Lesson Plan
African American Physical Scientists and the Military
From left to right: Top row: Benjamin Peery, Jr., Herman Branson, Warren Henry, Walter McAfee.
Bottom row: Harry Morrison, Carl Rouse, James Stith.
Images courtesy of the AIP Emilio Segré Visual Archives.
African American physicis tgs
Grade Level(s): 9-12
Subject(s): History
In-Class Time: See below
Prep Time: 10-15 min
60 minutes in class work + any additional homework if necessary
30 minutes presentation
90 minutes total (about one or two class periods)
Materials
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Credible research resources (see Required/Recommended Resources section) and/or access to
the internet
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Objective
Students will study the different ways in which African American physicists, engineers and astronomers
were involved in or impacted by the military. The goal in this lesson is for students to see how and why
each person was involved in the military and to understand their contributions to science.
Introduction
The U.S. military does more than defend the United States. For more than 200 years, people from
around the country have been involved with the U.S. military in many capacities. For some, the military
is the primary source of their education. Others are civilian consultants and contractors hired by the
military, while others fund their education by entering a ROTC program at colleges and universities
across the country. African-Americans, especially those who are students of the physical and space
sciences, are no exception. Since the integration of the U.S. military beginning in the 1940s, many
African Americans have entered scientific work through this route. Desegregation and affirmative action
in the military predated broader civil rights reforms in American society. Many African Americans have
found opportunities in the service that were not available to them outside of the military.
African Americans have served in the military since the American Revolution. During the Civil War, after
the Emancipation Proclamation, the Union Army formed a series of separate units for African American
soldiers called “United States Colored Troops.” In the late nineteenth-century African American “Buffalo
Soldiers” fought with American Indians in the West to protect Euro-American settlers. Again, in the
twentieth century, African Americans were called on to protect the country in the Spanish-American war
and World War I. Although there is a long history of the inclusion of African Americans in the military, it
does not follow that the military was more progressive than the rest of American society. Instead, the
military accepted African American soldiers only during periods of war when the need for manpower
exceeded the influence of discrimination. The role of African Americans in the military began to change
with World War II. Even though more than 900,000 African Americans served in segregated units during
the war, the US government began to face the pressure to desegregate the military. In 1948, President
Truman’s Executive Order 9981 ended segregation in the military.
By the Cold War, researchers pointed to the military as a model of positive race relations for the rest of
the country to follow. Whereas civil rights conflicts broke out from coast to coast in the 1950s and
1960s, the military had seemed to solve the problem of integration. Even though Truman had
desegregated the military, African Americans serving within the military still faced serious racial
discrimination. The military may no longer have been segregated but equal opportunities and treatment
had yet to come to fruition by the 1970s. In this lesson plan, students will learn about African American
scientists who also served in the U.S. military.
Instructions/Activities
Divide the class into groups of four to five students. Assign each group one of the scientists from the list
below. Ask students to investigate why their scientist is deserving of a medal of honor. Since the United
States is selective when it gives prestigious awards, students will have to conduct research on their
recipient to make a good case for why their scientist should receive the award. Each group should
determine to what degree their candidate is/was involved in the military, what some of his or her major
life accomplishments are/were, both in and out of military, and why they should receive the “medal of
honor”. After the research is finished, groups will present their findings to the rest of the class and
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explain why they feel that their recipient is deserving of such an award. At the end of the presentations,
ask the class to vote for the recipient who deserves the highest honor. Students may choose among the
following notable physicists and engineers:
Guion Bluford, Jr.
Randolph Bromery
Harry L. Morrison
Waverly Person
J. Ernest Wilkins
Warren Henry
Robert Henry Bragg
Herman Branson
Walter McAfee
Benjamin Peery Jr.
Carl Rouse
James B. Drew
Charles F. Bolden
James Stith
Required/Recommended Reading and Resources
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Gubert, Betty Kaplan, Miriam Sawyer, and Caroline Fannin. Distinguished African Americans in
Aviation and Space Science. Westport, CT: Oryx Press, 2002.
Haskins, James and Kathleen Benson. Space Challenger: The Story of Guion Bluford.
Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 1984.
Jeffrey, Laura S. Guion Bluford: A Space Biography. Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1998.
Jones, Stanley P. and L. Octavia Tripp. African-American Astronauts. Mankato, MN: Capstone
Press, 1998.
Kessler, James H. Distinguished African American Scientists of the 20th Century. Phoenix, Ariz:
Oryx Press, 1996.
Klein, Aaron E. The Hidden Contributors: Black scientists and inventors in America. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1971.
Krapp, Kristine, ed. Notable Black American Scientists. Gale: Detroit, 1999.
Van Sertima, Ivan. Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction
Books, 1983.
Scott Williams, “Physicists of the African Diaspora,” http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/physics/
HistoryMakers ScienceMakers, http://www.thehistorymakers.com/sciencemakers
Discussion Questions
Here are some questions for the students to consider when they are conducting their research and
presenting their information:
1. During what period of time was your scientist/engineer involved in the military? How do you
think his or her experience in the military would be different at an earlier or later point in
history? Think of the social climate in the U.S. during your scientist’s/engineer’s military service.
Investigate the following questions: Was the military segregated at the time? What gender
barriers existed? Was there a military draft at the time or was service voluntary?
2. To what extent was your scientist/engineer involved with their specific branch of the military?
Were they contacted directly by the military to go into the service or did they enlist for another
reason? If you can, try to relate these questions to Question 1 about the contemporary social
climate.
3. How did this scientist’s/engineer’s time in the military affect their decision to go into a particular
field of science or engineering? Do you think their lives and contributions to science or
technology would have been different had they not been involved in the military?
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4. What do you think is something important that came from this person’s time in the military? Did
they acquire a particular skill set during a tour of duty? Did their experience in the military
impact the motivation for going into the sciences or engineering?
5. What contributions this scientist/engineer to their field? Why do they deserve a high honor?
6. In what way does the history of African Americans in the military contribute to our
understanding of the history of science and civil rights?
7. Why are there so few women who have used the military to advance their scientific careers?
Remind students that these questions are only a minimum guide to help them conduct their research.
They should ask and answer more questions than are listed here. There is a wealth of information about
each of these individuals; encourage students to investigate their scientist/engineer in depth. Each
group should conduct thorough enough research to make a persuasive case for why their candidates are
deserving of the “medal of honor.”
Further Reading and Additional Resources
Encourage students to broaden their understanding of their subject by drawing on sources that provide
them with historical context. Students could consult studies that deal with segregation in the military,
information on the draft, histories of the research or technology firms with which their candidates were
involved and any other information that may be pertinent to their studies. Students should make sure
their sources are credible.
Other Resources:
• Library of Congress, Science Reference Guides, “African American Women in the Military and at
War: Selected Reading List,” March
2012, http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/SciRefGuides/africanamericanwomenwar.html.
• Howard University, “Bibliography: African-Americans in the
Military,” http://www.howard.edu/library/reference/events/AfricanAmeBib.htm.
Related Resources from the AIP Teacher’s Guide on African Americans in Physics, Astronomy, and
Related Disciplines:
• Lesson Plans:
o “The Physicist’s War:” Dr. Herman Branson and Scientific Training of African Americans
during World War II
o The Tuskegee Weathermen: Black Meteorologists during World War II
Extensions
N/A
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Common Core Standards
For more information on Common Core Standards, visit http://www.corestandards.org/.
History/Social Studies
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.6
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.3
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.7
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.9
Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they
treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include
and emphasize in their respective accounts.
Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine
which explanation best accords with textual evidence,
acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in
diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in
words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and
secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting
discrepancies among sources.
Next Generation Science Standards
N/A For more information on the Next Generation Science Standards,
visit http://www.nextgenscience.org/.
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