February is Black History Month, and here on Her Campus, I decided to bring light to topics that aren’t really spoken about from black women. This week’s topic of choice is Black Women and STEM majors. Our history is filled with many significant contributions from black women scientists, doctors, engineers and mathematicians. Sadly, we are never really educated about the significance of their work. It’s frustrating, but unfortunately not surprising, that women of color have historically faced significant challenges in pursuing careers in science and medicine. Most have to work at least twice as harder than their peers to be acknowledged, and even then they have still been overlooked.
Women like Katherine Johnson, described as one of NASA’s “human computers” who graduated with degrees in mathematics and French, worked for the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), and was part of the team that calculated sending a human to space and back.
Women like Mae Jemison, who received her medical degree from Cornell University Medical College, went from working as a Peace Corps officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia to becoming the first African American to be admitted to NASA’s astronaut program AND the first black woman in space.
Women like Alexa Canady, the first black woman to become a neurosurgeon after almost dropping out of the University of Michigan for not feeling like she was enough.
Women like Jocelyn Elders, the first African American to graduate the University of Arkansas Medical School and the first black women to be appointed by Surgeon General under President Bill Clinton.
Just in 2016, women like Ashley Denmark and Tamika Cross, both licensed physicians, have been discriminated against because of their races, and have had their medical credentials discredited when trying to provide impromptu medical care. Today, black women make up 2% of the total population of doctors in the United States. Fewer than 7% of individuals receiving degrees in the STEM field were black women.
It’s important to acknowledge the contributions of these women who persevered, pioneered, and made waves in spite of the obstacles and discrimination they faced. The accomplishments and work that they have done serves as an encouraging reminder to us, that black women in STEM fields are VALID, and they will continue to be successful and shine regardless of light being taken away from them.
As we step into Black History Month, we become hyper aware (if we weren’t already) of our surroundings and our history, how we have been molded and shaped by our predecessors and how we can be motivated. Most of my friends who are women of color are in the STEM field, and often discuss the pressure they feel being a minority in that field. It’s important that we educate ourselves about the leaders who came before us that changed the world of STEM, for they would want us black and brown girls to continue to shine as brightly as the stars we were once never allowed to dream of.