Chemist Lloyd Augustus Hall is best known for his work in the field of food technology, where he developed processes to cure and preserve meat, prevent rancidity in fats, and sterilize spices. In 1939, he cofounded the Institute of Food Technologists, establishing a new branch of industrial chemistry. Hall was born in Elgin, Illinois, on June 20, 1894. His father, Augustus Hall, was a Baptist minister and son of the first pastor of the Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church, the first African American church in Chicago. Hall's mother, Isabel, was a high-school graduate whose mother had fled to Illinois via the Underground Railroad at the age of sixteen.

Hall became interested in chemistry while attending the East Side High School in Aurora, Illinois, where he was active in extracurricular activities such as debate, track, football, and baseball. He was one of five African Americans attending the school during his four...