Black History Month: Star Gazer

Benjamin Banneker 

Benjamin Banneker, a self-taught astronomer with an aptitude for mathematics, also made a clock, worked as a farmer, wrote almanacs, and worked closely with Pierre L’Enfant and George Ellicott on the layout of Washington, D.C. Mr. Banneker came into the world as a free man in 1731, in the state of Maryland (Asante, 48). After his work in Washington D.C., Mr. Banneker produced almanacs that he sold in the United States and abroad (Asante, 49). Mr. Banneker died in 1806 (Asante, 48).

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Source: Asante, M.K. (2002). 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. New York: Prometheus Books. pp. 48-49. 

Black History Month: First in (Space) Flight for an African American Woman

Dr. Mae Jemison

Dr. Mae Jemison, a physician and a NASA astronaut, graduated from high school and enrolled in college when she was sixteen-years-old. With undergraduate degrees in chemical engineering and African American Studies, and a medical degree from Cornell University, Dr. Jemison began her professional career doing non-profit medical work. She served in a refugee camp in Asia and as a medical officer in the countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia (Asante, 172). In 1992, she completed her astronaut training with NASA.  Then, in the same year, Dr. Jemison became the first African American woman to go into space on the Spacelab-J mission (Asante, 173).

For more information about Dr. Jemison, including her Twitter account, see the links and references included here :

Dr. Mae Jemison’s Twitter handle: @maejemison

The Jemison Foundation: http://www.jemisonfoundation.org/home.htm

Biography.com: http://www.biography.com/people/mae-c-jemison-9542378

NASA: https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/jemison-mc.html

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Sources:

Asante, M.K. (2002). 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. New York: Prometheus Books. pp.172-173.

Marshall, M. (1989, August). Child of the 60s Set to Become First Black Woman in Space. Ebony. 44(10). pp. 50-55.

Black History Month: Glass Ceiling Breaker

 Rear Admiral Evelyn Fields

Rear Admiral Fields, broke both the glass ceiling and racial barriers when she became, “the first woman officer from any of the U.S. uniformed services to command a commissioned U.S. ship.” (First Woman, 88). Fields grew up in Norfolk, VA, and graduated with a degree in mathematics from Norfolk State University. She became an officer 1973, and, in 1999, she became the first woman and first African American to command the Office of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Corps Operations and NOAA Commissioned Corps (Kouhestani, 1999).

Press release about Rear Admiral Evelyn Fields:
http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases99/july99/noaa99052.html

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Sources:
First Woman Ship Captain: Pioneer in U.S. Uniformed Services Finds Smooth Sailing. (1990, June). Ebony. pp. 88-90.

Kouhestani, J. (1999, July 27). Rear Admiral Evelyn J. Fields Formally Assumes Command of Office of NOAA Corps Operations and NOAA Commissioned Corps. NOAA Public Affairs. Retrieved from: http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases99/july99/noaa99052.html

Black History Month: Super Inventor

--> Super Inventor

Lonnie Johnson with a Super Soaker

Lonnie Johnson-The man who invented the Super Soaker® also worked for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and served in the United States Air Force. The idea for the Super Soaker® came to Johnson while testing an idea for a different type of cooling system for refrigerators (Tucker, 2003). As of 2002, Mr. Johnson held 60 patents, and had formed his own company, Johnson Research and Development (Modern, 2002). In addition to Mr. Johnson’s inventions, he also worked on the NASA Galileo and Cassini missions (Johnson, 2004).

For more information about Mr. Johnson, check out the articles below or visit his website, (http://johnsonrd.com/ie/).

To see all of the current Super Soaker® products, go to Hasbro’s website.   

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Sources:
Johnson Research & Development. (2004). Lonnie G. Johnson Profile. Retrieved from: http://johnsonrd.com/ie/lj/ljprofile.html

Modern Black Inventors. (2002, February 2). Jet. 107:7. P. 16.

Tucker, L. (2003, September 22). Ready, Set, Squirt! Science World. 60:2. pp. 18-20.

Black History Month: Stephen Bishop

A Mammoth Task: Stephen Bishop and the Bransford family

Illustration from Guide Book to the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky: Historical, Scientific, and Descriptive by Horace Carter Hovey (published R. Clarke and Company in 1882) [Unknown illustrator] - Library of Congress, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51910499

African-Americans were among the first explorers and tour guides of the world’s longest cave system, Mammoth Cave. In fact, guide Stephen Bishop bravely navigated the caverns of the cave’s passages for years, and he documented the cave with a map he created, from memory, in 1842. Mr. Bishop also discovered the following Mammoth Cave features: Mammoth Dome, River Styx, Dismal Hollow, and Bandits’ Hall. Not only did Mr. Bishop make strides in exploration, he served as a Mammoth Cave tour guide. Mr. Bishop achieved these efforts while he was enslaved, using lanterns and ropes.

Mat Bransford

The Bransford family worked as explorers and guides of Mammoth Cave too, as contemporaries of Mr. Stephen Bishop. Several generations of the Bransford family worked supporting the cave economy including: patriarch Masterson (Mat) Bransford, Henry Bransford, Will Bransford and his wife Zemmie, and Jerry Bransford. Will and Zemmie Bransford became entrepreneurs, opening the Bransford Resort, which allowed African-Americans a place to eat and sleep near the cave.

To learn more about the Bransford family or Stephen Bishop come to the library to see The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia (R 920 K37), or visit the National Park Site dedicated to Mammoth Cave’s African-American explorers and guides (https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/historyculture/black-history.htm). 
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Sources:
Black History at Mammoth Cave (n.d.). Mammoth Cave National Park. Retrieved from: https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/historyculture/black-history.htm. 

Hudson, J. B. (2015). Bishop, Stephen. In Smith, G.L., McDaniel, K.C., & Hardin, J.A. (Eds.), The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia (pp. 47-48). Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky.

Smith, G.L. (2015). Bransford Family. In Smith, G.L., McDaniel, K.C., & Hardin, J.A. (Eds.), The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia (p. 63). Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky.

Black History Month: Elijah McCoy

Elijah McCoy: The "Real McCoy"

Elijah McCoy was born in Colchester, Ontario, Canada on May 2, 1844. His parents were George and Emillia McCoy, former slaves from Kentucky who escaped through the Underground Railroad. 

At an early age, Elijah showed a mechanical interest, often taking items apart and putting them back together again. Recognizing his keen abilities, his parents arranged for him to travel to Scotland at the age of 15 for an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering.  After finishing his studies as a “master mechanic and engineer” he returned to the United States.

Elijah moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan but was unable to find work as an engineer due to racial barriers. Skilled professional positions were not available for African Americans at the time, regardless of their training or background. He was thus forced to take on a position as a fireman-oilman on the Michigan Central Railroad. As a fireman-oilman, McCoy was responsible for shoveling coal onto fires which would help to produce steam that powered the locomotive and ensuring that the train was well lubricated. Every few miles, the train would be forced to stop and he would have to walk alongside the train applying oil to the axles and bearings.

1st page of Elijah's patent application

McCoy set out to create a method of automating the task to improve efficiency and eliminate the frequent stopping necessary for lubrication of the train. In 1872 he developed a “lubricating cup” that could automatically drip oil onto the friction bearing components. He received a patent for the device later that year. McCoy continued to refine his devices, receiving nearly 60 patents over the course of his life. While the majority of his inventions related to lubrication systems, he also developed other designs. Lacking the capital with which to manufacture his lubricators in large numbers, he typically assigned his patent rights to his employers or sold them to investors. In 1920, toward the end of his life, McCoy formed the Elijah McCoy Manufacturing Company to produce lubricators bearing his name.

The “lubricating cup” was quite successful, and orders for it came in from railroad companies all over the country. Other inventors sold their own versions of the device–often inferior knock-offs, but most companies wanted Elijah's device, asking for “the Real McCoy.”*

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* Evidence suggest that the attribution of the "real McCoy" to Elijah's invention may be apocryphal. See: http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/07/was-there-ever-a-real-mccoy and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_real_McCoy

Other Sources:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/inventors/mccoy.htm

http://www.biography.com/people/elijah-mccoy-9391300#engineer-and-inventor

http://blackinventor.com/elijah-mccoy

Brodie, James Michael, Created Equal: the Lives and Ideas of Black American Innovators. William Morrow and Company, LTD, New York, 1993. (p. 61-63)

Black History Month: Pierre Whiting

Pierre Whiting: Local Black History Folk Hero

Pierre Whiting (Retrieved from: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/tom-eblen/article129881284.html, February 7, 2017.)

Pierre Whiting (1861-1949) wasn't an innovator or an explorer, but his story is so compelling that we had to share it. Born in 1861 in Woodford County, Pierre was hired by the University of Kentucky in 1888 as a janitor. He was UK's first black employee, and he holds the record for length of employment at the university–57 years! He retired in 1945. He lived in Adamstown, a black community, in then-segregated Lexington, KY. Adamstown no longer exists. It was purchased incrementally by UK, starting in the 1920s, and UK finished its purchases in the 1940s. Memorial Coliseum, which opened in 1950, sits on the site of Adamstown. According to local records, Pierre's house was purchased by UK in 1943 for $1,800 ($25,715 in today's money).

During his 57-year career at the University of Kentucky, Pierre became a beloved figure on campus. He acquired the moniker of "Dean Whiting." He became a treasure trove of information about UK's history. In fact, editors of the Kentucky Kernel, UK's student newspaper, would regularly interview him for his memories of working at UK. Most of his janitorial work took place at White Hall, a dormitory then, and the Main Building, one of the four original buildings on campus and the only survivor of the four.

He retired in 1945, and died on April 7, 1949. He lived long enough to witness the enrollment of UK's first black student, Lyman T. Johnson.

Sources:

http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/tom-eblen/article129881284.html
http://nkaa.uky.edu/record.php?note_id=3022
http://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=100&year=1943

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Black History Month

Hidden Figures: African-American Explorers and Innovators

The recent movie “Hidden Figures,” showcases the lives of African-American women employed by NASA whose efforts enabled the United States to enter and excel in the space race. These women, Dorothy Vaughn, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, among others, are by no means the only African-American women who have contributed to the United States space program, however. African-American men and women have contributed significantly in exploring space and other frontiers, like oceans and caves, laying the groundwork for exploration, and innovating to make our world a safer, more enjoyable place. Each day the library will feature one of these men or women so that they are no longer hidden figures. 

We have a display in the Library and Learning Resource Center to celebrate these "hidden figures." Come in and take a look, Here's some pictures to whet your appetite:

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Welcome to the Winter 2017 Quarter!

We hope you are having a great start. Come by the Library and Learning Resources Center for all your information needs, use a computer, or to just chill out.

Webpage

The URL is: http://lexlibrary.sullivan.edu.

Social Media

We'd love to interact with you on social media. We are present on:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SullivanLex
• Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sullivanlexlibrary
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/WhatstheBook
• Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/sulexlibrary/

Library Hours

Our hours for the Winter 2017 quarter are:
Sunday:                   Closed
Monday-Thursday: 8:00 am – 9:00 p.m.
Friday:                    8:00 am – 6:00 p.m.
Saturday:                8:00 am – Noon p.m.

Finals Week

Finals week is here. Are you ready?

Monday, December 12th, and Tuesday, December 13th, are regular class days. For day classes, finals take place as shown in the photo below. Night and weekend classes will have their final exams at the regular time the class meets.

"A date that will live in infamy"

(Image from the National Archives website; https://www.archives.gov/calendar/pearl-harbor-75)

President Franklin Roosevelt's famous words, which he delivered to Congress on December 8, 1941, are synonymous with the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. Over 2,000 Americans died on that fateful day. Let us pause to remember the sacrifice of those service members who gave their lives at Pearl Harbor, and to remember all of the past and present service members whose service affords us the freedoms we have in the United States today. 

For archival videos, links to newspaper accounts, and to see images of Roosevelt's speech, go to the National Archives Pearl Harbor page. 

For local coverage, the Lexington Herald-Leader for December 7, 2016, has an article about two Pearl Harbor veterans who live in Kentucky. 

Sources: 

FDR's "Day of Infamy" Speech: Crafting a Call to Arms. (2001). Prologue: Selected Articles, v. 33:4. Retrieved from:   https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/winter/crafting-day-of-infamy-speech.html 

Vote

What if you want to find out about the position of the candidates who are running in the 2016 election, even the local candidates?

On the VoteSmart website: https://votesmart.org/ voters can find out about the candidates, even your local representatives, and their positions on certain issues by putting in your home zip code. 

The staff of the Pulitzer prize-winning website, Politifact, http://www.politifact.com/, fact checks all that the presidential candidates and their running mates say and posts the information on the Politifact website.

For a lighter look at politics, check out the site, The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials, 1952-2016, http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/. The site has full-length campaign commercials dating back to Eisenhower’s presidential campaign in 1952. Commercials can be searched by year released, type of commercial, or issues featured in the commercial.

Kentucky Secretary of State, Alison Lundergan Grimes, has a few sites where voters can see what candidates will be on the ballot, what a sample ballot looks like, and the election laws for the state of Kentucky. http://apps.sos.ky.gov/elections/candidatefilings/statewide/countyfilings.aspx (Candidate filings) http://elect.ky.gov/laws/Pages/default.aspx (KY election laws)

For specific information about the election process in Fayette County, go to the Fayette County Clerk’s website, https://www.fayettecountyclerk.com/web/elections

Banned Book Week 2016

Artwork by ALA

Each year during September, Sullivan University Library joins the American Library Association in observing Banned Books Week. An annual celebration of our right to access books and materials without censorship, Banned Books Week commemorates the most basic freedom in a democratic society—the freedom to read freely—and encourages us not to take this freedom for granted.

Since 1990, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom has recorded more than 10,000 book challenges. A challenge is a formal, written complaint requesting a book be removed from library shelves or school curriculum. While books have been and continue to be banned, the fact is that, in a majority of cases, the challenged books have remained available. This happens only thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, students, and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read. (ALA, 2016).

Visit the library to browse through our Banned Books Week display, and go to the library’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SullivanLex) and blog (http://lexlibrary.blogspot.com/) to see–and learn about–some of the books that have been banned or challenged. To learn more about Banned Books Week, you can also visit http://www.ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/.

Remembering a Celebrity Chef





Julia Child: 1912-2004

 

“I don’t think about whether people will remember me or not. I’ve been an okay person. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve taught people a thing or two. That’s what’s important.” – Julia Child *

Chef Julia Child, perhaps the first of the celebrity television chefs in the U.S., would have been 104 today. Happy Birthday!

Whether you watch an episode of the French Chef, try a recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, or read one of her biographies, please celebrate Chef Julia’s birthday with good food.

Here are some resources to help you.

Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child by Noel Riley Fitch; 641.5 C536a

Baking with Julia: Based on the PBS Series Hosted by Julia Child by Dorie Greenspan; 641.815 G815b

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz; 641.5092 S761d

The French Chef with Julia Child; DVD 641.5944 F873

From Julia Child’s Kitchen by Julia Child; 641.5973 C536f

Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home by Julia Child; 641.5 C536c

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Simone Beck and Julia Child; 641.5944 C536m

Mastering the Art of French Cooking 2 by Simone Beck and Julia Child; 641.5944 C536ma 1

*(http://www.pbs.org/food/julia-child/)

Are You feelin' saucy?

Join us this Friday for the BBQ sauce competition put on by the culinary club! 

Want to make a sauce?  Enter your sauce into the competition for only $5 per entry.  Sign up today on the culinary bulletin board if you’re interested in participating!  Each winner will receive a $50 award.

Want to just taste the sauces?  For only $5 you can taste all the sauces on either chicken or pork and vote on your favorite.  Your votes will determine the winners!

Questions?  Email Christina Robinson at cmrobinson@sullivan.edu or Brian Lanier, Culinary Club President, at BLANIE5082@my.sullivan.edu