Unsung Chemist: Dr. Booker T. W. White (1907 - 1990)

Born in Tryon, North Carolina on September 9, 1907, Booker Taliafero Washington White was an agricultural chemist and one of several African Americans that earned a doctoral degree in chemistry from The Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio) between the years 1940 and 1970.

Booker T. W. White began his college career at West Virginia State College (now know as West Virginia State University), an HBCU (Historically Black College and University) located in West Virginia. White completed his undergraduate degree in 1929.

White pursued graduate studies in the Department of Agricultural Chemistry at The Ohio State University earning his M.S. degree from OSU in 1937. He attended OSU during the 1936-37 academic year and the 1941 - 1944 academic years. In 1941, an article entitled "Southern Educator Tries to Find Use for Buckeyes," was published in the student newspaper, The Lantern and briefly described White's research efforts. "Booker T. White, on leave of absence from the faculty of Virginia State College, is now working on the doctor of philosophy degree in agricultural chemistry at Ohio State. His particular problem is the study of the buckeye and the horse-chestnut."  During White's research efforts, he isolated a sugary substance from the buckeye, which had "glue like qualities" when reacted with an acid. White was interested in conducting research under the guidance of OSU Professor R.C. Burnell.  In 1945, White completed his PhD on the topic, "A Study of the Chemical Composition of the Seeds of the Ohio Buckeye (Aesculus Glabra, Wild) with Special  Reference  to Their Saponin Content."

During White's career, he held numerous positions in academic institutions. He served as an instructor of chemistry at Kittrell College from 1930-32 and he was an instructor at Halifax County Training School in North Carolina from 1938-40. White later served on the faculty and department chair at North Carolina A & I College (now known as North Carolina A&T) in Greensboro, NC from 1947-67 and Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, Alabama from 1967 - 1975.

Professor Booker T.W. White died in 1990 at the age of 83 in Greensboro, North Carolina. 

Citations

(S.N.C. would like to thank Kevlin C. Haire, Assistant Archivist and Michelle Drobik, Reference Archivist, University Libraries, The Ohio State University for their historical contributions for this blog entry.)

"Southern Educator Tries to Find Use for Buckeyes," The Lantern, October 9, 1941;  V.O. Sammons Blacks in Science and Medicine, Hemisphere Publishing, New York, 1990; The Ohio State University Alumni Association Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Membership Directory, 1986;