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| Ankita Anirban interviews Anthony Johnson at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in November 2023. Photo by Florence Lucey-Renteria. |
In honor of Black History Month, we interviewed Ankita Anirban by email about her forthcoming book on how Bell Labs created a Black scientific community through a minority outreach program that, starting in the 1970s, provided PhD funding and mentorship for hundreds of Black scientists.
Ankita is a condensed matter physicist, now working as an editor at Nature Reviews Physics, where she works on a mix of technical articles in physics and more accessible pieces on the history of physics. Ankita has always been interested in the personal side of science—how scientists engage with each other and how scientific communities are created.
Anna Doel: How did you get interested in the Black history of Bell Labs? How did the project begin?
Ankita Anirban: Complete serendipity. One morning I received an email from Bill Wilson, a chemist based at Harvard, who had been part of a PhD scholarship program for minorities funded by Bell Labs. He had read an article we had just published in the journal, about “the golden age” of Bell Labs, and noticed that it did not mention the Black community. He asked if we knew about the program and the broader Black scientific community at Bell Labs. We didn’t, and neither do so many scientists. So I called him to learn more.
Listening to Bill speak about his time at the labs was fascinating. He told me about first arriving there as a summer student during college and being surrounded by other Black students who were obsessed with science too. He called it “summer camp for nerds.” After finishing his PhD, funded by the Bell Labs scholarship, he returned as a staff member and stayed for many years.
Bill painted a picture of an incredible scientific community, supportive, challenging, and brilliant, full of friends as well as role models and mentors. He gave me the names of some others to speak to, and as I spoke to more people, I kept being struck by how passionately they spoke of their time at Bell Labs. One thing led to another, and now, some fifty interviews later, I’m writing a book to capture this special moment in history.
Doel: On your website you pose these important questions: “How were Black scientists able to thrive in a 1970s research lab? How did they convince management to hire more Black scientists?” What are some of the answers you found? How much was affirmative action at Bell Labs a top-down policy or a grass-root initiative?
Anirban: Both! A bunch of factors came together at just the right time to make this happen. First, Bell Labs always had a fairly diverse workforce: They actively hired internationally, and the first Black scientist, Walter Linc Hawkins, joined in 1942. By the 1970s, there was a critical mass of Black scientists who could petition management to hire more. Second, on the back of the civil rights movement, there was a general political feeling that institutions needed to step up to correct a long history of racism. Add to this a court case brought against AT&T (the parent company of Bell Labs) by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission for a history of discriminatory practices, and the stage was set: There was political and legal pressure on management to do something, and there was an engaged group of Black scientists happy to tell management what to do.
Having the buy-in of management to signal that minority outreach was a priority for the labs, to fund the program, and to encourage scientists to take part in outreach and mentorship were all key to making the scholarship program and other efforts a success. But it was the grass-roots movement that came up with the idea, put together the details of the program, and made the personal effort to get it started.
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| From Bell Labs News, August 24, 1992. Original caption: “Bell Labs has donated its free electron laser to the physics department at Rutgers University’s Newark campus. The $1.4 million, 50-foot research tool was developed and constructed by former Bell Labs researcher Earl Shaw, left, and Robert Chichester, MTS, Optical Physics Research Department, Murray Hill. Shaw is now a professor of physics at Rutgers.” Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center. |
Doel: What are some of the discoveries you made along the way? Were there any surprises in your findings, anything you didn’t expect?
Anirban: Something that really struck me is how similar the conversations that went on in the 1970s were to the ones we are still having today. As part of my research, I spent a lot of time poring over meeting minutes and letters of the APS Committee for Minorities in Physics (held at the AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives), and so many of the issues they discuss will be very familiar to people working to champion minorities in the sciences today. In one sense, it’s frustrating to realise that so many barriers remain and are being reconstructed fifty years on from the civil rights movement. But in another sense, it inspired me and gave me some comfort to feel part of a long tradition and to know that many positive changes were made as a direct result of the efforts of these leaders.
Doel: You have spoken with some 50 participants of the Bell Labs minority outreach program—and AIP is very excited about your decision to deposit the interviews in our oral history collection. What can you share with us about the people you met? How were their lives and careers touched by the program?
Anirban: Meeting so many Bell Labs scientists and hearing about their careers and experience has been such a privilege. All the students I spoke to attributed many key career milestones to the scholarship program: Maybe their first paper was published during their summer project at Bell Labs, or their grad school application was successful because of a recommendation from a Bell Labs staff member, or their thesis project was shaped by a Bell Labs colleague’s advice.
I was particularly touched by my interview with Anthony Johnson, a physicist at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. We spoke for hours, as Dr. Johnson shared his memories, and also photographs, newspaper clippings, and articles from his time at the labs. I also met two of his PhD students (both people of color), who told me that they’d heard so much about Bell Labs from him and that their own projects had been shaped through Dr. Johnson’s Bell Labs connections. That was a first-hand experience of the legacy of this program continuing until today.
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| From Bell Labs News, June 20, 1977. Original caption: “Three high school seniors who have received National Achievement Scholarships sponsored by Bell Labs discuss technical careers with W. Lincoln Hawkins, former assistant director of the Chemical Research Laboratory. The students, from left, Courtney Heron, of Cooper City, Fla.; Blair H. Evans, of Detroit; and JoAnne C. Wilson, of Washington, D.C., recently toured Murray Hill.” Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center. |
Doel: How was the program structured and who administered it? At which levels of professional development did it meet new participants? How did it change Bell Labs?
Anirban: The core group of people I spoke to were all part of the Cooperative Research Fellowship Program: Fellows received full funding for their PhDs, a Bell Labs mentor to support them through the process, and the opportunity to work at Bell Labs in the summers. Around ten of these fellowships were awarded each year. But also, there was the Bell Labs Summer Program for Minorities and Women, which brought in many more students over the summer. Bell Labs also had programs for local kids in New Jersey, starting as early as 8th grade. Many students who participated in these programs—particularly the PhD fellows—came back to work at Bell Labs as staff members later. Then they went on to mentor the next generation of students.
Doel: When and how did the program conclude? What are, in your opinion, some of the lessons of this project that are applicable now?
Anirban: Technically the scholarship program, which changed name a few times under different management, went on into the 2010s. But the golden age of Bell Labs was long over by then. One of the reasons why Bell Labs was able to do long-term research and fund social programs was due to its monopoly status, which was protected by the government. A 1984 antitrust lawsuit put an end to this, and, over the next few years, the culture of management changed dramatically to adapt to market pressures—and most of the scientists left. So, in a sense, the program concluded when the community left.
I think the key lesson I’ve taken away from my research is the importance of community. Of course you need money to support such a program, but it was the personal commitment and social conscience of the mentors, and other senior staff at the labs, that allowed a community to be built and sustained around the program. Students left the program with confidence in their scientific ability, a network of connections with the top institutions, and a deep commitment towards social justice.
Doel: What do you enjoy most in working on this book project?
Anirban: Talking to people has been my favourite part. I’ve heard so many wonderful stories that would probably have stayed within families and never been shared with the world otherwise. Also, I’ve spent a lot of time tracking down people, often friends and colleagues who have now lost touch. Being able to share updates about each other and, at times, even reconnect them has been such a joy.
For a preview of Ankita’s book, to be published by Princeton University Press, see her 2022 feature article in Nature .
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