Research Guides: #ShutDownSTEM: A Guide for Learning and Action: Amplify Black Voices

Black Scientists/Educators Voices

Do You Know What It’s Like?
David Harris gives his perspective as the president of Union College and a black man on the events of recent weeks in Minnesota, Central Park and elsewhere.
For a Black Mathematician, What It’s Like to Be the ‘Only One’
"Fewer than 1 percent of doctorates in math are awarded to African-Americans. Edray Goins, who earned one of them, found the upper reaches of the math world a challenging place."
I’m a black climate expert. Racism derails our efforts to save the planet
"Stopping climate change is hard enough, but racism only makes it harder."
Black chemists speak out about inequity in STEM
"They share stories of injustice and offer suggestions on how the community can provide support and solidarity."
I’m a Black Female Scientist. On My First Day of Work, a Colleague Threatened to Call the Cops on Me.
"Among the most widely shared tweets were those from Raven Baxter. “Raven the Science Maven,” as she is known on the internet, is currently the director of collegiate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) initiatives at a charter school in Buffalo, New York, the founder of science advocacy organization STEMbassy, and a musician whose rap music, she hopes, inspires other Black women in science. (Her music video, “Big Ole Geeks,” is a treasure.)
Here, in her own words, she recounts her time as a corporate research scientist at a drug company in western New York—a job she left in 2017 in part because of its toxic culture. Afterward, she went into academia as an assistant professor of biology at a community college, also in western New York, where on her first day a white co-worker threatened to call the police on her. Today, she is hopeful the uprising we’re seeing across the country will bring real, lasting change, including in higher education. Her story here has been edited and condensed."
What is the plan for including Tamir Rice in #STEM?
A black theoretical physicist shared thoughts on the significance of including the black in STEM. "The only plan to include me in STEM is the one that looks past the living and speaks to the dead and says we are going to mourn for you and fight like hell for those you left behind."

Presumed Incompetent by Yolanda Flores Niemann (Editor); Carmen G. González (Editor); Angela P. Harris (Editor); Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs (Editor); Carmen G. González (Editor)
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
ISBN: 9780874219227
Publication Date: 2012
Presumed Incompetent is a pathbreaking account of the intersecting roles of race, gender, and class in the working lives of women faculty of color. Through personal narratives and qualitative empirical studies, more than 40 authors expose the daunting challenges faced by academic women of color as they navigate the often hostile terrain of higher education, including hiring, promotion, tenure, and relations with students, colleagues, and administrators. The narratives are filled with wit, wisdom, and concrete recommendations, and provide a window into the struggles of professional women in a racially stratified but increasingly multicultural America.

Black scientists matter
by Malegapuru William Makgoba. "It's important to recognize that beneath overt racism are subtle forms of structural and institutionalized racism that have existed for a very long time, unabated, across communities—in homes, hospitals, churches, schools, governments, and so many other institutions—throughout the Western world. Now, societies are being provoked to ponder fundamental questions about racism. What about the scientific world? Do Black scientists matter?"