Pioneering Black African American Women Chemists and Pharmacists

Abstract

It is assumed that the history of modern science in Africa began between the last two decades of the 19th century and the first two or three of the 20th century. It is true that in our days there are important female figures who were born on the continent, such as the Ph.D. in Chemistry Fatma Hamad, from Tanzania, or the Egyptian Shendy Nada, Ph.D. in Physics, the Ugandan Florence Mutonyi D’ujanga, Ph.D. in Mathematics and the Mozanbiquela Sarifa Abdul Magide Fagild or Kenyan MaryAbukutsa-Onyango, Ph.D. in Sciences, but the global development of science in Africa, from scientific, health, or literature points of view referring to women date back to the 19th century. However, the people of African descent, both men and women, who promoted the development of this modern science in Africa were, in the main, born in the United States, within families of strong African descent, what has come to be called Black families, and another general characteristic of these people is that they all belonged to the Black race. This article shows the biographies of four women of these characteristics, who achieved important milestones in the fields of Chemistry and Pharmacy and who contributed in a notable way, with their knowledge and their work, to the development of African science. They are Alice Ball, chemist and pharmacist, and Patricia Bath, Mary Elliott Hill and Marie Mainard Daly, graduated in Chemist, who made remarkable discoveries throughout their professional lives. The objective of the article is to highlight the contributions of these four women and show them as a models and examples for the rest of the women who want to follow in their footsteps. Finally, some brief brushstrokes on the lives and work of several other BBlack women of Black descent, also of BBlack race and born in the United States, like the previous ones, are also indicated, who in a similar way contributed greatly to the development of the current African science.