June 14, 2009 |
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Women’s rights are
human rights?
Stephen Henry Lewis,
United Nations’ envoy for HIV AIDS in Africa, 2006, said:
“[Women’s rights have] never been made real, and so long as men control the levers and bastions of power… it never will be real. The demeaning diminution of women is everywhere evident… where freedom from sexual violence, the right to sexual autonomy, to sexual and reproductive health, social and economic independence, and even the whiff of gender equality are barely approximated. It’s a ghastly, deadly business, this untrammeled oppression of women in so many countries on the planet.”
1 The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws… enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated… segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly “separate but equal” status for black Americans. In reality this led to treatment and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for white Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages... (such as) segregation of public schools, transportation, restrooms, restaurants and The U.S. military. Refer Wikipedia
2 “If I had the choice of educating a boy or a girl, I would educate the girl. If you educate a boy, you educate one, but if you educate a girl, you educate a generation.”
~ Brigham Young
3 Refer Wikipedia Percy Lavon Julian. Refer PBS Percy Lavon Julian: Forgotten Genius.
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There Are Good Men
Percy Lavon Julian, Celebrated Chemist
Women in particular and humanity in general have much for which to thank the late Percy Lavon Julian, an African American research chemist. His story, Forgotten Genius, was recently featured on the PBS channel’s Nova program. I almost tuned it out. I’m glad I didn’t.
Percyverance Pays Off
He was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1899, long after the Constitution was amended to abolish slavery and guarantee voting rights, due process, and equal protection of the laws. But words on paper do not always sway people to act with civility towards others. Percy Julian grew up in the time of ‘Jim Crow,’ an era of transition from slavery to freedom. 1 Among his childhood memories was finding a lynched black man hung from a tree while walking in the woods near his home.
While it was generally unheard of for African Americans of that era to pursue an education beyond the 8th grade, Percy’s father, the son of former slaves, had been denied the privilege and was determined to educate his son. The lad was in and out of the few schools and universities who would accept blacks. He was either studying and advancing his own education, or earning what he could by teaching others his knowledge of chemistry.
In 1929, while an instructor at Howard University, Julian received a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship to continue his graduate work at the University of Vienna. In Europe, he found freedom from the racial prejudices that had nearly stifled him in the States. He freely participated in intellectual social gatherings, went to the opera, and found greater acceptance among his peers.
After receiving his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1931, he returned to the U.S. and became an instructor at Howard University. It was there he met his future wife, Anna Thompson. At the time Anna was married to Robert Thompson, Percy’s laboratory assistant at Howard University. It seems Thompson caught Percy and Anna in a sexual tryst, and when the affair became public, it brought great embarrassment to the trio, to Howard University, and to other faculty members during the summer of 1932. Following the expose, Anna went away to study for her doctoral degree at The University of Pennsylvania.
The sexual scandal gradually subsided, but three years passed before Anna and Percy married on December 24, 1935. Two years later, Anna received her Ph.D. in Sociology. 2
While Percy advanced in his profession, often working around the clock to meet the demands and deadlines of academic administration, World War II was underway in Europe. His knowledge, experience, and skills as a chemist were yet to be appreciated by his peers.
In 1940, Anna gave birth to the Julian’s first child, a son, to be named after his father. Four years later, the family increased to four with the birth of their daughter.
Albeit Percy’s potential was continually stifled as a black man in America’s white-man world of academia politics and hierarchy, his luck finally changed for the better when he was asked to join the Glidden Company as director of research at their Soya Products Division in Chicago. Under Percy’s direction, the lab invented new coatings, paints, and hundreds of other products made from soy beans still in use today. One of his earliest accomplishments was the creation of soy protein foam that was used to smother oil and gasoline fires aboard ships and was particularly useful on aircraft carriers. It saved the lives of thousands of sailors.
Percy’s Family Tree
Percy’s research tasks at Glidden changed in 1940 when he became their pioneer in the industrial, large-scale chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants—especially soy beans and the Mexican wild yam. Many of his discoveries were in the field of human hormones—steroids, progesterone, and testosterone. His unrelenting search for the fastest most economical way to replicate human and animal hormones from organics resulted in the mass production of such highly coveted pharmaceuticals as cortisone (used to treat rheumatoid arthritis) and birth control pills (the miracle drug of choice that changed the course of feminine history by relieving women of maternity if they so desired).
The Julians moved from Chicago to the suburb of Oak Park, Illinois—the first African American family to reside in the elite community. Before they moved in however, their palatial home was fire-bombed on Thanksgiving Day, 1950. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Again in June 1951 their home was attacked—this time with dynamite. Again none of the family was injured. Thereafter, Percy and his young son often perched in a tree outside their home with a loaded shotgun where they spent many nights guarding their property, loved ones, and ‘equal rights.’
In 1953, Glidden decided to leave the steroid business which had been relatively unprofitable over the years despite Percy’s innovative work. After eighteen years as the company’s starring chemist, it was time for him to move on. Of his astounding 130 chemical patents, 109 of them were left behind when his career with Glidden ended.
It was then Percy founded his own research firm, Julian Laboratories, Inc. He brought many of his best chemists, including African Americans and women, from Glidden to his own company. At last unfettered by a ‘boss,’ he was able to pursue the development of low-cost pharmaceuticals that have since benefited global populations.
In 1961, he sold his company for $2.3 million dollars. Smith Kline purchased his U.S. and Mexico facilities, and Upjohn purchased his chemical plant in Guatemala.
In 1964, Percy founded Julian Associates and Julian Research Institute, which he managed for the rest of his life. He died of liver cancer on April 19, 1975.
His and Her Legacies
Against all odds and in spite of the white-washed barriers he encountered, Percy had made his way through the halls of the intelligentsia, the figurative nooses of politicos, and the literal fires of hate-filled white neighbors to become the first African American chemist inducted into the National Academy of Sciences.
Here’s a partial list of Percy Lavon Julian’s legacies:
- he was named Chicagoan of the Year (1950)
- two schools were named for him (1975 & 1985)
- the science and math building at De Pauw University was renamed in his honor (1980)
- a street was named for him (1980)
- an academic hall at Illinois State University was named in his honor
- he was honored on a United States Postal stamp (1993)
- his synthesis of physostigmine (used to treat myasthenia gravis, glaucoma, and Alzheimer’s disease) was acclaimed as one of the top 25 achievements in the history of American chemistry (1999).
- he was responsible for 138 chemistry patents during his lifetime
- he was listed in Asante’s 100 Greatest African Americans (2002).3
But what about Percy’s wife’s legacy? Anna Roselle Johnson Thompson Julian is virtually unknown, unheralded, and uncelebrated, except as wife of the famous chemist. As an African American woman, surely her path was just as rocky, steep, and treacherous as Percy’s. Most certainly her challenges were just as great, if not greater, in the vulnerable realm of white male supremacists. What had she planned to accomplish with her Ph.D. in Sociology? Was ‘the pill’ available to her or did she choose motherhood of her own free will? How did maternity affect her goals? How might our lives be different today had she been unencumbered?
Slaves of Gender
Most females can empathize with the struggles of Percy Julian, an alien in the white man’s realm—often labeled as the minority, the other, the lesser, and sometimes the un-deserving. However, women—until the pill—were subject and slaves to lives of maternity, thereby basically excluded from the man’s world of great achievements. In spite of the pill, the pursuit of greatness is still a lop-sided gender equation.
It is almost impossible for women to accomplish a goal that demands 100% dedication (such as astronaut, a specialized doctor, a global leader or champion of worthy causes) while juggling the complexities of the motherhood role. Yes, it is true that many women are wives, mothers, and career seekers, but success comes at an enormous price. Even if women don’t give up, too frequently they get used up in the process by the day-to-day demands of family, community, and larger patriarchal systems.
Especially in today’s world, women often empathize too much with the suffering masses of freedom-starved societies. They try to fix anything that hurts another, everyone who is sick, every destitute situation that most often has been brought about by the greed or exclusivity of our counterpart gender. Will there ever be a time when the male gender will take it upon themselves to heal our broken planet, thereby freeing females to explore all they were meant to be?
Stifling the potential of any human being is tantamount to ‘unforgivable sin.’ Yet multi-millions of female Homo sapiens who are willing to learn, yearning to make a difference, and wanting to contribute the best years of their lives for the good of all people are denied the rights, liberty, and opportunity to do so. These are the ultimate crimes against humanity. Perhaps in the example of Percy’s story, ‘forgotten’ would be more desirable than simply ‘un-tapped.’
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