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| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +layout: post |
| 3 | +title: "US-RSE Black History Month Spotlight - Charles Henry Turner" |
| 4 | +tags: [dei, black-history] |
| 5 | +author: Chad Dougherty |
| 6 | +--- |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +US-RSE's [DEI working group (DEI-WG)](https://us-rse.org/wg/dei/) is proud to |
| 9 | +help US-RSE celebrate and participate in Black History Month. Each week during |
| 10 | +Black History Month, the US-RSE will spotlight Black/African Americans who have |
| 11 | +been involved in computing, science, engineering, and/or math, and have |
| 12 | +inspired our members through their accomplishments in their careers and their |
| 13 | +personal stories. |
| 14 | + |
| 15 | +## This week's Black History Month spotlight features Charles Henry Turner |
| 16 | + |
| 17 | +{% include image.html |
| 18 | +url="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Charles_Henry_Turner_at_Sumner_High_School%2C_St._Louis%2C_Mo._Aug._9%2C_1921.jpg/330px-Charles_Henry_Turner_at_Sumner_High_School%2C_St._Louis%2C_Mo._Aug._9%2C_1921.jpg" |
| 19 | +description="C. H. Turner, August 9, 1921; a gelatin silver print of |
| 20 | +Charles Henry Turner at Sumner High School, St. Louis, Missouri. 15 x |
| 21 | +10 cm. From the W. E. B. Du Bois Papers" |
| 22 | +style="float:right; padding:1em; max-width:350px" %} |
| 23 | + |
| 24 | +Recently, while reading Lars Chittka's 2022 book, [_The Mind of a |
| 25 | +Bee_](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180472/the-mind-of-a-bee), |
| 26 | +I became intrigued by the story of zoologist [Charles Henry |
| 27 | +Turner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Henry_Turner_(zoologist)). |
| 28 | +In recognition of Black History Month, I'd like to share a short summary |
| 29 | +of what I learned about this outstanding Black American scientist. |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +Charles Henry Turner was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1867, just two |
| 32 | +years after the end of the Civil War. Turner excelled in school and was |
| 33 | +valedictorian of his graduating class at Woodard High School. He earned |
| 34 | +a B.S. in Biology from the University of Cincinnati in 1891 and then |
| 35 | +went on to become the first African American to earn a graduate degree |
| 36 | +from that same University when he earned his M.S. in Biology in 1892. |
| 37 | +In 1907, he earned his Ph.D. in Zoology, _magna cum laude_, likely being |
| 38 | +the first African American to earn a doctorate from the University of |
| 39 | +Chicago and certainly among only a tiny handful of Black people to have |
| 40 | +done so anywhere in the United States at that time.[^nih] |
| 41 | + |
| 42 | +After receiving his doctorate, Turner faced problems finding a job in |
| 43 | +academia. He was considered for a professorship at the University of |
| 44 | +Chicago, but the professor who invited him to apply died and, according |
| 45 | +to sociologist and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois, his replacement |
| 46 | +refused to hire a Black scientist.[^knowable] At the Tuskegee Institute, |
| 47 | +Turner was turned down because president Booker T. Washington reportedly |
| 48 | +could not afford to pay the salaries of both Turner and another famous |
| 49 | +Black American scientist, George Washington Carver.[^okstate] Turner |
| 50 | +consequently worked as a high school teacher for the remainder of his |
| 51 | +career, spending most of it at Sumner High School in St. Louis, Missouri. |
| 52 | +He continued to pursue his research and publication throughout his career, |
| 53 | +even while teaching high school. I was amazed to learn that Turner used |
| 54 | +bees as teaching tools to demonstrate principles of complex behavior even |
| 55 | +in his high school biology classes. One of my favorite notes suggesting |
| 56 | +his effectiveness in this regard comes from one of his students:[^okstate] |
| 57 | +>"The bees appeared at the table at all three meals. Then Dr. Turner put |
| 58 | +jam only at breakfast daily. They still came to each meal but found no |
| 59 | +jam at noon and night. Soon they stopped coming. This shows they have |
| 60 | +some idea of time." |
| 61 | + |
| 62 | +Turner's work spanned such diverse areas as comparative neuroanatomy in |
| 63 | +both vertebrates and invertebrates, arthropod taxonomy, insect and spider |
| 64 | +behavior, audition in moths, leaf morphology in grapevines, and even |
| 65 | +civil rights.[^nih] The extent of his scientific works is too large to |
| 66 | +do justice to here, and fortunately extensive accounts do exist.[^pubmed] |
| 67 | +Some of his notable academic publications include:[^okstate] |
| 68 | + |
| 69 | +* 1892: "_Psychological notes upon the gallery spider_", making Turner |
| 70 | +the first African American Psychologist and the first African American |
| 71 | +Comparative Psychologist |
| 72 | +* 1892: "_A few characteristics of the avian brain_", establishing Turner |
| 73 | +as the first African American to publish in in the journal _Science_ |
| 74 | +* 1910: "_Experiments on color-vision of the honey bee_", providing |
| 75 | +conclusive evidence that honey bees can see color |
| 76 | +* 1911: "_Experiments on the pattern vision of the honey bee_", providing |
| 77 | +conclusive evidence that honey bees can see patterns |
| 78 | +* 1914: "_Auditory Powers of the catocala moths: An experimental field |
| 79 | +study_", providing conclusive evidence that insects can hear airborne |
| 80 | +sounds |
| 81 | +* 1914: "_An experimental study of the auditory powers of the giant |
| 82 | +silkworm moths, Saturniidae_", considered to be the first classical |
| 83 | +conditioning experiment with insects |
| 84 | + |
| 85 | +In addition to his scientific work, Turner also wrote on the social and |
| 86 | +educational issues of his day. In 1897, he published, "_Reason for |
| 87 | +Teaching Biology in Negro Schools_", which was the first of a series |
| 88 | +of papers discussing the importance of education for both Caucasian |
| 89 | +and African American children. Turner was a leader in the civil rights |
| 90 | +movement in St. Louis and was instrumental in developing social services |
| 91 | +for African Americans in the St. Louis area.[^okstate] |
| 92 | + |
| 93 | +The philosophy of animal intelligence and cognition has a long and complex |
| 94 | +history, stretching back to the time of Aristotle, with varying levels |
| 95 | +of acceptance of the idea that animals can be considered autonomous, |
| 96 | +sentient beings.[^nautilus] Recent research has provided new physical |
| 97 | +evidence supporting the arguments that many animals (and certainly a |
| 98 | +far wider range of species than we have ever even considered before) |
| 99 | +are indeed sentient, and have individual personalities and cognitive |
| 100 | +capabilities traditionally attributed only to humans and our immediate |
| 101 | +relatives.[^quanta][^psychtoday] Indeed, many of the scientists |
| 102 | +involved in these research efforts have cited Turner's work as |
| 103 | +pioneering.[^knowable] |
| 104 | + |
| 105 | +Sadly, Turner died in 1923 at the relatively young age of 56 from an |
| 106 | +acute case of myocarditis which could've been exacerbated by his heavy |
| 107 | +teaching workload and relatively low pay. I cannot help but wonder how |
| 108 | +much more impact he could have had on the state of science education, |
| 109 | +particularly Black science education, and the burgeoning field of animal |
| 110 | +cognition if he had lived longer and been able to continue his work. |
| 111 | + |
| 112 | +### References |
| 113 | + |
| 114 | +[^nih]: [Charles Henry Turner and the cognitive behavior of bees](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8550279/) |
| 115 | +[^okstate]: [Charles Henry Turner](https://cas.okstate.edu/psychology/psychology_museum_resource_center/special_exhibits/african-american_pioneers_in_psychology/turner_charles.html) |
| 116 | +[^knowable]: [Charles Henry Turner's insights into animal behavior were a century ahead of their time](https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2023/rediscovering-legacy-charles-henry-turner) |
| 117 | +[^psychtoday]: [The Current State of the Science of Insect Sentience](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animal-emotions/202405/the-current-state-of-the-science-of-insect-sentience) |
| 118 | +[^nautilus]: [The New Science of Animal Minds](https://nautil.us/the-new-science-of-animal-minds-713384/) |
| 119 | +[^quanta]: [Insects and Other Animals Have Consciousness, Experts Declare](https://www.quantamagazine.org/insects-and-other-animals-have-consciousness-experts-declare-20240419/) |
| 120 | +[^pubmed]: [Charles H. Turner, pioneer in animal cognition](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33122372/) |
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