Dr. Percy Lavon Julian — the persistent chemist
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This Friday is June Nineteenth, also known as Juneteenth, is known as emancipation day. It commemorates the day when Union General Gordon Granger emancipated the last of the remaining slaves in 1865. Even though African Americans were emancipated in 1865, the road before them has been nothing but challenging even today as we march for the Black Lives Matter movement.
And black lives do matter. Statistically, today, African Americans are three times more likely to be murdered by police than white people are. And even though African Americans consist of 13 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 24% of deaths by police. Then there are the hate crimes. Again, even though African Americans consist of 13 percent of the United States population, 28% of hate crimes are directed towards black people. Such was the case in the Illinois suburb of Oak Park.
The event happened the day before Thanksgiving. Oak Park was known as “Saints rest” because so many churches have been built in this area. It was an exclusive area where residence often joined clubs and formed enclaves of friendly communities. It was considered the home of many famous individuals, including fiction writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, dancer Doris Humphrey, and the brilliant American journalist Ernest Hemingway.
Then, on the evening of November 22, 1950, arsonists broke into an empty, newly purchased home. They splashed gasoline on the walls and the floors of the 15 rooms within this house. Then they tossed a kerosene torch through the porch window setting the house ablaze. A neighbor heard the commotion and looked outside to see two men driving away in a dark sedan.
Why would something like this happen in Oak Park? The answer is racism.
Shortly before arsonists set the house on fire, Doctor Percy Lavon Julian purchased the home.
Percy Lavon Julian was born on April 11, 1899, in Montgomery, Alabama. He was the grandson of a former slave. His grandfather had two of his fingers cut off as punishment for learning how to write. Racism and discrimination were evident in his life from the day he was born. One of his earliest memories occurred when he was walking in the woods near his home when he found a lynched black man hanging from a tree.
His mom, Elizabeth, was a schoolteacher, and his father, James, was a railway service clerk. Even though James was passionate about education, he never had the opportunity to attend college. When Percy’s father completed eighth grade, James’ teacher, Joan Stuart, offered him a chance to go to college at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. However, James turned it down because he had to take care of his family.
And so, like his father James, Percy attended school up to the eighth grade. He could not go to high school because there were not any high schools in his neighborhood that accepted black students. This blatant systemic racism was just one of many reminders that he would always be judged by the color of his skin.
His parents urged him and pushed him and his five other siblings to attend school and pursue higher education. So, he attended two years at Lincoln Normal School, a teacher’s college and one of the first universities open to African Americans.
Once Percy completed his high school courses, Joan Stuart reached out to James and offered Percy a chance to study at DePauw. When James and Percy said yes to the offer, Joan reached out to her friend Julian Depew Hogate, a local newspaper editor, who pulled a few strings to get Percy into DePauw University. And so Percy boarded a train and made a trek of 571 miles north to attend DePauw University. When his train arrived in Greencastle, he was greeted by Julian’s son, Kenneth, who stood on the platform with a smile and an outstretched hand. Percy said that Kenneth’s hand was the first white hand he had ever shaken.
Kenneth helped Percy get situated at DePauw University, which was the beginning of a long academic career that Percy would undertake. After his first year at DePauw University, the rest of his family moved to Greencastle so that the rest of his siblings could also attend DePauw.
In 1920, Julian graduated with the highest honors and the highest grades and had been elected to Phi Beta Kappa. However, even with these phenomenal grades, he could not get an assistantship, a fellowship, or be admitted into graduate school.
He found a position teaching chemistry at Fisk University, and then after two years, he won a fellowship to go to Harvard University. There he earned his master’s degree. However, his opportunities for a Ph.D. were not available. Instead, he taught at West Virginia State College and Howard University, where he eventually became the head of the chemistry department.
Even after receiving high grades and accolades, he still could not get accepted into United States University to get his Ph.D. So, he set his sights outside of the U.S. He earned a Rockefeller Foundation Grant and went to the University of Vienna, where he received his doctorate in Chemistry. In Europe, he enjoyed freedom from racism and spent his time going to the opera and social gatherings. And when he received his Ph.D. in chemistry, he was one of the first three African Americans.
In 1936, he obtained the position of Director of Research at the Glidden Company for two reasons. One: he was a brilliant chemist, and two: he spoke German. Glidden had just purchased a plant from Germany and needed a German speaker. At Glidden, he designed and supervised the world’s first plant to produce industrial-grade isolated soy protein from oil-free soybean meal.
His work was tremendous! He completed the total synthesis of physostigmine, which is used to treat glaucoma and reverse neuromuscular blocking. He also extracted stigmasterol, which helps lower cholesterol levels, and, when isolated from soybean oil, can be converted into progesterone. Not only did he pioneer the chemical synthesis of cortisone, but he also pioneered the chemical synthesis of steroids and birth control pills.
While at Glidden, he invented and patented a foam technique that isolated and synthesized progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone. In 1949, he found a way to create cortisone on a large scale and eliminated the use of osmium tetroxide, which was an expensive chemical used for the process. He ended up saving Glidden a lot of money, which made him a bit of a hero, corporately speaking. Percy went on to obtain 100 patents and have his work published in over 160 publications.
However, regardless of his Fame and accolades, he still was the subject of racism and discrimination. While working at Glidden, he purchased a home in Oak Park, and before he had even moved in, the day before Thanksgiving on November 22, some of the neighbors made it clear that he was not welcome by throwing a firebomb into his house. This was even 11 months after Percy had been given the Chicagoan of the Year Award by the Chicago-Sun Times! The racism and the fire became a bit of a PR debacle for Oak Park. They wanted to be known for their progressive community. So they tried to bury the story. But then Time Magazine picked up the story exposing the racism directed towards Dr. Percy Lavon Julian.
The police department refused to protect him, and so Percy had to hire private guards. Percy even had to take up guard duty, as he would station himself under a tree in front of his house with a shotgun. His son asked him why he was sitting under a tree with a shotgun, and he had to explain that there were people in the neighborhood who did not want them there. This was even after he had been awarded five honorary doctorate degrees!
Yet, he persevered. Percy continually pursued a life that society told him he could not follow. He never gave up. Like that river that cuts through a rock not because it is powerful but because it is persistent, Percy persisted and accomplished so much.
In his lifetime, he earned 18 honorary doctorates and one more posthumously. He earned over 18 academic and civic honors and was a member, laureate, and fellow to over eight societies. In 1973, he was elected into the National Academy of Sciences. In 1990, he was elected into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Percy’s accomplishments were exceptionally numerous.
America’s black community has contributed so much to the advancement of our country’s science. So many brilliant and amazing black people have done so much good in the world that it to me is abhorrent that we even have to have this discussion in 2020. Black lives matter.
So, though all lives do matter, right now, nothing matters more than our black communities do. To ignore this would be equivalent to going to the doctor with a broken arm and having the doctor say, “Well, all bones matter,” and he looks at all of the bones on your body except for your broken arm. So right now, we need to address what is broken, and we need to fix it so that as a country, we can fully heal and move forward with respect, love, and acceptance for our black brothers and sisters. Otherwise, we will remain stuck in the past with an antiquated mindset,
They matter today, yesterday, and have mattered for the last four hundred years. Black lives matter. Percy Julian is just one of many brilliant scientists who have done so much for our country and our country’s advancements in science.
George Washington Carver
Benjamin Banneker
Garrett Morgan
Madam CJ Walker
Lewis Howard Latimer
Elijah McCoy
Granville Woods
Thomas Jennings
Frederick McKinley Jones
Otis Boykin
Norbert Rillieux
Ian Ernst Matzeliger
Emmett Chappelle
Sarah Goode
Sarah Boone
Bessie Blount Griffin
Henry Blair
Miriam Benjamin
David Crosthwait
Marjorie Joyner
Lloyd Hall
Ben Montgomery
Andrew Jackson Beard
Benjamin Bradley
Henry Cecil McBay
Lewis Temple
Leonard Bailey
Rebecca Cole
Edward Alexander Bouchet
Daniel Hale Williams
Charles Henry Turner
Ernest Everett Just
Archibald Alexander
Roger Arliner Young
Charles Richard Drew
Katherine Johnson
Mary Edward Chinn
Lillian Burwell Lewis
Marie Maynard Daly
And the list goes on and on and on. Without these brilliant black individuals and many more, science would not have evolved to where it is today. Could you imagine the progress in science we could make as a country if we all were genuinely colorblind?
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Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle