African-American chemist and teacher Samuel Massie was born July 3, 1919, in Little Rock, Arkansas. Samuel Proctor Massie read at a third-grade level by the time he entered first grade, skipped several grades, and graduated from high school at 13. Because of his age and family finances, he worked in a grocery store for a year before enrolling in Dunbar Junior College in Little Rock. After graduating, he wanted to attend the University of Arkansas, but the doors were closed to Black students. Undaunted and interested in finding a cure for his father's asthma in 1936, he graduated summa cum laude in chemistry from Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical, and Normal College (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) with a bachelor of science degree in 1938.Massie received a master's degree in chemistry from Fisk University in 1940, then returned to Arkansas AM & N to teach for a year. Massie earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Iowa University in 1946. While there, he served as a research associate and instructor in chemistry at Fisk University. Also while studying for his doctoral degree, Dr. Massie worked on the Manhattan Project with scientists making liquid compounds of uranium for the atomic bomb.
He conducted pioneering silicon chemistry research and investigated antibacterial agents. With two midshipmen and colleagues from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, he was awarded a patent for chemical agents effective in battling gonorrhea. From 1947 to 1953, Dr. Massie was appointed professor of chemistry—and later chairman of the department—at Langston University. Between 1953 and 1960, Dr. Massie served as professor of chemistry and chairman of the department of Fisk University. Dr. Massie was appointed program director for the National Science Foundation. Between 1961 and 1963, he served as professor of chemistry and chairman of Howard University. Beginning in 1966, Dr. Massie served as professor of chemistry at the U.S. Naval Academy. Even with all his accomplishments in the field of chemistry Dr. Massie first and foremost considered himself a teacher.
He was named one of the 75 premier chemists of the 20th century—along with Marie Curie, George Washington Carver, Kodak founder George Eastman, and DNA researchers James Watson and Francis Crick. Samuel P. Massie, Jr., a chemistry professor who was the first African-American to teach at the U.S. Naval Academy, died April 10, 2005, at Mariner Healthcare Center in Laurel. He was 85 and had dementia.
Reference:
The Associated Press