Commencement Exercises: Space Program and Jim Crow

commencement exercises: The point was punctuated at Dillard's recent commencement exercises, which featured a keynote address from actress and singer Janelle Monae, one of the stars of Hidden Figures, according to Brandon Sun. The award-winning film tells the story of the black women scientists who fought Jim Crow while doing essential mathematical calculations for America's space program. With an enrolment of 1,200, Dillard ranks second in the country in black physics undergrads. To see that we have this significant number of women representing science and math in the way that they are is a blessing to America and our future, Monae told The Associated Press in an interview before the May 13 graduation. Nine of the top 10 physics departments in the country at black or white schools producing the most African American undergraduates in physics are at HBCUs, according to the American Institute of Physics. To have physicists coming out of New Orleans who are African-American women ... that's a huge deal. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.