Unsung Chemist: Dr. Elkin Oscar Woolfolk, Jr. (1912 -1990)

Born in Tupelo, MS on March 9, 1912, E. Oscar Woolfolk, Jr. was an organic chemist and prolific researcher. The eldest child of  Rev. E.O. Woolfolk, Sr. and Irene, E. Oscar Woolfolk, Jr. had a younger sister named Katherine.

Woolfolk began his college education at Talledega College in Alabama earning his undergraduate degree (cum laude) in 1934. He completed his M.S. degree at the Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio) in 1939. Woolfolk's thesis was entitled, "Preferential Reaction of Grignard Reagents with Poly-functional Molecules." Grignard reagents are very useful for making important organic molecules (e.g. secondary alcohols). Woolfolk worked as a research assistant at OSU from 1938-1940 investigating  polynuclear hydrocarbons and the separation of rare earth elements. (Although there were few African Americans pursuing graduate degrees in chemistry during this time period, there was another African American graduate student, Thomas Nelson Baker, Jr. enrolled in the graduate program at OSU. Baker earned his PhD in chemistry in 1941 from OSU and is likely the first African American to earn a doctorate in chemistry from OSU.) Woolfolk continued graduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh earning his PhD in 1949. The title of his dissertation was "A Study of Some Oxygenated Compounds Produced by Hydrogenation of Coal."

Woolfolk held numerous appointments at various institutions during his career. He was an instructor at Claflin College (now known as Claflin University) in Orangeburg, SC from 1940-42. Woolfolk also worked as a chemist and director in the Chemical Laboratory at Scioto Ordinance Plant for the War Department (1942-43) and a research chemist for the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Pittsburgh, PA from 1943 - 1949. Woolfolk then headed to Wilberforce, Ohio and joined the Department of Chemistry at Central State University, serving as professor of chemistry and chair of the department from 1949-1968.  As a faculty member, Woolfolk co-authored several articles with undergraduate students in high-impact journals such as the Journal of the American Chemical Society and the Journal of Organic Chemistry. Woolfolk also secured funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the 1950s to support his research efforts. He also served as president-elect (1965-1966) and president (1966-67) of the Ohio Academy of Sciences.

E. Oscar Woolfolk died in 1990 at the age of 78 in Nashville, TN. He married Norma B. Woolfolk and had two children, Dennis and David.

Citations

The Crisis, 66 (10), Dec. 1959, pg 636; S.N. Collins, "Celebrating Our Diversity. The Education of Some Pioneering African American Chemists in Ohio," Bull. Hist. Chem. 2011, 36(2), pg 82-84; V.O. Sammons, Blacks in Science and Medicine, Hemisphere, New York, 1990; M. Orchin, E.O. Woolfolk, L. Reggel, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1949, 71(3), pp 1126-1127; E.O. Woolfolk, E.H. Roberts, J. Org. Chem., 1956, 21(4), pp 436-438; E.O. Woolfolk, F.E. Beach, S.P. McPherson, J. Org. Chem., 1955, 20(3), pp 391-396; E.O. Woolfolk, W.E. Reynolds, J.L. Mason, J. Org.Chem., 1959, 24(10), pp 1445 -1450; "Obituaries of the Members of the Ohio Academy of Science: Report of the Necrology Committee, 1994," The Ohio Journal of Science, 94(5), December 1994, p 172; "Identification and Chromatographic Separation of Colorless Organic Compounds," NSF, Award Abstract # 5601338, Jan. 1956 - Jan 1958; "P-Phenylazo-Benzoyl Chloride for Identification and Separation of Alcohols, Amines, and Phenols," NSF, Award Abstract #5400304, Jan 1954 - Jan. 1956.