Marie Taylor

Marie Clark Taylor (1911 – December 1990) was an African-American American botanist and the first woman to earn a science doctorate at Fordham University.

Biography

She earned her B.S. and master's at Howard University, and in 1941, her Ph.D. at Fordham University, being the first woman of any race to earn a science doctorate at Fordham.^[1]

She briefly taught high school, and later started up summer science institutes for high school science teachers, bringing new methods of how to teach science, such as using light-microscopes to study cells. After serving in the Army Red Cross during World War II, in 1945, she joined the botany department at Howard University. She chaired the botany department starting in 1947 at Howard University until her retirement in 1976.^[1][2] She married Richard Taylor on January 1, 1948, having one son with him.^[1]

She also taught a summer science series for the National Science Foundation designed for biology teachers to make use of botanical materials for their courses to illustrate cell life. These summer classes also developed her teaching methods, where she also emphasized microscopes to study living cells. During the mid-1960s, she was requested President Lyndon B. Johnson to bring her work overseas, bringing her teaching style to an international level.^[1]

After her death, an auditorium in the Ernest. E. Just Hall at Howard University was named in her honor.^[3]

References

1. Warren, Wini (1999-01-01). Black Women Scientists in the United States. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253336031.
2. Henry T. Frierson, William F. Tate, ed. (2011). Beyond Stock Stories and Folktales: African Americans' Paths to Stem Fields (1st ed.). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing. p. 158. ISBN 978-1-78052-168-8.
3. Warren, Wini (1999). "Marie Clark Taylor". Black Women Scientists in the United States. 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA: Indiana University Press. pp. 260–262. ISBN 0-253-33603-1.