The Black Heroes of Mathematics

Multi-talented person who self-taught himself in astronomy and math. He was also a writer, civil rights leader, compiler of almanacs, surveyor, farmer, and inventor.

• Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr.

• Euphemia Lofton Jaynes

• Charles Lewis Reason

• Benjamin Banneker

African-American mathematician, mechanical engineer, and nuclear scientist born in Chicago, Illinois.

• Charles Lewis Reason

• Benjamin Banneker

• Euphemia Lofton Jaynes

• Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr.

American mathematician and teacher born in Washington, D.C. Her father was a dentist and her mother was a kindergarten teacher.

• Charles Lewis Reason

• Euphemia Lofton Jaynes

• Benjamin Banneker

• Elbert Frank Cox

Mathematician who finished his Ph.D. at 19 and was referred by people as “genius.”

• Benjamin Banneker

• Euphemia Lofton Jaynes

• Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr.

• Elbert Frank Cox

Mathematician who taught in the public schools of Washington, D.C. for 47 years and also helped with the integration of D.C. schools.

• Euphemia Lofton Jaynes

• Charles Lewis Reason

• Benjamin Banneker

• Elbert Frank Cox

Mathematician who built his own clock by making detailed drawings of all the pieces of a watch he borrowed from a merchant. Then, he built a larger version of the watch out of wood. The clock continued to work until his death.

• Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr.

• Benjamin Banneker

• Charles Lewis Reason

• Elbert Frank Cox

After he was discharged from the Army, he started his career as a high school math tutor and then a math teacher.

• Charles Lewis Reason

• Euphemia Lofton Jaynes

• Elbert Frank Cox

• Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr.

Born in New York. He was an excellent student in math and became a math teacher at 14 years old.

• Charles Lewis Reason

• Elbert Frank Cox

• Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr.

• Benjamin Banneker

Mathematician who became the first black person in the world to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics.

• Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr.

• Elbert Frank Cox

• Charles Lewis Reason

• Euphemia Lofton Jaynes

Mathematician who became the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics.

• Mary Jackson

• Euphemia Lofton Jaynes

• Lesley Escobar

• Tylor Swift