Overview

Today, fewer than 1% of professional mathematicians are African-American. Compared to their overall proportion of the general population (slightly more than 10%), this is a very small number. There are a number of social and economic factors that explain this relative underrepresentation, one of which is that until the twentieth century few African-Americans were allowed to earn graduate degrees in any technical or scientific field. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, African-American mathematicians have had an influence that extends beyond their research and teaching. By their example, these mathematicians have also demonstrated that Africans can succeed in complex, abstract fields, in spite of many whites who felt (or still feel) otherwise.

Background

No African-American was awarded a doctorate in mathematics until 1925, when Elbert Cox (1895-1969) became the first black in the world to earn this distinction...