GRACE AMAZING:
DEVELOPING THE UNDERREPRESENTED IN MATHEMATICS
While sitting in my office at Clark Atlanta University between classes
around the middle of October 1990, I received a call from
Dr Gloria F Gilmer of Math Tech, Inc, Milwaukee, Wisconsin requesting
an interview of me. She said the interview would concern my developing
African Americans in mathematics. I agreed and on 22 October 1990 the
interview began. Dr Gilmer's first question was: "Have you any idea
of the number of students you have influenced to pursue the study of
mathematics?" In response to this question and a series of related ones
I said: "Yes. When I came to Atlanta University in September 1957,
there were 2 graduate students in mathematics. At the end of that
first year, there were eight, almost all from the undergraduate schools
in the Atlanta University Center. Over the next two years, following
the Soviet's launching of Sputnik I-the first satellite in space-a lot
of excitement was generated about our mathematics program. With
assistance from the National Science Foundation, we were able to
support about 15 new students each academic year and we attracted
nearly one hundred during the summers. Within three to four years we
had about forty regular graduate students. Between 1957 and 1963, we
actually awarded 109 masters degrees in mathematics. About 40%
eventually went on to receive PhD's in mathematics or mathematics
education. Most students in this group earned degrees in mathematics.
Approximately 100 African Americans in the country with PhD's in
mathematics or mathematics education can be traced back to our alumni
from 1957 to 1963. Those persons went all over the country, particularly
to colleges and universities in the South." Dr Gilmer remarked: "That
is a truly incredible record!" The interview continued to completion
with a part of it being published in UME (Undergraduate Mathematics
Education) TRENDS, a publication of the American Mathematical Society,
in the January 1992 issue, but recently the entire interview, entitled
DEVELOPING AFRICAN AMERICANS IN MATHEMATICS, was published by Dr Clinton
Crawford of Sankofa World Publishers on the web.
That interview caused me to look back over my life to uncover some of
the societal influences, which have shaped my education, my will and
way to educate; and which, indeed, have helped me to effectively
develop underrepresented students in mathematics. Briefly this is what I have uncovered:
I was born as Lonnie Cross two months early in a small three-room
shotgun house on the side of a ditch at 4:00 AM on 22 May 1927,
delivered by a midwife, in Bessemer, Alabama. My informal education
from birth was obtained at the feet of my illiterate but very smart
stepfather, my seventh grade educated mother, and some of the wise
members of my neighborhood community. These informal teachers
inculcated into me quite early in my life a very strong sense of
right and wrong.
My formal schooling began in the public schools of Bessemer, Alabama
and Washington, DC, where I graduated in June 1945 with honors from
Dunbar High School, known for being the premier producer of Black
professionals and academic doctorates. From Lincoln University in
Pennsylvania in June 1949 I obtained in three years my AB degree
with honors (salutatorian of my class), having majors in Chemistry
and Mathematics and minors in French and Physics, in spite of the
fact I served honorably one year in the Army Air Force from February
1946 to February 1947; in June 1951 from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT) the MS degree in Mathematics with a minor in
Philosophy; and in September 1955 from Cornell University the PhD
degree in Mathematical Analysis, with minors in Abstract Algebra
and Topology.
After receiving the PhD from Cornell in late September 1955 I became
the staff research mathematician at the Metals Research Laboratory of
the Electro-Metallurgical Company in Niagara Falls, NY. As such I did
not know what in particular the scientists were working on. I was
completely unaware that nuclear research and the production of nuclear
weapons were taking place therein until October 2000 when I was
contacted by a researcher from Niagara Falls, who wanted to know
what role I had played in the production of nuclear weapons in that
Lab. I simply considered the scientists' verbalizations of their
problems and suggested to them mathematical formulations thereof.
I resigned in late December 1955 or early January 1956.
Because of the civil rights uprisings in Alabama, my home state, I
turned my attention to the south and the struggles therein, and became
in September 1956 an assistant professor of mathematics at Tuskegee
Institute of Tuskegee, Alabama. I taught mathematics and courses in
electrical engineering, wrote articles for newspapers in the northeast
on the unfolding civil rights struggle in Alabama, and I remained
there until May 1957. During that brief period of time a revolution
occurred in the Tuskegee students' appetite for mathematics, reflected
in their climbing through windows of academic buildings to get to the
blackboards to do mathematics. In this regard, one evening at an
Institute event the President of Tuskegee said to me: "We are not
unaware of what you are doing here. We will remember you in the
budget next year." I was happy but internally saddened, for I had
already accepted the invitation from the President of Atlanta
University, who had heard of me from his Tuskegee English professor
sister, to chair its Department of Mathematics starting in
September 1957. All I had done for the students at Tuskegee was
to give them a glimpse of themselves as a people with a destiny and
to teach them the language of mathematics, showed them that they
could all excel if they had the desire to learn and the will to
work hard, and pointed out to them that lack of a rounded background
in mathematics was not a barrier to mathematical success, for whatever
was missing could be supplied quickly and humanely.
When my mother in Bessemer, Alabama informed me of the offer of a
professorship at Alabama State College in Montgomery, Alabama for
the school year 1956-1957 from the President of the College, I had
already accepted the position at Tuskegee. The Alabama State
position was the one I really wanted. To Be in Montgomery where
lived and worked E D Nixon, the local NAACP President, who initiated
the Montgomery bus boycott protest, Rev Martin Luther King, Rev Ralph
David Abernathy, Dr Lawrence D Reddick, History Professor at the
College and biographer of Dr King. However, after contacting the
College President, I agreed to be a visiting professor of mathematics
at the College during the summer of 1957. Distinctly I remember
teaching a calculus class, from which a few years later I got a very
good graduate student at Atlanta University, but I continued writing
newspaper articles about the ongoing civil rights struggle.
Upon my arrival in September 1957 as Associate Professor of Mathematics
and Chairman of the Department of Mathematics at Atlanta University,
I found two students, but by the end of my first year there were eight,
coming primarily from the colleges in the Atlanta University Center.
With the revision of all graduate mathematics courses and streamlining
the curriculum, the core of which was patterned after that at MIT,
with the reintroduction of a vibrant humane learning and teaching
environment, and with support from the National Science Foundation
and from the University itself, our mathematics program grew very
rapidly during the academic years and during the summers. Because
of this growth, I was allowed to hire another graduate mathematics
professor, but due to the limited number of Black PhD mathematicians
at the time we brought this new professor from New Delhi, India; and
he quickly became a copy of me. We traveled to mathematics meetings
together, often carrying students with us. We made history in April
1960 when he, two of our graduate students (one white and one black)
and I walked out in protest of a regional meeting of the Mathematical
Association of America (MAA), at which I was scheduled to present a
research mathematics paper in the first general session, in Columbia,
SC, because the Hotel refused to honor our confirmed reservations,
except for our white graduate student, and additionally we were told
that we could not eat in the Hotel but we could attend and participate
in all of the meetings therein. That walk out was widely publicized
throughout the country; and, indeed, it later played a part in genuinely
enforcing the MAA's national policy of non-discrimination in all its
meetings.
However, it was the high quality of our work, our mathematics colloquia,
to which we invited to speak nationally known scholars that included
Malcolm X, and the brilliance of our students, who were beginning to
come from various parts of the USA and from as far away as Hong Kong
outside, that moved the University President to ask us in the
Mathematics Department to prepare to offer the PhD degree in
mathematics, the first department in the University to be asked
to do so. Realizing that we would have to grow our own mathematicians,
we began sending our students to some of the best graduate schools in
America-Cornell, University of Iowa, University of Chicago, Purdue,
University of Illinois-at Champaign-Urbana, Ohio State, Oklahoma,
Rutgers, University of California-at Berkeley. During the period
from 1957 to 1963 of the 109 students awarded MS degrees in
mathematics 78 wrote their theses under my supervision. My
first student, a Chinese from Hong Kong, to receive the PhD in
mathematics got it from Cornell in 1963.
Because of my active participation in the struggle to bring down Jim
Crow segregation in Atlanta and that of many of my students to do
the same, the President of Atlanta University called me in a public
meeting a communist but he apologized when I stood and protested
such labeling without justification. Because of the same type
activity on my part, the Ku Klux Klan on the night of 1 May 1960
burned a 5 foot or more cross directly in front of the door of my
house and later on 10 December 1960 the Klan picketed the Atlanta
Journal and Constitution protesting its not carrying a story about
me, whom they had labeled a dangerous rabble rouser, concerning
my advocating group self defense against Klan attacks in our
neighborhoods in a speech I had given in a town hall meeting at
Atlanta University a few days earlier. Malcolm X and Jeremiah X
(the Muslim Minister of Atlanta) came to my house, gave me copies
of the material being passed out, and informed me of what was going
on with the Klan picketing.
Although in the spring of 1963 I was promoted to Professor of
Mathematics with tenure, I left the University in September 1963.
I was very happy, but also very sad. Happy because I had a new
world of opportunity to reach and teach the masses the truth, but
I was sad because I was leaving behind many students who had become
my friends and whom I would not be able to continue to teach, mentor
and inspire.
In September 1963 I became the Minister (Imam) of Muhammad Mosque #4
and Director of Education at Muhammad University of Islam #4 in
Washington, DC, and very shortly thereafter I was given the last
name "Shabazz", meaning "the unconquerable" and "that which cannot
be destroyed". Immediately we reestablished daily school from K to
12, operating inside the Mosque and in a purchased trailer, next door
to the Mosque. We allowed children (Muslim and non-Muslim) to enter
at age four, at three or three and a half, if the child could put on
his/her own clothes, put on, tie and untie his/her shoes and could
remain in school without crying. Naturally as a consequence we had
children graduating at twelve and thirteen years of age. By 1965
and the early 1970's our school began to attract national as well
as local attention, getting written about in the Phi Delta Kappan
(an education research journal), the Washington Post, the Los
Angeles Times, and Newsweek. In the late 1960's we reorganized
grades K to 12 into 9 levels of study, eliminating unnecessary
repetitions; and in 1973 we in Washington opened the first Islamic
college in America on orders from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to
prevent our youth from entering the chaos engulfing higher education
institutions at that time.
To help support our University we developed profitable businesses,
which created jobs and provided opportunities for training and
part-time work for our students. When I was called to Chicago
in April 1975, following the passing of the Honorable Elijah
Muhammad on 25 February 1975, Muhammad Mosque #4 had a little
over 140 well paid employees, the adults of whom were able to
adequately care for their families. In addition, there were about
400 students in the elementary and secondary division and around 50
students in the college division of Muhammad University of Islam #4.
From April 1975 to August 1975 I was the National Director of
Education for the Nation of Islam (NOI). Shortly after I arrived
in Chicago, I became Abdulalim Shabazz. From August 1975 to February
1979 I was the NOI's Director of Adult Education, with headquarters
at Masjid Elijah Muhammad in Chicago, Illinois. From February 1979
to July 1982 I was the Resident Imam of Masjid Wali Muhammad of
Detroit, Michigan, the Regional Imam of the Mid-West Region of the
World Community of Islam in the West (WCIW, formerly the NOI),
consisting of 13 mid-western states of the USA, and a member of
the Council of Imams of the WCIW.
Moreover, from September 1975 to July 1982 I was an Adjunct Professor
of Mathematics for the Union Graduate School, initially of Yellow
Springs, Ohio, but then of Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1976 three of my
PhD Students, who had chosen me as their major content professor,
two in mathematics and one in social psychology, were awarded their
PhD degrees by the Union Graduate School; and in 1981 my fourth
PhD student was awarded his PhD in education from the Union
Graduate School.
From September 1982 to June 1986 I was a professor of mathematics at
Umm Al Qura University in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. During that period
of time I touched the educational lives of many students, both male
and female, some of whom went on to earn PhD's in mathematics.
While living in Makkah, I began to use the name Abdulalim
Abdullah Shabazz, in recognition of my father, whom I had given
the name Abdullah.
In September 1986 I returned to Atlanta University as a tenured full
professor of mathematics. When I arrived, I was terribly disappointed
and disturbed to see large numbers of students enrolled in remedial
mathematics courses at Clark College where I was being shared to
teach two classes per term (as a means of recruiting for our graduate
mathematics programs) and to see the very small number of declared
mathematics majors. Immediately I began advocating teaching our
students on a higher level. To my colleagues who said: "Our
students are not ready.", I said: "Give me your very worst ones,
and I will show you they can be taught." When I became Chair in
1990 of the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Clark Atlanta
University, which resulted from the consolidation of Atlanta
University and Clark College in 1989, it had been publicly
announced that the University intended to establish a PhD
program in mathematics. I immediately began recruiting additional
PhD mathematicians, established graduate teaching and research
assistantships, and eliminated all the most demeaning remedial
courses (those that carried no credit) and added rigor to all
mathematics courses. In fall 1990 we had only 35 mathematics
majors, but by fall 1995 we had more than 185. In February 1995
Math Horizons, a publication of the Mathematical Association of
America, highlighted our Department as one of the ten best for
students. At the May 1990 graduation no mathematics BA/BS degrees
were granted and only 1 MS degree was awarded, but in May 1995 23
BA/BS degrees and 23 MS degrees were granted in mathematics. As
a reward for my work of revitalizing mathematics at Clark Atlanta,
I was rotated out of the chairmanship in August 1995 and replaced
by a holder of a PhD in secondary education. That move by the
Clark Atlanta Administration indicated clearly that establishing
a PhD program in Mathematics was no longer an option nor desirable.
However, I remained at the University for another two years-teaching
and serving the wider community as a speaker and consultant.
In August 1997 I resigned from Clark Atlanta University to return to
my alma mater, Lincoln University (PA), to serve as Chair of the
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and as Lincoln's
first Distinguished Professor of Mathematics with tenure. During
my first year as Chair, I led a complete revision of the mathematics
curriculum and established a 4-year BS/MS degrees program in
mathematics. That was the first time in the then 144-year history
of the University that a higher degree than a bachelor's degree in
any science had been offered. Our graduate program in mathematics
commenced in fall 1999 and our first two students graduated in May
2001 with MS degrees in mathematics. These two students were
immediately offered complete support to pursue their doctorates
in mathematics-one from the State University of New York at Stony
Brook and the other from Rutgers University. The latter was
accepted and the student is now well into his PhD studies in
computational chemistry. It is an irony of the first order that
I was removed on 1 November 2000 as Interim Chair almost two
months after I received on 7 September 2000 a 2000 Presidential
Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering
Mentoring from President Bill Clinton in Washington, DC, and
was replaced by a professor with no degrees in mathematics or
in computer science. (I had become Interim Chair as all chairs
had in June 2000.) Nevertheless, I continue teaching, doing
research, and performing community service as Lincoln's Distinguished
Professor of Mathematics.
In spite of the hard knocks I have received along life's highway I
have been blessed to receive some very prestigious awards, among
which are: Special recognition by the Mathematical Sciences Board
of the National Academy of Sciences for making mathematics work for
minorities in 1990, the 1992 Mentor Award from the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for my leadership
in efforts to increase the participation of women, minorities, and
individuals with physical disabilities in science and engineering,
the National Association of Mathematicians Distinguished Service
Award in 1994, a Quality Education for Minorities Network in
Mathematics, Science and Engineering (QEM/MSE) Giant in Science
Award in 1995, the Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding work
with African Americans in mathematics from the Association of African
American Educators of California in 2001.
Defying the pressures of being overburdened, I have over time been
able to write over a hundred articles and papers on Islam,
Mathematics, Mathematics Education, and on the History and
Philosophy of Mathematics for newspapers, magazines and books.
In August 1977, my book, The Fundamentals of Islamic Education,
was published by the Department of Adult Education of Masjid Elijah
Muhammad, Chicago, Illinois. I have completed research for a book
(more than 45 years in the making) in the history and philosophy
of mathematics, to be entitled Mathematics At The Dawn, which
reveals the role and contributions of the original people of Africa,
Asia and the Americas in the development and origin of the
mathematical sciences. I have presented parts of this projected
book throughout the United States and abroad, and reference to it
has appeared in many articles, books and magazines. One of my
textbooks with two co-authors, titled Real Analysis: A First Course
With An Inductive Approach, was published early in 2006 by Trafford
Publishing of Canada, USA, Ireland, and UK.
What I consider my greatest achievements are my developed and
developing students, who are prepared to face life in all of
its beauty and ugliness. I am especially proud of my recent
students and mentees, whom I have inspired to become experts in
mathematics, some with and some without doctorates. Presently I
know of at least 14 who have received PhD's in mathematics or
computer science (3 of them) since 1998, and I know of at least
4 others who have completed all their work, except their
dissertations for the PhD degree. This is what I have lived for,
what I am living for, and what I shall continue to live for.
This, indeed, is GRACE AMAZING.
DrAAS.info