Mamie Beale Johnson was atypical for her time: a black female mathematician, but she refused to let discrimination keep her from her goals. After earning a degree in Mathematics from the University of Virginia, she met discrimination before eventually being hired at Cornell Aeronautical Labs where remained for 22 years. Her role at Cornell Labs was so remarkable that Mrs. Johnson was featured in Ebony Magazine.
Later she went to work for UB’s Educational Opportunity Center where she held several positions until her retirement in 1990. Mrs. Johnson has been named one of the “Uncrowned Queens”: African-American women community builders of Western New York. She is a charter member of the Buffalo Chapter of Jack & Jill of America, the Harriet Tubman 300’s, and Women for Human Rights and Dignity. Among her numerous awards are the United Negro College Fund’s Frederick D. Patterson Distinguished Leadership Award.
With her husband, Mrs. Johnson saw firsthand the shadow cast by housing discrimination. In 1968, Mrs. Johnson’s husband (the late Masten District Councilman Horace “Billy” Johnson) put forward the first proposed municipal fair housing law in the City of Buffalo. Four tries later, Buffalo still has not enacted a fair housing law.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mamie Beale Johnson
The theme—“Living History—No One Simply Passes Through” is definitely true. My experience while a student at Virginia Union University in Richmond caused me not to simply pass through.
I experienced situations that were sometimes embarrassing; sometimes dangerous; sometimes frustrating—frustrating for I was helpless to make a change.
To cite a few incidents:
On one occasion, I boarded a street car. It was common practice and the law for blacks to sit in the rear while white riders would fill in from the front to the rear. There was a point, however, when there would be no definite demarcation between the black and white sections.
It was at this point that a young man entered the street car with his mother; he wanted me to move so that he and his mother could be seated in front of me. I refused to move. The car was stopped and a policeman was summoned to make certain that I move. I was about 18 years old at the time and was somewhat frightened. Rather than be arrested, I moved, got up and left the car. It was embarrassing.
On another occasion, I was on a bus traveling from Richmond, Virginia to Salisbury, North Carolina to visit my roommate’s family for Easter. A law had been passed stating that passengers could not be segregated on a bus traveling from one state to another.
I was in a rural area of North Carolina when a young white woman came aboard and refused to sit behind me. Again, it happened! I was told to move to the rear of the bus. I refused and cited the law to the bus driver. He told me that he didn’t care about the law. He was carrying a gun—so what did I do? I moved because it was 3 o’clock in the morning in a rural area. I went to the rear. This time I definitely could not get off…
That was the South. I came home to Buffalo after graduating and faced subtle discrimination. Sometime in December 1947, I stated job hunting. Most interviews lasted approximately an hour but ended with “we’ll get back to you.” You see, I was an oddity—a female, a mathematician and I was Black.
I saw an ad in the Buffalo Courier Express for a computer. That’s what we were called in those days. When I entered the employment office, the receptionist said, “We don’t have any jobs for maids.” I politely told her, “I am not applying for a maid’s job; I’m applying for the job as a computer.” She took my application. She surprised me by calling me for an interview at Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory that next week.
The first person who interviewed me told me that there was no desk in the Wind Tunnel Department, but would call me back when one became available—a very lame excuse.
Fortunately, a Dr. Foa saw my application, called me in the next week and hired me immediately in the Aerodynamics Department. I remained at the lab for 22 years.
Next, my husband and I were house hunting and faced rejection on several occasions. Some real estate salesmen would say that the owner of the house did not want to sell to a black.
I didn’t simply pass through. My experiences led me to become active in my community [and be] active also in organizations that ware making a difference. To make mention of two—WHRD, Women for Human Rights and Dignity...and Harriet Tubman 300’s—whose purpose is to perpetuate the name of Harriet Tubman, to foster her ideals through leadership and community awareness, and to make contributions in support of African American historical preservation.
I sincerely hope that my passing through will be of benefit for those who follow me…
