Month: January 2024

Annie Easley 1933 -2011 Two weeks after reading an article on twin sisters working as human computers, Annie Easley began a career in 1955 as a ‘human computer’, doing computations for researchers. This involved analyzing problems and doing calculations by hand. In the face of discrimination, her motto was “[I]f I can’t work with you,… Continue reading Annie Easley

Ellen Jackson 1935–2005 Ellen Swepson Jackson was an American educator and activist best known for founding Operation Exodus in 1965.  Jackson got involved because her five children attended an overcrowded school of predominantly Black students who were not encouraged to prepare for college. Jackson’s experience on how to work the system started as a parent… Continue reading Ellen Jackson

Jean Blackwell Hutson 1914–1998 Jean Blackwell Hutson was an African American librarian, archivist, curator, and finally chief of the New York Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture from 1948 to 1980. She also taught classes in Black Studies at the City College of New York from 1962-1971. Additionally, the then president of Ghana, Kwame… Continue reading Jean Hutson