In 1954, King graduated as valedictorian from the Moultrie High School for Negro Youth.
King was hired by the National Bureau of Standards, becoming the agency’s first African American female chemist.
As a research chemist, she won the Meritorious Publication Award for her paper on fluoride flame calorimetry.
At York College, she became Associate Dean for the Division of Natural Science and Mathematics in 1970, and Associate Dean for academic affairs in 1974.
Reatha King was hired at General Mills in Minneapolis, Minnesota as executive director of the General Mills Foundation and vice president of the General Mills Corporation.
Betty Washington Green (1935 – 1995)
Dr. Greene was the first African American to work for Dow Chemical in a professional capacity. Greene’s research was focused on colloidal chemistry, more specifically, the chemistry of latex, including the interaction between latex and paper.
Greene’s doctoral dissertation, Determination of Particle Size Distributions in Emulsions by Light Scattering, was published as a book in 1965.
In 1965, Greene also joined Dow Chemical Company, working in the firm’s E.C. Britton Research Laboratory in Midland, Michigan.
St. Elmo Brady (1916 – 1966)
The first African American to earn a PhD in chemistry.
His research focused on how the acidity of carboxylic acids changed based on the addition of different chemical groups.
He taught for several years at what would eventually be called Tuskegee University and eventually became the chair of the chemistry department at Howard University.
At Fisk University, Brady created the nation’s first graduate program in chemistry at a historically Black college and eventually did the same at three other universities.
In 2019, the American Chemical Society awardd Brady a National Historic Chemical Landmark because of his accomplishments.
Samuel P. Massie (1919 – 2005)
In 1982, he patented an antibiotic for treating gonorrhea.
In his career, he also focused on education—teaching chemistry and taking an appointment at the National Science Foundation to shape science education across the nation.
He chaired the department of the National Science Foundation, becoming the first Black person to hold that position.
