Black Innovators in Tech — Why Diversity Matters
Being black in STEM is a very unique and gratifying experience, though it can also often be isolating due to the nature of issues like the digital divide and how it perpetuates racial & class disparities. When I was growing up, technical vocations didn’t really seem like an option for me. Instead, I would immediately gravitate towards the Apple turtleneck archetype, with anything in relation to Mr. Jobs far beyond my scope. In a way I saw it for what it was — very white. This all leads me to say, representation matters. Highlighting unique voices throughout underrepresented communities is so important in providing accessibility and diversifying STEM. As a testament to that, in honor of Black History Month I decided I would comprise a list of some of my favorite black contributors to tech. I thought it would be nice to show off some really cool people who deserve far more recognition than they’ve been given.
Up first is one of my personal favorites, Jerry Lawson. He was a self-taught electronics engineer who revolutionized the gaming industry by creating the first interchangeable video game cartridges. This paved the way for all other modern interchangeable game drives. Lawson is also known for designing the Fairchild Channel F video game console. He was later made lead of the video game division at Fairchild as well as appointed as Chief Hardware Engineer. His contributions have also landed him the title of “Father of Modern Gaming”. The World Video Game Hall of Fame located in New York also permanentlyr displays Lawson’s work.
Up next is the man known as the Godfather of Black Silicon Valley, Roy L. Clay. He was also a self-taught computer scientist and inventor. He taught himself to code while he attended St. Louis University and was later invited to lead Hewlett-Packard’s Computer Science division in 1965. His work includes overseeing the development of the HP 2116A computer — which was the first 16-bit minicomputer. Clay also founded the ROD-L Electronics, which went on to create the first Safety Certified Hipot and Ground Continuity Testers. “Clay’s company was a pioneer for product safety testing and even went on to partner with IBM and HP.”
This is Katherine Johnson, the woman that NASA engineers trusted with numbers more than the computers themselves. She was a former engineer at NASA and her extensive knowledge and calculations allowed the path to Freedom 7 to be discovered as the first U.S. astronaut that was launched into space. Johnson’s notable work awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, as well as having her own NASA facility named after her known as: the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility.
Another notable figure I couldn’t forget is Mark Dean, who co-created the IBM personal computer in 1981. He’s the first Black member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame in the U.S., and is most notably known for inventing the color PC monitor, the first gigahertz chip, and the Industry Standard Architecture system bus. Amongst his other works he also holds three of nine personal computer patents, understandably so given his co-ownership of the IBM PC!
Kimberly Bryant is the founder of Black Girls Code, which is an organization dedicated to increasing opportunities within the tech industry for black women and girls by teaching them to program. Because of her incredible work and contributions to her community, Bryant has been named by Business Insider as one of the 25 Most Influential African-Americans in Technology. She was also honored by the White House in 2013, named as a Champion of Change for Tech Inclusion.
The final innovative mind to grace this page today is Timnit Gebru. She is a noted computer scientist who deals in the very crucial fields of algorithmic bias and data mining. She’s the co-founder of Black in AI, which is a group that aims to amplify the presence of black people in artificial intelligence. Gebru has consistently shed light on biases that exist in software development, and subsequently how that effects AI.
There are so many creative minds of note that could have gone on this list, but I encourage you to seek out more for yourselves! Hopefully you learned something new, or at the very least found a sense of satisfaction seeing well-deserved black success. Let’s continue to pave the way for others in this ever expanding industry. Happy Black History Month!
