DID YOU KNOW? for June 21 - July 4, 2022:  

Did You Know…The 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Abdulrazak Gurnah who was born in Zanzibar, Tanzania and now teaches and writes in Canterbury, England.  The Swedish Academy cited Gurnah for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents”.

Gurnah is the first Black writer to receive the Literature Nobel since Toni Morrison in 1993. Gurnah has written 10 novels, including 1994’s Paradise, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and 2001’s By the Sea, longlisted for the Booker.

Gurnah’s writing is noted for pushing back against previous Western takes on the African continent.  He has said that "the exclusion of non-European people from certain kinds of recognitions, or the exclusion of women from certain kinds of recognitions, is only just now beginning to become an issue or a thing people are concerned to put right", and added that the world was changing.

Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Novels

·       Memory of Departure (1987)

·       Pilgrims Way (1988)

·       Dottie (1990)

·       Paradise (1994) (shortlisted for the Booker Prizeand the Whitbread Prize)

·       Admiring Silence (1996)

·       By the Sea (2001) (longlisted for the Booker Prize and
                           shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize)

·       Desertion (2005)

·       The Last Gift (2011)

·       Gravel Heart (2017)

·       Afterlives (2020)

Learn more…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdulrazak_Gurnah

DID YOU KNOW? for June 7 - 20, 2022:  

Did You Know…Professor George W. McLaurin (1887- 1968) was the first African-American to attend the University of Oklahoma, and the plaintiff in the precedent-setting McLaurin vs. Oklahoma State Regents 1950 Supreme Court decision. In the McLaurin case the Court ruled unanimously (9-0) that racial segregation within colleges and universities is inconsistent with the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, therefore African American students must receive the same treatment as all other students in higher education.

George McLaurin held a Master’s Degree from the University of Kansas and was a retired professor living in Oklahoma City.  He applied to the University of Oklahoma doctoral program in education but was denied admission solely based on his race. At that time, Oklahoma state law made it a misdemeanor to teach at or attend an educational institution that admitted both white and black students. In their decision the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged that because American society was changing, discrimination based on race had no place in education.

Learn more….

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._McLaurin

DID YOU KNOW? for May 24 - June 6, 2022:  

Did You Know…Scott Joplin (1868-1917) was an African-American composer and pianist. He was considered the “King of Ragtime”, though he also composed music for ballet, opera, and broadway. Ragtime is a syncopated (i.e. off-beat) music style with roots in the African-American community. It was especially popular in America from about 1895 to 1919, and is considered one forerunner of jazz.  Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” (1899) was a major hit and is often referred to as the model for all ragtime works.

Joplin's father had been a slave, later working for the railroad after emancipation.  Scott briefly worked for the railroad, then taught piano, and played piano at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.  Scott hoped for a career as a classical pianist and composer, and had difficulty escaping his ragtime associations.

Learn more……

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Joplin

Listen to Scott Joplin play “Maple Leaf Rag” (recording from 1916)…..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maple_leaf_rag_-_played_by_Scott_Joplin_1916_V2.ogg

DID YOU KNOW? for May 10 - 23, 2022:  

Did You Know…Victor Jerome Glover (b: April 30, 1976) is a NASA astronaut from the class of 2013 and Pilot on the first operational flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS). Glover is a commander in the U.S. Navy where he pilots an F/A-18, and is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. 

He was a crew member of Expedition64 (ISS November 16, 2020 - May 2, 2021), serving as a station systems flight engineer and completing 3 space walks.

Glover has been selected to be part of NASA's Artemis program to fly to the lunar south pole, which is set to begin flights with un-crewed launches in 2022.

Learn more….

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_J._Glover

DID YOU KNOW? for April 26 - May 9, 2022:  

Did You Know…Mae Carol Jemison is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. In 1992 she became the first Black woman to travel into space when she served as a Mission Specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, spending more than a week orbiting the earth and fulfilling dreams that began when she watched Star Trek on television as a youngster.

In October 1986, Jemison was 1 of 15 accepted from some 2,000 applicants to be an astronaut. Jemison completed her training as a Mission Specialist with NASA in 1988. She became an Astronaut Office Representative with the Kennedy Space Center, working to process space shuttles for launching and to verify shuttle software.

Next, she was assigned to support a cooperative mission between the United States and Japan designed to conduct experiments in materials processing and the life sciences. In September 1992, STS-47 Spacelab J became the first successful joint U.S.-Japan space mission.

After completing her NASA mission, she formed the Jemison Group to develop and market advanced technologies. (Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Mae Jemison". Encyclopedia Britannica)

Learn more…

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mae-Jemison

DID YOU KNOW? for April 12 - 25, 2022:  

Did You Know…Gladys Mae West is a “Hidden Figure behind your phone’s GPS.” West is an American mathematician known for her contributions to the mathematical modeling of the shape of the earth, and her work on the development of satellite geodesy models that were eventually incorporated into global positioning systems (GPS).

As a studious Black girl in rural Virginia, West earned a scholarship to Virginia State College where she completed her first degree in math in 1952. She was eventually hired by the U.S. Naval Proving Ground where she combined information from Seasat and other satellites to refine an increasingly detailed and accurate mathematical model of the actual shape of the earth – called a “geoid.” This computational modeling would prove essential to modern GPS.

GPS technology relies on mathematical models to accurately calculate the position of the receiver, a technology now embedded in a wide range of tracking and guidance devices.

Gladys Mae West was inducted into the U.S. Air Force Hall of Fame in 2018 to honor her many contributions to science and technology.

Learn more…

Meet Dr. Gladys West by Lauren Mackenzie Reynolds in Massive Science, December 25, 2019

and

"Gladys West, American Mathematician" in Britannica.com:  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gladys-West

DID YOU KNOW? for March 29 - April 11, 2022:  

Did You Know…Phillis Wheatley Peters (also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly) was the first African-American author of a published book of poetry.

At the age of 7 or 8 (in approx.1760) she was sold into slavery to the Wheatley family of Boston.  Young Phillis learned to read and write and began penning poetry. Seeing her talent, the Wheatley’s encouraged her work and in 1773 sent her to London where she connected with supportive patrons and publishers.

The London publication of her “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” on September 1,1773 brought Phillis recognition in England and the American colonies. Phillis was freed by the Wheatley family shortly after her book’s publication.

Learn more…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Wheatley

DID YOU KNOW? for March 15 - 28, 2022:  

Did You Know… Ellen Eglin, born in Washington, D.C in 1849, worked as a government clerk, and for a while as a housekeeper. However she earned a place in history books as the inventor in of the clothes wringer, a laundry aid that used 2 rollers and a crank handle to squeeze out excess water and noticeably sped-up clothes washing and drying in the late 19th century.

As a Black woman, Eglin couldn’t get a patent on her own in 1888, so she sold the rights to her invention to an agent for just $18, and made no further profit from her brainchild. In an 1891 interview Eglin indicated another reason she didn’t try for a patent on her invention, saying, “…if it was known that a negro woman patented the invention, white ladies would not buy the wringer.”

Eglin’s wringer design was later manufactured and very successfully marketed for decades by the American Wringer Company.

Learn more…

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/people-african-american-history/ellen-eglin-1849/

DID YOU KNOW? for March 1 - 14, 2022:  

Jessie Isabelle Price, was a veterinary microbiologist who studied and worked at the Cornell University Duck Research Laboratory where she identified the cause of the most common life-threatening disease in duck farming in the 1950’s.  She then developed preventive vaccines for this and several other avian diseases.

Price, a black woman, was highly praised for her work in vaccine development which greatly aided commercial duck, turkey, and pigeon farming. She relocated to Madison, Wisconsin in 1977 to work as a research microbiologist at the National Wildlife Health Center, where she focused on diseases in waterfowl and environmental contaminants.

Price was born in western Pennsylvania in 1930 and raised by her mother under difficult financial circumstances. They relocated to Ithaca, New York when Jessie was accepted at Cornell University, where she then earned her Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees.

Price's professional accomplishments led to recognitions internationally and in the U.S.  She served leadership roles in the American Society for Microbiology and Graduate Women in Science.

Learn more about Jessie Isabelle Price at...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie_Isabelle_Price 

DID YOU KNOW? for February 15 - 28, 2022:  

World War II Navajo code talker Thomas Begay was a teenager playing football near his high school in New Mexico when he heard news of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. As soon as he could, he went to a recruiting office to join the Marines. Because he was only 17 he had to go home and return with his mother to give permission for his enlistment. This was just the start of his lifelong commitment to public service.

Begay, now in his late 90’s, is one of only 4 men still alive among the 400-plus Navajo code talkers from World War II. Over 3 dozen of this elite group were either wounded or killed during the war. Their war activities were considered classified and they were forbidden from speaking about them for almost 3 decades.

Learn more about Thomas Begay’s life journey, including his time on Iwo Jima in World War II, his military service in the Korean War, and his decades of service with the Bureau of Indian Affairs at:  https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/history/info-2021/pearl-harbor-thomas-begay.html