A significant proportion of the Black American scientists, engineers, and inventors who made significant contributions in the twentieth century received their training at HBCUs.

The institutions that were created specifically to provide higher education to Black Americans, precisely because the mainstream white universities excluded them, became the incubators of much of the Black American intellectual achievement that has shaped American life.

Mary Kenner’s connection to this tradition, even without a completed degree, is real.

She grew up in Washington, D.C., a city where Howard University was a constant cultural and intellectual presence.

She graduated from Dunbar High School, which was deeply connected to the Howard tradition and which had produced graduates who went on to Howard and to distinguished careers.