#blackstem

Today I am stepping way outside of my wheelhouse to present the essential contributions of Dr. O’Neil Ray Collins to the field of mycology. 

Dr. Collins was born in Opelousas, Louisiana in 1931. He earned his bachelor of science at Southern University in 1957, his master’s and PhD at the University of Iowa, in 1959 and 1961. He taught at Queens College, Southern University, Wayne State University, and would go on to become chairman of the botany department and UC Berkeley. His research over the years focused on myxomycete (slime mold) reproduction and genetics. He discovered heterothalism and homothalism in Didymium and Physarum plasmodial slime molds, and researched incompatibility, cytotoxicity, mating-type diversity, and speciation in slime molds during his scientific career. He was the chairman for the microbiology section the Botanical Society of America in 1968, and a Councilor in Genetics and Cytology for the Mycological Society of America from 1980-1983. 

He was a persistent advocate for diversity in academia, and served as the Associate Dean of the Graduate Division at UC Berkeley where he developed the Graduate Minority Program in 1970. And in 1987, he created the introductory course “Biology, Evolution, and Race.” 

Sadly, he passed away in 1989 sue to Hodgkin’s Disease. But his legacy continues on in the form of his crucial contributions to slime mold genetics, and as the only African-American biologist to achieve a tenured position at UC Berkeley. 

Black lives matter. Black ideas matter. Black academics matter. Black science matters. Systematic racism in the U.S. prevents black students and scientists from being able to reach their full potential. We need to stand against racism in all its forms. We need to change the system. History would like you to forget the contributions of people labelled as “other.” It is our job to remember them.  

Next up in our Black History Month celebration of UChicago African-American alumni and faculty, we honor Dr. Julian Herman Lewis (PhD 1915) and his wife Eva Overton Lewis (AB 1916).

Dr. Julian Herman Lewis was likely the first African American to hold both an M.D. and a PhD. His groundbreaking research on race and blood typing led to his 1942 book, Biology of the Negro, which debunked the racist idea that black people are biologically inferior. Born in Shawneetown, Illinois in 1891, Lewis was the son of John Calhoun Lewis and Cordelia O. Lewis. In 1915, he earned his PhD in physiology and pathology from the University of Chicago, and in 1917, in his final year of medical school, completed his clinical instruction at Rush Medical College. Later that year, he became the first African American to teach at the University of Chicago, where he was a noted expert in immunology. In 1926, Lewis was among the first to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship Award for study abroad and conducted research at the University of Basel, Switzerland. He continued his career as a research scientist and physician at Provident Hospital in Chicago. In his later years, he served as director of the pathology department at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital in Dyer, Indiana.

Eva Overton Lewis was born in 1893, the daughter of famed manufacturer, banker, lawyer, and businessman Anthony Overton. She received an AB from the University of Chicago in 1916 before marrying Julian Herman Lewis. While at the University, she was a charter member of the Beta Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. During their marriage she spent a great deal of time traveling in Europe, particularly in Paris. The couple had three children. Eva Lewis died in Chicago in 1945.

In 1971 at Purdue University, engineering student Anthony Harris noticed an alarming number of Black engineering freshmen and sophomores dropping out of school. In order to address this problem, he along with 5 other classmates created a Black student group called Society of Black Engineers (SBE) with the mission to recruit and retain students. The “Chicago Six” expanded these efforts nationally and SBE would later be known as the National Society of Black Engineers (#NSBE). This organization has been monumental in supporting Black engineering students during their studies and ensuring they excel professionally.

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For the past 500 years, the futures of Black people have been forcibly controlled and psychologically manipulated by people other than ourselves. We’ve been reduced to being financial investments, political pawns and supporting characters in many domestic and international mainstream societies -  societies so deeply plagued by systemic racism that fuels our implicit bias.

However, in spite of or because of our oppression, we’ve always found a form of escapism - whether it be through dance, music, painting, sports, writing, cooking or acting- that has helped us maintain our sanity and perseverance.

And these forms of escapism mixed with a desire for a better tomorrow is what gave birth to the movement (or philosophy for some) Afrofuturism.

Afrofuturism is about reclaiming and then reimagining Black people’s future in these societies and on this planet.

Afrofuturism is more than science fiction. It is a celebration of our ancient and present-day African traditions. It is the exploration of Black freedom. It is a reflection of not who we are, but who we will be. It is the Black future(s) for Black people.

We can’t change the past, but we can change the future. So what does this future look like to you? Tell us in the comments below.