edited by Ronald E Mickens (Clark Atlanta University, USA)

Edward A Bouchet was the first African-American to receive the doctorate in any field of knowledge in the United States and that area was physics. He was granted the degree in 1876 from Yale University making him at that time one of the few persons to hold the physics doctorate from an American university. Bouchet played a significant role in the education of African-Americans during the last quarter of the 19th century through his teaching and mentoring activities at the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was one among a small number of African-Americans who achieved advanced training and education within decades of the American civil war. These people provided direction, leadership, and role models for what eventually became the civil/human rights movements. The year 2001 marks the 125th celebration of his receiving the doctorate degree. This book gives a summary of his life and career.

• Early African American Presence in New Haven and Yale University (C L Patton)
• Edward A Bouchet — The Years at Hopkins Grammar School: 1868-1870 (T Rodd, Jr.)
• Edward Alexander Bouchet — The Master Teacher and Educator (H K Bechtel)
• In Search of Edward Bouchet (J A Wilkinson)
• African Americans Enter Science (K R Manning)
• Appendices:
  • Letter from a Former Student of Bouchet (L M Allen)
  • Willie Hobbs Moore: First African American Woman Doctorate in Physics (R E Mickens)
  • Elmer Samuel Imes: Scientist, Inventor, Teacher, Scholar (R E Mickens)
  • The Genesis of the National Society of Black Physicists (R E Mickens)
  • The Bouchet Institute
  • Selected Bibliography of Materials on African American Scientists