Lesson Plan
“The Black Scientific Renaissance of the 1970s-90s:”
The Legacy of African American Scientists at Bell Laboratories
Top Left: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President and Nuclear Physicist Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson in 1973.
Bottom Left: Anthony Johnson, of the Quantum Physics and Electronics Research Department at AT&T
Bell Laboratories, uses a laser to conduct experiments on the optical properties of glass fibers used in
lightwave communications systems. Such systems are presently capable of sending voice, data or video
signals through hair thin fibers at rates equal to transmitting the entire contents of the Encyclopedia
Brittanica in less than none second. Image reprinted with permission of Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc.
Right: Gerhard Sessler (left) and James West (right) with a foil-electret microphone that they invented at
Bell Laboratories in the foreground, 1976. Image reprinted with permission of Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc.
Prepared by the Center for History of Physics at AIP
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Grade Level(s): 9-12
Subject(s): History, Physics
In-Class Time: 150 min total
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Part One: “The Black Scientific Renaissance at Bell Laboratories” (50 min)
Part Two: Affirmative Action Science Programs Then and Now (50 min)
Part Three: Optics Demonstration (50 min)
Materials
Part One: “The Black Scientific Renaissance at Bell Laboratories”
• AIP Handout on Bell Laboratories
• Access to internet and resources for research (see Required/Recommended Resources)
Part Two: Affirmative Action Science Programs Then and Now
See supplemental materials for copies of these articles:
• R. A. Carrigan, Jr., Francis T. Cole, J.C. Davenport, and E. Malamud, “The Fermilab summer
program for minority students,” The Physics Teacher 15, 455
(1977), http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.2339736.
• J. C. Davenport, R. A. Carrigan Jr., F. T. Cole, and E. Malamud, “Program at Fermilab for minority
students,” Physics Today 30(6), 9 (1977), http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3037587.
• Keivan G. Stassun, et. al., “The Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program: Recognizing,
enlisting, and cultivating unrealized or unrecognized potential in underrepresented minority
students,” American Journal of Physics 79, 374 (2011); http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.3546069.
Part Three: Optics Demonstration
• A clear plastic soda bottle, empty (prepare 2 or more for multiple demonstrations)
• Mirrors
• Post-it notes
• Thumb tack
• A bright LED flashlight or laser
• Masking tape
• A fiber optic cable
Objective
This three-part lesson plan examines what has been called the “Black Scientific Renaissance at Bell
Laboratories” by highlighting the striking contributions of African American scientists at Bell
Laboratories in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. In the first part, students learn about different black
scientists at Bell Labs. In the second part, students compare affirmative action programs in the sciences
in the 1970s to today. The third part consists of an optics demonstration that will introduce students to
total internal reflection.
Prepared by the Center for History of Physics at AIP
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Introduction
"Bell Labs of the 1970s, '80s and '90s was to black scientists what Harlem of the 1920s was to black
writers, artists and musicians," said Massey. "It was a true renaissance." ~ Dr. William Massey
Dr. Anthony Johnson at the Bell Labs Summer Research Program, in Murray Hill, NJ in 1974.
Image reproduced with permission from Dr. Johnson.
History of Bell Laboratories
Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, founded Bell Laboratories in Washington, D.C in
the late 19th century as the Volta Laboratory and Bureau. Bell Labs has a long history as a center of
scientific innovation; the transistor, laser, microphone, radio astronomy, and the C programming
language, among other innovations, all trace their roots to Bell Labs. In addition, seven Nobel Prizes
have been awarded to scientists for their work at Bell Labs.
In 1942, Walter Lincoln Hawkins, also known as “Link” Hawkins, accepted a job at Bell Laboratories,
making him the first African American to join the technical staff. Hawkins – a chemist and inventor –
developed a type of plastic to cover telephone wires and communications cables, which made universal
telephone service possible. Prior to Hawkins’s development of this plastic, communications cables were
most commonly sheathed with lead, a dangerous and poisonous substance. Hawkins was a pioneer at
Bell Labs who paved the way for future African Americans to find a home at Bell Labs. He worked at Bell
Labs for over 30 years and was awarded the National Medal of Technology. 1
Physicist James West joined Bell Laboratories in 1957 after he received his B.S. in physics from Temple
University. When he arrived, there were at least seven African American technical workers at Bell Labs
including Lincoln Hawkins, Ray Story, Charlie Miller, Bill North, and others. West began working at Bell
Labs amidst the social turbulence of the civil rights movement. During the 1950s and 1960s, the civil
rights movement was sweeping the country as African Americans and other minorities were demanding
equal rights. 2 In 1970, West was part of a group of Black employees at Bell Labs that formed the
1
Another of the first African American scientists hired at Bell was physicist Earl D. Shaw who was the co-inventor
of the spin-flip Raman tunable laser.
2
You can learn more about West’s experience in HistoryMakers ScienceMakers Video Archive A2013.039.
Prepared by the Center for History of Physics at AIP
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Association of Black Laboratory Employees (ABLE) to bring civil rights reforms within the walls of the
laboratory. Although the majority of ABLE members were chauffeurs and staff, the group also included
scientists. According to Dr. James West, ABLE “was formed in order to create upward mobility for black
people in Bell Labs.” 3 In the early 1970s, African Americans accounted for less than 2% of the
Engineering and Physical Science doctoral degrees awarded to American citizens in the United States. 4
The ability for African Americans to advance socially, economically, and politically was of major concern
to civil rights activists and to many the number of Black scientists was a bellwether of the progress of
African Americans in society at large.
ABLE became instrumental in pushing for initiatives that would increase the number of African
Americans in technical and scientific positions. James Mitchell, a research chemist who joined Bell Labs
after receiving his Ph.D. in chemistry from Iowa State University in 1970, was also part of ABLE.
According to Mitchell, an affirmative action committee was formed at Bell Labs in the early 1970s and
he was invited to join. Each summer, Mitchell had been inviting an African American student to work in
his laboratory. He was also instrumental in advocating for the creation of the Cooperative Research
Fellowship Program. 5
The CRFP was one of the first initiatives of its kind. It recruited minority students from universities local
to the New Jersey Bell Labs facilities such as City College of New York, Columbia University, New York
University, Polytechnic University, Rutgers University, Stevens Institute of Technology, and Princeton.
The program paired students with a technical mentor who was a senior member of the Bell Labs
Research and Development staff. The program also financially supported the student’s graduate study.
Their technical mentor would not only help students learn about the scientific research at Bell Labs but
would also advocate for them in their graduate programs. 6 For many African American students, this
was the first time they were exposed to state-of-the-art scientific research facilities. Reflecting on his
experience, Dr. Donald Lyons, a physicist who participated in the Bell Summer Internship Program
described Bell Labs as “Oz” or “Never Never Land.” 7 In the coming years additional groups and
fellowships would be created, including the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in
Engineering and Science (GEM), the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Minority Fellowship
Program, and the Ford Foundation Fellowships for Minorities were established in 1974, 1978, and 1980
3
James West (The HistoryMakers ScienceMakers Video Archive A2013.039), interview by Larry Crowe,
02/13/2013, The HistoryMakers ScienceMakers Video Archive. Session 1, tape 6, story 1, James West talks about
Dr. William Lincoln Hawkins and the Association of Black Laboratory Employees (ABLE).
http://smdigital.thehistorymakers.com/iCoreClient.html#/&i=17035
4
National Science Foundation, “Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering:
2000, (NSF, 2000) NSF 00-237, Appendix B, Table 4-12, quoted in Elaine P. Laws, “AT&T Labs and Lucent Bell
Laboratories Ph.D. Fellowship Programs, 1972-2002,” 3.
5
James Mitchell (The HistoryMakers ScienceMakers Video Archive A2012.236), interview by Larry Crowe,
09/11/2012, The HistoryMakers ScienceMakers Video Archive. Session 1, tape 6, story 2, James Mitchell talks
about his mentorship activities at Bell Laboratories.
http://smdigital.thehistorymakers.com/iCoreClient.html#/&i=10235.
6
Elaine P. Laws, “AT&T Labs and Lucent Bell Laboratories Ph.D. Fellowship Programs, 1972-2002,” AT&T (2002), 3.
7
Donald Lyons (The HistoryMakers ScienceMakers Video Archive A2013.135), interview by Larry Crowe,
05/20/2013, The HistoryMakers ScienceMakers Video Archive. Session 1, tape 3, story 4, Donald Lyons describes
his time at the Bell Summer Internship Program.
http://smdigital.thehistorymakers.com/iCoreClient.html#/&i=24179
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respectively. In 1974, a similar program for women, the Graduate Research Fellowship Program for
Women (GRPW), was also established.
In large part through programs like the CRFP, Bell Labs attained a critical mass of Black researchers in
the engineering, mathematical and physical sciences during the 1970s and 1980s. Many prominent
African American physicists and engineers have ties to these initiatives including Shirley Ann Jackson and
Arlene Maclin, two of the first African American women to receive their doctorates in physics. Bell Labs
was also known for the openness it allowed its researchers. Dr. William Massey, an engineer who got
his start at Bell Labs through this program, has likened the three decades of the 1970’s, 1980’s and
1990’s at Bell Laboratories for Black scientists to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s for Black artists.
Many of the individuals who participated in CRFP made significant contributions as scientists and
acquired major technical leadership roles in the fields of science, business and education. More
importantly, however, they leveraged their success in science to open up opportunities for the next
generation of Black scientists.
In 1996, AT&T divided Bell Labs into AT&T Labs and Lucent Technologies. For several years, Lucent
Technologies continued the fellowship programs under the same names. While the programs do not
exist today as they did in the 1970s and 1980s, both AT&T and Lucent Technologies maintain summer
internships and programs that encourage women and minority students to pursue science and
engineering. For more information on these programs, see the Further Reading and Additional
Resources Section.
Affirmative Action
Many attribute the birth of what we now call “affirmative action” to the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B.
Johnson administrations, which established civil rights legislation in response to the political activism of
the civil rights movement. Unlike the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 which prohibited discrimination,
affirmative action was meant to promote a proactive approach to redressing past discrimination. While
affirmative action may seem like a new concept, the promotion of certain groups of people has been in
effect long before the 1960s. Some say that affirmative action for those who are white and male has
been in place since the founding of this country. However, affirmative action that focuses on women
and minorities is a relatively new phenomenon, starting during World War II and particularly in the
1960s.
Affirmative action programs, especially in higher education, are controversial. But research shows that
bans in affirmative action have had the greatest reductions on the number of minority students in STEM
fields. 8 The example of Bell Laboratories demonstrates that affirmative action initiatives in universities
and industry have played a large role in increasing the number of African Americans in physics and
engineering.
8
Liliana M. Garces, “Understanding the Impact of Affirmative Action Bans in Different Graduate Fields of Study,”
American Educational Research Journal vol. 50, no. 2 (April 2013), 251-284,
http://aer.sagepub.com/content/50/2/251.
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Instructions/Activities
Part One: “The Black Scientific Renaissance at Bell Laboratories”
1. Give students the handout on Bell Laboratories (see supplemental materials). Have students
read the handout individually and then have a short discussion about the Cooperative Research
Fellowship Program.
2. The following is a list of physicists who were interns and/or employees at Bell Laboratories.
Using the handout and internet sources verified by the teacher, the students can look up
information on the following Bell Laboratories African American scientists:
James West, PhD
Anthony Johnson, PhD
Donnell Watson, PhD
George Campbell, Jr., PhD
Michael Spencer, PhD
Arlene Maclin, PhD
James Mitchell, PhD
Shirley Ann Jackson, PhD
Peter Delfyett, PhD
William Massey, PhD
Jesse Russell, PhD, PhD
William A. Massey, PhD
William Lincoln Hawkins, PhD
Donald Lyons, PhD
3. Have students give short presentations on the “Bell Labber” they researched. Have a discussion
based on the questions below.
Part Two: Affirmative Action Science Programs Then and Now
1. Divide the class into small groups. Assign each group one of the following articles (see
supplemental materials):
a. R. A. Carrigan, Jr., Francis T. Cole, J.C. Davenport, and E. Malamud, “The Fermilab
summer program for minority students,” The Physics Teacher 15, 455
(1977), http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.2339736.
b. J. C. Davenport, R. A. Carrigan Jr., F. T. Cole, and E. Malamud, “Program at Fermilab for
minority students,” Physics Today 30(6), 9 (1977), http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3037587.
c. Keivan G. Stassun, et. al., “The Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program:
Recognizing, enlisting, and cultivating unrealized or unrecognized potential in
underrepresented minority students,” American Journal of Physics 79, 374
(2011); http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.3546069.
2. Then, have the groups summarize the articles to the class. Compare and contrast the programs
from the 1970s to today. Discuss the importance of affirmative action programs in increasing
the number of minority scientists.
Part Three: Optics Demonstration
This demonstration illustrates the properties of light and teaches students how light can be used in
communication. It introduces students to total internal reflection, or the total reflection of light at the
boundary of two materials.
Part 1: Shadows (Section 1 on worksheet)
1. How are shadows formed? Ask the students how shadows are formed. While you take answers
from the students, use the LED to create shadows on the classroom wall. Distribute the mirrors
to the group. Write a message on a post-it note. Have one person put the post-it note on the
back collar of someone in the group, but don’t let that person know what is written on it.
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2. How can we use these mirrors to see what is written on someone’s back? Ask the students to
come up with a way for the person to read the message on the post-it note stuck on their back
using the aid of the mirrors. The ideal set-up is if the person with the post-it note holds one
mirror in front of their shoulder and another person is positioned behind the same shoulder
with a mirror, so he or she can look at the note.
3. Why can we use mirrors to help direct light? Mirrors work through the law of reflection, which
means that light will bounce off the mirror at the same angle it originally hit the mirror. The law
of reflection only works if light travels in a straight line!
4. Think about the sun—a massive ball of light. Which direction is the sun radiating light? All
directions! Think about a laser as well—it sends a dot of light in a line.
5. Does anyone have any other ideas on how we can guide light?
Part 2: Total Internal Reflection
1. Put a strip of tape on the bottle about an inch above the base.
2. Poke a hole in the bottle through the tape. Make sure the hole is about the diameter of a pencil
so that water will be able to flow easily out of the bottle. If the hole is not large enough, you will
have to squeeze the bottle to get a strong enough stream of water for the demonstration.
3. Cover the hole with another piece of tape and fill the bottle with water. Make sure the cap to
the water bottle is off. What do people think will happen? If a light source is placed nearby, will
light shine through the bottle?
4. Turn on your flashlight or laser and shine the beam into the bottle—this works best in a dark
room. Some students might notice the water inside the bottle starts to glow.
5. Remove the masking tape to start the stream of water. You may need to adjust the position of
the light source to ensure it travels down the stream. You can place your hand in the stream to
“catch” the light, showing how the light actually traveled down the stream. If the stream breaks
up, you should be able to see light glowing in the water droplets.
Image from comPADRE Physics Classroom, “Total Internal Reflection,”
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/refrn/Lesson-3/Total-Internal-Reflection.
6. Can anyone theorize why the light traveled down the stream of water?
Explanation:
Light travels down the stream of water escaping the bottle through a phenomenon called total internal
reflection. Sometimes light will not pass through materials but instead it will get caught inside the
Prepared by the Center for History of Physics at AIP
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material and start bouncing off the inside “walls” of the material. The students observed how the light
got “caught” in the stream of water. This same phenomenon delivers the internet to your computer.
Part 3: Understanding fiber optic cables (Section 3 on worksheet)
1. Distribute the fiber optic cables and LEDs. How can you guide light around an obstacle? How
does this relate to the light shining through the stream of water?
2. Explain that total internal reflection applies to fiber optic cables as well, since total internal
reflection requires an interface between two different mediums.
3. Does the light escape anywhere other than the ends of the cable?
4. How can we use this property of light to transmit information? After taking a few responses
from the students, suggest flashing the light on and off down the cable. Distribute the Morse
code sheets to the groups.
5. Have small groups work together to transmit words to each other via the fiber optic cables.
Explain that the internet works much the same way, except the cables are much bigger and the
pulses of light are much more rapid.
Required/Recommended Reading and Resources
Required Resources (see supplemental material):
• AIP Bell Laboratories Handout
• R. A. Carrigan, Jr., Francis T. Cole, J.C. Davenport, and E. Malamud, “The Fermilab summer
program for minority students,” The Physics Teacher 15, 455
(1977), http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.2339736.
• J. C. Davenport, R. A. Carrigan Jr., F. T. Cole, and E. Malamud, “Program at Fermilab for minority
students,” Physics Today 30(6), 9 (1977), http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3037587.
• Keivan G. Stassun, et. al., “The Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program: Recognizing,
enlisting, and cultivating unrealized or unrecognized potential in underrepresented minority
students,” American Journal of Physics 79, 374 (2011); http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.3546069.
Recommended Resources:
• Elaine P. Laws, “AT&T Labs and Lucent Bell Laboratories Ph.D. Fellowship Programs, 1972-2002,”
AT&T (2002), http://morse.uml.edu/Activities.d/bnl.d/summary/ExternalFellowshipPaper-0103.pdf.
• Elaine P. Laws, Elizabeth Loia, and Michael Merritt, “The AT&T Labs Fellowship Program – 35
Years of Mentoring Women and Underrepresented Minorities – An Update,” AT&T Labs
Research (2007), http://morse.uml.edu/Activities.d/bnl.d/summary/ExternalFellowshipPaper01-03.pdf.
• HistoryMakers ScienceMakers interviews with Anthony Johnson, Arlene Maclin, James West,
George Campbell, Shirley Ann Jackson, Donnell Walton, James Hubbard, Peter Delfyett, Sharon
Loretta Haynie, and William Massey. http://www.thehistorymakers.com/sciencemakers-digitalarchive.
• William Massey, “The Legacy of the Black Scientific Renaissance in the 70's 80's and 90's,”
2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpp8V7Rp2t8. Engineer William Massey discusses
the history of Black scientists at Bell Laboratories in this presentation sponsored by the
Princeton School of Engineer and Applied Science.
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Discussion Questions
1. How did the Cooperative Research Fellowship Program select students?
2. How did they support students? Why was it important that they paired students with senior
researchers?
3. What is the significance of the CRFP?
4. What is your opinion on affirmative action?
5. What do you think a physicist does? Would you like to be a physicist? Why?
6. What types of physics is researched at Bell Laboratories?
7. What kind of physics would you research if you were a physicist?
8. What kinds of things are possible because of this research?
9. Many Bell Optics scientists worked with fiber optics. Have you ever heard of fiber optics? Fiber
optic cabling is possible because of Total Internal Reflection. Find out what this is and explain to
the class.
10. How do mirrors relate to fiber optics?
Further Reading and Additional Resources
•
•
•
Venus Green, “Race and Technology: African American Women in the Bell System, 1945-1980,”
Technology and Culture, vol. 36, no. 2, Supplement: Snapshots of a Discipline: Selected
Proceedings from the Conference on Critical Problems and Research Frontiers in the History of
Technology, Madison, Wisconsin, October 30-November 3, 1991 (Apr., 1995), pp. 101-144.
Liliana M. Garces, “Understanding the Impact of Affirmative Action Bans in Different Graduate
Fields of Study,” American Educational Research Journal vol. 50, no. 2 (April 2013), 251284, http://aer.sagepub.com/content/50/2/251.
Shirley J. Yee, Eileen Boris, Shirley M. Geiger, and Barbara A. Woods, “The Past, Present, and
Future of Affirmative Action: AHA Roundtable,” NWSA Journal vol. 10, no. 3 (Autumn, 1998),
135-142, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4316605.
AT&T Labs and Alcatel-Lucent Resources for Students:
• AT&T Labs provides summer research internships for 10 weeks in which students can work with
AT&T researchers on exciting, real-world research projects. For more information,
see http://www.research.att.com/internships?fbid=D3pf5B1a0ZT.
• For career opportunities for students around the world at Alcatel-Lucent,
see http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/careers/opportunities-students.
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.9-10.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.7
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.9
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and
secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and
origin of the information.
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and
secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details
to an understanding of the text as a whole.
Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in
diverse formats and media (e.g., quantitative data, video,
multimedia) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
Synthesize information from a range of sources (e.g., texts,
experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a
process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information
when possible.
Next Generation Science Standards
For more information on the Next Generation Science Standards, visit http://www.nextgenscience.org/.
Dimension One: Practices
Dimension Two: Crosscutting
Concepts
Dimension Three: Disciplinary
Core Ideas
1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for
engineering)
2. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing
solutions (for engineering)
1. Patterns
2. Cause and effect
Core Idea PS4: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for
Information Transfer
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