ALT Photo of Roger Arliner Young. Dr. Roger Arliner Young was the first African-American woman to gain a PhD in zoology. She studied marine organisms and is best known for studying how radiation affects sea urchin eggs. Her academic journey was difficult, but she persevered and eventually was employed as a professor at several institutions in the southern United States, including two historically Black universities. However, because of research related damage to her eyes and limited employment opportunities for a Black academic after being estranged from Howard (presumably due to an altercation with another prominent African American biologist – Ernest Everett Just), she struggled with financial instability. Years after her death, her scientific achievements were recognized in a Congressional Resolution. There is also a fellowship named in her honor that supports aspiring Black marine conservationists.

ALT Photo of Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman is best known for her role in the emancipation of herself and dozens of enslaved people through the underground railroad. The journey to freedom was dangerous, not only because of the threat of recapture, but the need to navigate several miles of wilderness, including woods and marshes, to remain hidden. The ability to guide people through these regions multiple times during harsh seasons and often during the night, is a testament to her deep understanding of the environment. Thus, in addition to being one of the greatest abolitionists, Tubman was also a gifted naturalist who used her knowledge of nature and astronomy in her social activism. Harriet Tubman serves as just one example of what must have been true of many enslaved peoples of the period, the possession of an intimate knowledge of nature which they used for medicine, food, resources and even as the key to freedom.

ALT A dried birch specimen