Inventors & STEM Professionals

From Susie King Taylor, the first recognized African American army nurse, to Benjamin Banneker, the first African American man of science and mathematics, to Dorothy Johnson Vaughan, Mary Winston Jackson, and Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson, a group of black women mathematicians working at NASA, African Americans have made enduring contributions to the STEM field with their ingenuity, tenacity, feats and inventions.

The Inside Adams blog is a perfect starting point for individuals wishing to research African American Inventors, as well as African Americans in the STEM field. Inside Adams has blogs that deal with the sciences, businesses, and technology. As always, the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog is a wonderful place to search for images related to this topic. Search Chronicling America to find articles related to these remarkable scientists, inventors, and medical professionals, using the keywords of the time, such as "negro inventor."

W. E. B. Du Bois, collector. Dentistry at Howard University, Washington, D.C. ca.1900. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Martin W. Bode, photographer. Start of super heating union / Bode, 5th and Felix Sts., St. Joseph, Mo.v1906. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Gordon Parks, photographer. Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. Physics class.1943. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Inventors and STEM

The following collection titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content, including finding aids for the collections, are included when available.

African-American Firsts in Science and Technology by Raymond B. Webster
Call Number: Q141 .W43 1999
Published/Created: 1999-10-26
This reference provides information on 1500 contributions of African Americans throughout history in the field of science and technology.
African Americans in Science by Charles W. Carey
Call Number: Q141 .C2138 2008
Published/Created: 2008-10-23
This encyclopedia provides information on the accomplishments of African American scientists--and the struggles of African Americans to find their place in the scientific community. This reference work alphabetically organized 250 entries in three areas: the contributions of African Americans in over 30 different fields of science and medicine, schools and organizations that played a role in the development of African American scientists, and additional topics related to African American scientists
African Americans in Science, Math, and Invention by Ray Spangenburg; Kit Moser; Steven Otfinoski
Call Number: Q141 .S6285 2012
Published/Created: 2011-10-01
In research labs, university classrooms, NASA training facilities, and the administrative boardrooms of major institutions, African Americans have been important innovators, from early times to the present day. This text explores the astronauts, physicists, chemists, biologists, agriculture specialists, and others who have made significant contributions to science. Each entry provides a biographical profile, surveying significant events in that person's life related to his or her accomplishments in these fields, followed by an up-to-date further reading list on that individual.
Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation: Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer, and Shelby J. Davidson by Rayvon Fouché
Call Number: T39 .F68 2003 FT MEADE
Published/Created: 2005-09-09
In this book the author examines the life and work of three African Americans: Granville Woods (1856-1910), an independent inventor; Lewis Latimer (1848-1928), a corporate engineer with General Electric; and Shelby Davidson (1868-1930), who worked in the U.S. Treasury Department. These three inventors struggled to balance their racial identities--as both black and white communities perceived them--with their hopes of being judged solely on the content of their inventive work, Fouché provides a nuanced view of African American contributions to--and relationships with--technology during a period of rapid industrialization and mounting national attention to the inequities of a separate-but-equal social order.
Black Pioneers of Science and Invention by Louis Haber
Call Number: Q141 .H2 1991 CABIN BRANCH
Published/Created: 1992-01-02
A readable, perceptive account of the lives of fourteen gifted innovators who have played important roles in scientific and industrial progress. The achievements of Benjamin Banneker, Granville T. Woods, George Washington Carver, and others have made jobs easier, saved countless lives, and in many cases, altered the course of history. Includes a bibliography and an index.
Black Scientists & Inventors : a Gift of Heritage by edited by Richard L. Green]
Call Number: Q141 .B57 1990
Published/Created: 1990
This book includes profiles of the following individuals: Benjamin Banneker -- George Washington Carver -- Charles Drew -- Lloyd Augustus Hall -- Frederick McKinly Jones -- Percy L. Julian -- Lewis Howard Latimer -- Joseph Lee -- Jan Earnst Matzeliger -- Elijah McCoy -- Garrett A. Morgan -- Norbert Rillieux.
Black Women Scientists in the United States by Wini Warren
Call Number: R695 .C86 1999
ISBN: 0253336031
Published/Created: 2000-02-22
Drawn heavily from primary sources, Warren's original reference guide includes biographies of more than 100 Black women scientists in fields from anatomy and mathematics to psychology and zoology.
Contributions of African American Scientists to the Fields of Science, Medicine, and Inventions by Robert B. Sanders
Call Number: Q141 .S2856 2015
Published/Created: 2009-07-01
This book describes African American men and women who have contributed to the advancement of science including inventors.. Scientists included in this book represent the fields of biochemistry, biology, chemistry, computer science, dentistry, engineering, entomology, genetics, geology, mathematics, medicine, nursing, physics, psychology, sociology, and zoology.
Created Equal : the Lives and Ideas of Black American Innovators by James M. Brodie
Call Number: E185.96 .B835 1993
Published/Created: 1993-09-01
Biographical sketches of more than 60 African Americans who have brought out inventions and innovative ideas from the slavery era, through the twentieth century, and well into the modern era. Profiles well known investors such as Charles Drew (1904-1950) who developed the blood bank, mathematician-astronomer Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), scientist George Washington Carver (1860-1943) and North Pole explorer Matthew Henson (1866-1955). Lesser known slave inventors are included.
Eight Black American Scientists by Robert C. Hayden
Call Number: E185.8 .H35
Published/Created: 1972-01-01
African American inventors--Juvenile literature. - includes: Garrett A. Morgan.--Lewis Temple.--Frederick McKinley Jones.--Jan E. Matzeliger.--Lewis H. Latimer.--Elijah McCoy.--Norbert Rillieux.--Granville T. Woods.
The History of the Negro in Medicine, by Herbert M. Morais
Call Number: R695 .M6 1969
Published/Created: 969
From the International Library of Negro Life and History. Published under the auspices of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Profiles the history of African Americans in healthcare.
Notable Black American Scientists by Kristine Krapp (Editor)
Call Number: Q141 .N726 1999
Published/Created: 1998-10-01
Profiles approximately 250 black Americans who have made contributions to the sciences, including inventors, researchers, award winners, and educators.
The Path We Tread: Blacks in Nursing Worldwide, 1854-1994 by Mary E. Carnegie
Call Number: RT83.5 .C37 1995
Published/Created: 1991-11-01
This 3rd edition text provides an illustrated history that tells the story of black nurses in the United States, in the English-speaking Caribbean, and in the English-speaking parts of Africa.

Benjamin Banneker by Charles A. Cerami
Call Number: QB36.B22 C43 2002
Published/Created: 2002-01-01
This biography of Benjamin Banneker a self-taught mathematical genius who achieved professional status in agriculture, astronomy, navigation, and engineering. He published the annual Banneker's Almanac.
Breaking ground : My Life in Medicine by Dr. Louis W. Sullivan with David Chanoff ; foreword by Ambassador Andrew Young.
Call Number: R695 .S85 2014
Published/Created: 2014
In this memoir, Lou Sullivan recounts his extraordinary life, beginning with his childhood in Jim Crow south Georgia and continuing through his trailblazing endeavors training to become a physician in an almost entirely white environment in the Northeast, founding and then leading the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, and serving as secretary of Health and Human Services in President George H. W. Bush’s administration. Throughout his career, Sullivan has championed passionately both improved health care and increased access to medical professions for the poor and people of color.
Find Where the Wind Goes by Mae Jemison
Call Number: TL789.85.J46 J45 2001
Published/Created: 2001-04-01
Dr. Mae Jemison--chemical engineer, scientist, teacher, and the first African-American woman to go into space--shares the story of her life. In this autobiography, she traces her life from her childhood determination to fly into space to when she made history as she blasted into orbit aboard the space shuttle Endeavor.
Gifted Hands by Ben Carson; Cecil Murphey; Candy Carson (Introduction by)
Call Number: RD592.9.C37 L49 2013
Published/Created: 1992-01-28
This autobiography reveals the life of Dr. Ben Carson--from inner-city kid to renowned neurosurgeon. Carson tells of his odyssey from his childhood in inner-city Detroit to his position as director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions at age thirty-three. Dr. Carson describes case histories, including his part in the first successful separation of Siamese twins joined at the head.
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
Call Number: QA27.5 .L44 2016
Published/Created: 2016-09-06
The true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space. The basis for the 2017 award winning film.
Ice Cream Man by Glenda Armand; Kim Freeman; Keith Mallett (Illustrator)
Call Number: TX649.J334 A76 2023
Published/Created: 2023-01-17
Discover the inspiring story of Augustus Jackson, "the father of ice cream." Born in 1808 in Philadelphia to a poor free family, Jackson served presidents Monroe, Adams, and Jackson as a cook in the White House. There, he perfected an eggless version of a popular dessert, now known as ice cream. In 1830, he opened an ice cream parlor, devised methods to keep it frozen for shipping, and introduced rock salt to speed up freezing. Jackson created new flavors and shipped his ice cream to places like New York City.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Call Number: RC265.6.L24 S55 2011
Published/Created: 2011-03-08
This book examines the life of Henrietta Lacks, who scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb's effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.
Lucean Arthur Headen by Jill D. Snider
Call Number: TL140.H425 S65 2020
Published/Created: 2020-02-17
Born in North Carolina, Lucean Arthur Headen (1879-1957) grew up amid former slave artisans. Inspired by his grandfather, a wheelwright, and great-uncle, a toolmaker, he dreamed as a child of becoming an inventor. His ambitions suffered the menace of Jim Crow and the reality of a new inventive landscape in which investment was shifting from lone inventors to the new "industrial scientists. He earned eleven patents, most for innovative engine designs and anti-icing methods for aircraft. Headen learned to fly in 1911, manufactured his own "Pace Setter" and "Headen Special" cars in the early 1920s, and founded the first national black auto racing association in 1924. Emigrating to England in 1931, Headen proved a successful manufacturer, operating engineering firms in Surrey that distributed his motor and other products worldwide for twenty-five years
Madam C. J. Walker by Patricia C. McKissack; Fredrick L. McKissack
Call Number: HD9970.5.C672 W3563 2013
Published/Created: 2013-01-01
Madam C. J. Walker rose from laundry woman to become America's first black woman millionaire. Born in poverty, Walker set her sights on a better life and made her fortune by developing hair care and beauty products specially formulated for African Americans. As her wealth and influence grew, she also channeled her energies into working for civil rights and social change
Percy Lavon Julian by Darlene R. Stille
Call Number: QD22.J75 S86 2009
Published/Created: 2009-01-01
Growing up in the South at a time when discrimination against African Americans was at its peak, Percy Lavon Julian was fascinated by his father's writings about various plants. After going to college to study various sciences, he was denied several jobs because of his race. Through his persistence, he received his chance to do research in his field. After he created a medical breakthrough, he was hired to head a research laboratory, where he continued to create new advancements in medicine and chemistry. Julian's accomplishments made him one of the greatest chemists of the 20th century.
Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops, Late 1st S. C. Volunteers by Taylor, Susie King, 1848-1912.
Call Number: E492.94 33d T
Published/Created: 1902
Autobiography of the first African American nurse who served during the Civil War. Electronic copy from HathiTrust
The Sky Is Not the Limit by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Call Number: QB460.72.T97 A3 2004
ISBN: 9781591021889
Published/Created: 2004-05-01
This memoir examines Neil deGrasse Tyson's lifelong fascination with the night sky that began on the roof of his Bronx apartment building and eventually led him to become the director of the Hayden Planetarium.

Blacks, Medical Schools, and Society by James L. Curtis; J. Z. Bowers (Introduction by)
Call Number: R695 .C86 1971
Published/Created: 1971-01-01
This text provides a history of the black physician in America—from colonial times to the present—as well as an analysis of contemporary trends and future prospects in black medical education.
The Colored Inventor by Henry E. Baker
Call Number: E185.8 .B16 1992
Published/Created: 2009-02-01
The Negro as an Inventor (1902), which appeared in Twentieth Century Negro Literature (1902), details some of the inventions by African Americans. The author graduated from Howard University's law school in 1881 and later continuing his postgraduate studies in the law program in 1893. He became Assistant Examiner to the United States Patent Office.
The Color of Creatorship by Anjali Vats
Call Number: KF2979 .V38 2020
Published/Created: 2020-09-29
This text examines how copyright, trademark, and patent discourses work together to form American ideals around race, citizenship, and property. It contributes to a rapidly-developing conversation in critical race intellectual property.
A Hammer in Their Hands: A Documentary History of Technology and the African-American Experience by Carroll W. Pursell (Editor)
Call Number: T21 .H38 2005
Published/Created: 2005-06-10
This text collects newspaper & magazine articles, advertisements for runaway slaves, letters, folklore, excerpts from biography & fiction, legal patents, protest pamphlets, & other primary sources to document the technological achievements of African Americans.
The Morehouse Model by Ronald L. Braithwaite; Tabia Henry Akintobi; Daniel S. Blumenthal; W. Mary Langley
Call Number: RA981.G4
Published/Created: 2020-06-16
Braithwaite and his coauthors, of Morehouse Medical School, describe the collaboration between community organizations and university faculty essential to public health and reliable research. They explain the Morehouse model of outreach in which citizen participation is a critical element for facilitating behavioral change in the community. Through case studies, exploratory research, surveys, and interventions, they provide lessons for advancing participatory research and promoting community health"-- Provided by publisher.
The Real McCoy by Portia James
Call Number: T39 .J28 1989
Published/Created: 1990-06-17
This Smithsonian exhibition book focuses on outstanding black inventors—from prominent figures such as nineteenth-century inventor Elijah McCoy to anonymous women and men—who made important contributions to American technology. Featuring inventions and patented designs, the exhibition examines topics such as African influences on New World technology and the largely unrecognized technical innovations developed by enslaved persons
To Serve My Country, to Serve My Race by Brenda L. Moore
Call Number: UB418.A47 M66 1996
Published/Created: 1996-01-01
The story of the historic 6888th, the first United States Women's Army Corps unit of African American women to serve overseas While African American men and white women were invited, if belatedly, to serve their country abroad, African American women were excluded for overseas duty throughout most of WWII. However, under political pressure from legislators,, the NAACP, the Black press, and even President Roosevelt, the US War Department was forced to deploy African American women to the European theater in 1945. The 6888th was stationed in France and England at the end of World War II to sort mail. Despite the restrictions imposed upon these women in their own country, they were eager to serve, not only out of patriotism but out of a desire to uplift their race.

These links provide access to digitized historic content on African American contributions in the STEM field.

African American Patent Holders Database External
Over five hundred African American inventors are listed with the number of inventions each has patented, a description of each invention, the patent number, date and year of each patent. This listing is presented in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and may be sorted by each of the criteria listed above except by date.
All My Babies...a Midwife's Own Story, Documentary Film State of Georgia Dept. of Health; 1953.
A midwife’s training might have come in the form of watching films, such as “All My Babies.” Filmed in the early 1950s, the training recording followed Mrs. Mary Coley, an African American midwife practicing in Albany, Georgia, as she met with expectant African American mothers and attended classes
The Charles R. Drew Papers, U.S. National Library of Medicine
African American surgeon Charles Richard Drew (1904-1950) has been called "the father of the blood bank," for his outstanding role in conceiving, organizing, and directing America's first large-scale blood banking program during the early years of World War II. This digitized collection of portions of his papers are provided by the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, repository for the Charles R. Drew Papers, which range from 1900 to the 1980s, and the National Library of Medicine. The collection contains photographs, personal and professional correspondence, published articles, lectures, laboratory notebooks, and research notes, along with materials relating to his death and legacy.
Lewis Latimer House and Museum External
Lewis Howard Latimer was the son of self-emancipated enslaved people, a self-taught draftsman, and contributed to the invention of the lightbulb and the telephone. Some of his own inventions are the early air conditioning unit and the railroad car bathroom.
The Negro in Science by the Calloway Hall Editorial Committee: Julius H. Taylor, Editor. [Baltimore] Morgan State College Press [1955] External
This digitized text highlights significant contributions at that time of Negro scientists and presents research papers in biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics.
The Only African American Automobile Company, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian External
C.R. Patterson & Sons of Greenfield, Ohio, makers of the Patterson-Greenfield automobile from 1915 to 1918.was, and remains to this day, the only African American owned and operated automobile company.
The Role of the American Negro in the Fields of Science. Final Report. Sept-1966
This digitized pilot study reports on the contributions of African Americans in the sciences gathered from primary sources for the purposes of curriculum development.
Science, Man's Greatest Adventure: an Exhibition Honoring Black Scientists and Their Achievements. Anacostia Neighborhood Museum. Washington. 1970? External
This digitized book provides the images and background information on an exhibit at the Anacostia Museum on African American pioneers in science.

The Library of Congress provides digital content on African American history through blogs, online research guides and special collections. These guides provide information on print, electronic, and digitized content as well as information on search strategies.

Benjamin Banneker: A Resource Guide
Benjamin Banneker was a self-taught mathematician and astronomer. This guide provides access to digital materials related to Banneker from the Library of Congress, as well as links to external websites and a selected print bibliography.
Benjamin Banneker: Surveyor, City Planner, Astronomer, February 21, 2024 In Custodia Legis
After completing his surveying work, Banneker returned to his farm and wrote his almanacs, continued his astronomy studies, and lived out his retirement there until his death on October 9, 1806. His home, inventions, and many of his papers burned in a fire on the day of his burial. Despite these losses, we still have evidence of his excellence and professional skill in the streets and the public spaces of the federal city he worked to survey and plan.
Benjamin Banneker Born, Today in History - November 9
Mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker was born on November 9, 1731, in Ellicott’s Mills, Maryland. Largely self-taught, Banneker was one of the first African Americans to gain distinction in science. His significant accomplishments and correspondence with prominent political figures profoundly influenced how African Americans were viewed during the Federal period.
Catalyzing Chemists – African Americans in the Chemical Sciences, February 8, 2021, Inside Adams
This blog highlights the work of the following African American chemists: Alice Ball, Norbert Rillieux, Marie Maynard Daly, and Percy Julius.
Celebrating African Americans in Science & Business, February 2, 2010, Inside Adams
This blog examines notable contributions by African Americans in Science and Business.
Dr. Charles R. Drew: Blood Bank Pioneer, February 16, 2021, Headlines and Heroes
The African American physician and surgeon pioneered the preservation of blood and plasma at the start of World War II and remained a leading authority on the subject for the rest of his career. He is responsible for America’s first major blood banks and introduced the use of mobile blood donation and transport stations—later known as “bloodmobiles.”
Du Bois in Paris – Exposition Universelle, 1900, February 27, 2020, Teaching with the Library of Congress
A blog discussing the Paris Exposition held in 1900, specifically, the "Negro Exhibit," an exhibit W. E. B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and Thomas J. Calloway worked on that documented the history of African American Businesses and Economics via charts, graphs, and maps.
Exploring the History of Women in STEM with Primary Sources, March 5, 2020, Teaching with the Library of Congress
A blog detailing how to use primary sources, with a focus on images and photographs, in the classroom to explore the history of Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields.
Family of Pharmacists, June 1, 2017, Inside Adams
A blog exploring the history of a family of African American pharmacists who worked and lived in Washington D.C. in the late 19th and early 20th-centuries.
Guide to the microfilm edition of the George Washington Carver papers at Tuskegee Institute / editors, John W. Kitchens, Lynne B. Kitchens ; assistants, Catherine Buchanan, Jonell Chislom.
George Washington Carver (c. 1860 –1943) developed techniques to improve soils depleted by repeated plantings of cotton, while at the Tuskegee, and he encouraged farmers to grow alternative crops.The most popular of his 44 practical bulletins contained 105 food recipes using peanuts. Correspondence and other writings focus on such topics as science, agriculture, education, medicine, race relations, religion, and politics.
Hidden Figures No More: African American Women in Space Exploration, February 2, 2017, Inside Adams
The history of African American women who made contributions to the Space field, including Dorothy Johnson Vaughan, Mary Winston Jackson, and Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson, as well as more recent figures are explored in this blog.
Honoring African American Contributions in Medicine: Midwives, June 18, 2020, Inside Adams
Contributions African American midwives have made to the medical field are explored in this blog using primary texts including images and newspaper articles.
Honoring African American Contributions in Medicine: Nurses, June 26, 2020, Inside Adams
This blog explores the contributions African American nurses have made to the medical field, including the accomplishments of Susie King Taylor, the first recognized African American army nurse, as well as Mary Eliza Mahoney, the first recognized African American professional nurse.
Honoring African American Contributions in Medicine: The Black Angels, July 8, 2020, Inside Adams
A blog exploring the affect the tuberculosis pandemic had on the African American community during the early to mid-twentieth century, as well as the practice of self-isolation that doctors and physicians recommended their patients practice and the "Black Angels," African American nurses who served in hospitals.
Ice Cream Inventions: How the Chill Happened, July 21, 2024, Inside Adams
Augustus Jackson, also known as “Father Ice Cream,” was an African American ice cream maker and confectioner from Philadelphia, PA. In the 1820s, he worked in the White House as a chef while James Monroe was president. After leaving the White House, he started his own catering business. Jackson invented a method for controlling the freezing of custard and developed various ice cream flavors, which he sold in tin cans. He later became a distributor for ice cream parlors.
Locating Digitized Historic Images, December 18, 2020, Inside Adams
This blog examines how to use the prints and photographs catalog to locate images of African Americans in business, and how to use Chronicling America to locate advertisements.
Madam C.J. Walker, May 29, 2020, Headlines and Heroes
Ms. Walker (1867-1919) was one of the first American women to become a self-made millionaire through her company, Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing, and this blog uses primary newspaper resources to explore her life and times.
New Occupational Folklife Project Documents African American Nurses and the Chi Eta Phi Sorority, April 29, 2024, ,Folklife Today
On April 12th, the American Folklife Center posted another Occupational Folklife Project (OFP) collection to the Library’s website. The collection, which you can find at this link, features 15 in-depth interviews documenting the careers and work culture of African American nurses who are members of the Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Incorporated, a renowned historically Black national professional nursing organization founded in 1932.
Peanuts, Potatoes, Patents, and Plants – The Life and Times of George Washington Carver, February 14, 2023 In Custodia Legis
A brief overview of George Washington Carver’s life is insufficient to truly do justice to his contributions to society. Carver’s green thumb and fondness for plants led him to achieve greatness in the realms of agriculture, agronomy, botany, and chemistry alike. In honor of Black History Month, let’s look at some of his achievements in these areas.
Pioneering Science Educator: Josephine A. Silone Yates, September 5, 2017, Inside Adams
This blog features the life of African American educator, Josephine Amelia Silone Yates, who taught chemistry, botany, physiology, and drawing at Lincoln Institute, a college established for African American students in Jefferson, Missouri.
Provident Hospital’s Prominent Physicians ,February 1, 2024 Teaching with the Library
In 1891, Daniel Hale Williams established the first Black owned and operated public hospital and medical training facility in the United States. Williams, a respected surgeon who had been denied employment in hospitals due to his race, founded Provident Hospital and Teaching School in Chicago after a Black woman, Emma Reynolds, was refused entrance into nursing school. Provident Hospital would go on to become the site of the first successful open-heart surgery and a renowned center providing access to expert care.
Susie King Taylor: An African American Nurse and Teacher in the Civil War
Born into slavery in the Deep South, Taylor served the Union Army in various capacities: officially as a "laundress" but in reality a nurse, caretaker, educator, and friend to the First South Carolina Volunteer Infantry (later the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops Infantry Regiment). In 1902, she published these experiences in Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, a Civil War memoir told from the singular perspective of an African American woman.
Susie King Taylor: An African American Nurse and Teacher in the Civil War Story Map
This Story Map is a visual narrative that documents the life of Susie King Taylor, the first African American nurse to serve a black Union regiment during the Civil War.
Susie King Taylor: The Courage of an African American Nurse and Teacher, StoryMap, Prints & Photographs Division
An interview of the Fellow who created the Taylor Story Map, which provides a visual narrative history of this African American nurse who served a black Union Regiment during the Civil War, and how this student came to explored this historic figure.
Women in Science: A Resource Guide
A research guide useful for students, scholars, and independent researchers wanting to do research regarding women inventors and discoverers. The research guide covers searching the Library's Catalog, print resources, selected internet resources, and selected webcasts.

African Americans in Business and Entrepreneurship: A Resource Guide

Inventors & STEM Professionals

W. E. B. Du Bois, collector. Dentistry at Howard University, Washington, D.C. ca.1900. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Martin W. Bode, photographer. Start of super heating union / Bode, 5th and Felix Sts., St. Joseph, Mo.v1906. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Gordon Parks, photographer. Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. Physics class.1943. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Inventors and STEM