March 2022Notices of the aMericaN MatheMatical society 417What do all of these people have in common? They are all mathematicians and Black women. These are the first 20 Black women to earn doctoral degrees in mathematics in the United States. 2 When you picture a mathematician, what image comes to mind? Chances are a vision of an African American woman is not your first image. We are all familiar with the stereotype of a mathematician.Since 1943 when the first Black woman, Dr. Euphemia Lofton Haynes, earned her doctorate, Black women continued to excel in the mathematical sciences, even if they did not earn a Ph.D. Case in point, the famous book, Hidden Figures, highlighted Katherine Johnson who served as a research mathematician at NASA 3 [Shetterly, 2016]. Did you know that she is considered the first African American to pursue graduate studies in mathematics; integrated West Virginia University; and pursued a master's degree in mathematics there, but did not earn the degree? 4 Yet she is one of the most famous mathematicians of our time given her groundbreaking research in the space race of the 1950s. She is also "the first female mathematician to be awarded the highest civilian honor in the U.S., the Presidential Medal of Freedom", which she was awarded by President Barack Obama in 2015 [Walker, 2017]. In addition, she and the other "computers" from NASA received a Congressional Medal of Honor in 2019. 5
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