The Library Unbound: Milne Library News

What does a scientist look like? If you stop to think, what image comes to mind? Is it someone like Albert Einstein? Or is it someone like George Washington Carver? 

The display, titled “Contributions of African Americans to Science and Engineering”, was created to highlight the research that Dr. Matthew Hendley, Dr. Trudy Thomas-Smith, and Michelle Hendley had conducted to challenge the notion that scientists are middle-aged, white men with glasses and crazy hair. Their research focused on the history and the representation of African American scientists and engineers. 

Part of the research conducted by this trio included visiting the Alden Room and the Ontario Institute of Educational Studies at the University of Toronto to research how often a sampling of scientists were represented in textbooks for students. Michelle Hendley, with help from a student researcher, discovered that most individuals from their sample were not mentioned until the latter part of the 2000s (Michelle Hendley, personal communication, March 12, 2020). Out of the 61 textbooks published between 1863-2008 that were used in the study, only 10% mentioned any of the individuals from the sample (Michelle Hendley, personal communication, March 12, 2020).  

Dr. Matthew Hendley, Dr. Trudy Thomas-Smith, and Michelle Hendley displayed their research for the SUNY Oneonta community. They conducted a survey while the research was displayed and found that “most of the respondents had not heard of the scientists in the display” (Michelle Hendley, personal communication, March 12, 2020). Two themes that emerged from the survey were that people believe that African American Scientists are invisible and unrecognized and that we, as a society, should be raising awareness of African American Scientist contributions (Michelle Hendley, personal communication, March 12, 2020).  

One important fact that Michelle Hendley hopes people took away from the display is that “African Americans have made significant, largely unacknowledged [contributions] to scientific discovery and advancement in this country” (Michelle Hendley, personal communication, March 12, 2020). To highlight that fact, Hendley referenced Elijah McCoy, a Canadian-born inventor, who obtained upwards of 57 patents in his lifetime, mostly relating to his work with steam engines (Michelle Hendley, personal communication, March 12, 2020). Many African American scientists were unfairly treated and are still underacknowledged for their contributions to this day.  

The display created in the library not only highlighted the important research of Dr. Matthew Hendley, Dr. Trudy Thomas-Smith, and Michelle Hendley, but also resources available for faculty and students to check out on contributions of African Americans to science and engineering. The combined display highlights a sentiment that Michelle Hendley (March 12, 2020) expressed in our personal communication: “Representation is important.”