in the future back in the US.  He admitted in letters about his dalliances with Viennese women, wine, dances, and also made some derisive remarks about members of Howard University's faculty, where he had been an instructor before he left for Vienna. The scandals led to his dismissal.

A former mentor offered him an organic chemistry teaching position at DePauw University in 1932, but he was denied a professorship in 1936 because of racism.  

W. J. O'Brien, a vice-president at Glidden Company, supplier of soybean oil products, offered him a position of director of research at Glidden's Soya Products Division in Chicago.  He discovered a way of producing large quantities of soy sterols on a daily basis.  The soy stigmasterol could be converted into commercial quantities of progesterone, the female hormone. The large production of these hormones, reduced the cost of treating hormonal deficiencies.  

Julian left Glidden in December 1953 after Glidden decided to leave the steroid business. He founded his own research firm, Julian Laboratories, Inc. in Chicago, and hired his best chemists including African Americans and women from Glidden. He continued his research and synthesis of hormones throughout his life  He sold his company in 1961 for $2.3M, making him one of the first black millionaires.

He passed away of liver cancer in April 1975 in Waukegan, Illinois.

Celebrating Black History Month: Isaac R. Johnson, African American patented first bicycle frame

Isaac R. Johnson, born ca. 1812 in New York, did not invent the bicycle frame, but he did perfect it.  He became the first African American man to patent a new frame, which is still in use today.

Not much is known about Johnson other than what information was included on the patent paperwork, which he filed in April 1899. He was granted the patent in October 1899. 

Celebrating Black History Month: Clifton Wharton, Sr., first African-American ambassador

Clifton Wharton Sr., born May 11, 1899 in Baltimore, Maryland, became the first African-American ambassador and the first African-American Foreign Service Officer to become chief of a diplomatic mission.  

He practiced law in Boston before joining the US State Department in the Foreign Service.  He became Vice Consul in Monrovia in 1927, Consul in Las Palmas in 1932, Minister to Romania in 1958, and then Ambassador to Norway in 1961 until his death.

Wharton passed away in Phoenix, Arizona in September 1964.

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: David Barkley Cantu, WWI hero and Medal of Honor recipient

David Barkley Cantu, born March 31, 1899 in Laredo, Texas, enlisted in the Texas National Guard in 1917, and entered the US Army in April of that year.  He enlisted under his father's name of Barkley for fear of discrimination.  At the time, Hispanics were segregated to serve in non-combat units, but Congress passed an act to allow Hispanics to fight in May 1917.  

He was assigned to the 155th Infantry in August 1918 and sent to France in WWI.  Later he was assigned to Company A, 356th Infantry, 89th Division.  Just before the Armistice, he volunteered to swim across the Meuse River, behind German lines in France to gather information about the enemy.  He and a sergeant managed to get the information, but Barkley drowned as he swam back across the river.  

He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his bravery.

Alfred Hitchcock born 1899

The undisputed master of horror Alfred Hitchcock was born August 13, 1899 in London, England.  He directed some of the scariest movies in all cinema history, including my favorites Psycho, The Birds and Rebecca.

He was nominated for an Oscar four times for Best Director but never won.  He did win an Academy Award for the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1968.

E. B. White, children's books author, born 1899

Elwyn Brooks (E.B.) White, born July 11, 1899, is probably best known for his book Charlotte's Web.  It is a must-read for every person and has been voted the top children's novel in a 2012 survey of School Library Journal readers.

Before writing, White worked as an editor of the Cornell Daily Sun, a cub reporter for the Seattle Times and was on staff at the New Yorker after it was founded in 1925.  It wasn't until the late 1930's that White began writing children's books and published Stuart Little in 1945, and, in 1952, Charlotte's Web, which receiveda Newbery Honor from the American Library Association.

White went on to win the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal in 1970.  His third novel, The Trumpet of the Swan won the Sequoya Award from Oklahoma.  I was 8 years old when it was published, but I have never heard of this one.

He passed away October 1, 1985 from Alzheimer's disease.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._B._White