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Ernest Everett Just, NAACP’s First Spingarn Medalist, Approached Experiments with the Eyes of an Artist

As a scientist, it is said that Ernest Everett Just (1883–1941) “saw the whole, where others saw only parts. He noticed details others failed to see” and Dr. Charles Drew had referred to Just as “a biologist of unusual skill and the greatest of our original thinkers in the field.” Such was his reputation as a young scientist, in 1915, he became the NAACP’s first recipient of the Spingarn Medal.

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Ernest Everett Just. Wikipedia.org image.
Ernest Everett Just. Wikipedia.org image.

By Tamara Shiloh

Known for his pioneering work in the physiology of development, specifically in fertilization, Ernest Everett Just (1883–1941) was an African American biologist and educator with a legacy of accomplishments that followed him long after his death.

Just was an experimental embryologist, a medical professional specializing in the study of reproduction. He was renowned for his attention to detail in conducting experiments on how sealife and invertebrate species like spiders, worms, lobsters reproduced. He believed also that in conducting research, the surface of cells deserved as much, if not more, study than the nucleus.

He was involved in research at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., and the Stazione Zoologica in Naples, Italy.

As a scientist, it is said that Just “saw the whole, where others saw only parts. He noticed details others failed to see” and Dr. Charles Drew had referred to Just as “a biologist of unusual skill and the greatest of our original thinkers in the field.”

Such was his reputation as a young scientist, in 1915, he became the NAACP’s first recipient of the Spingarn Medal.

Born in Charleston, S.C., Just’s early education took place in the small school his mother founded and directed. At age 12, he attended the Colored Normal Industrial Agricultural and Mechanics College at Orangeburg (now South Carolina State College). He graduated with a Licentiate of Instruction. This meant he was certified to teach in any Black school in South Carolina. He was 15 at that time.

But Just had no interest in teaching then. Instead. he traveled north with the goal of attending Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H., to study classical music. His focus, however, would change once later enrolling at Dartmouth College where he developed an interest in biology after reading a paper on fertilization and egg development. He graduated in 1907, the only magna cum laude in his class, and soon after joined the English faculty at Howard University.

By 1910, Just was asked to take over the Biology Department, teaching physiology. Soon after, he became the first head of the new Department of Zoology and stopped teaching English courses altogether.

As a scientist, it is said that Just “saw the whole, where others saw only parts. He noticed details others failed to see.”

He persisted in his research despite the discrimination and limitations imposed on him as a Black man.

Just was a Julius Rosenwald Fellow in Biology of the National Research Council (1920–1931). This afforded him the opportunity to work in Europe when racial discrimination hindered his opportunities in the United States. It was also the time when he penned several research papers, including the 1924 publication “General Cytology.”

Just married high school teacher Ethel Highwarden in 1912. The couple had three children prior to their divorce in 1939. He then married Hedwig Schnetzler, a philosophy student he met in Berlin. In 1940, the German Nazis imprisoned Just in a camp. Schnetzler’s father, however, was instrumental in his release.

Just died the following year of pancreatic cancer in Wash., D.C.

Encourage young readers to discover how Just’s keen observations of sea creatures revealed new insights about egg cells and the origins of life in “The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just” by Melina Mangal and Luisa Uribe.

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Oakland Post: Week of March 13 – 19, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 13 – 19, 2024

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Oakland Post: Week of March 6 – 12, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 6 – 12, 2024

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Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌

Advocates Weigh in on Calif. Black Caucus Reparations Package

On Feb. 21, the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) held a press conference at the state Capitol to introduce a package of reparations legislation the lawmakers call “a starting point” to atone for the state’s legacy of discrimination. All 12 members of the CLBC were present to explain their efforts to rectify the damages caused by systemic discrimination against Black Californians detailed in the 1,100-page report by the first-in-the-nation California reparations task force.

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Assemblymember Lori Wilson (D- Suisun City) speaks at the press conference with all CLBC members in attendance discussing their 2024 Reparations legislative priority bills. Photo by Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media.
Assemblymember Lori Wilson (D- Suisun City) speaks at the press conference with all CLBC members in attendance discussing their 2024 Reparations legislative priority bills. Photo by Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media.

By Antonio Ray Harvey

California Black Media 

On Feb. 21, the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) held a press conference at the state Capitol to introduce a package of reparations legislation the lawmakers call “a starting point” to atone for the state’s legacy of discrimination.

All 12 members of the CLBC were present to explain their efforts to rectify the damages caused by systemic discrimination against Black Californians detailed in the 1,100-page report by the first-in-the-nation California reparations task force.

The nine-member panel submitted the recommendations on June 28, 2023.

CLBC chairperson Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City) said it may take three to seven years to pass legislation aimed at implementing the task force’s recommendations.

The package the CLBC members presented consists of 14 legislative proposals, each designed to address different aspects of systemic racism and inequality.

One proposal, Senate Bill (SB) 490, put forth by CLBC Vice Chair Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Inglewood), calls for the establishment of the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency (CAFAA).

This agency would administer reparations programs and aid Black families researching their family lineage. The cost of implementing such an agency has not yet been estimated, but reparations advocates say its creation signifies a step toward acknowledging and rectifying past injustices.

Another proposal by Assemblymember Cory Jackson (D-Riverside), ACA 7, seeks to amend Prop 209, the initiative passed by voters in 1996 that prohibits considering race, color, sex, or nationality in public employment, education, and contracting decisions.

This amendment would allow the governor to approve exceptions to the law in order to address poverty and improve educational outcomes for African Americans and other marginalized groups.

Bradford also discussed proposal legislation aimed at compensating families whose properties were seized through eminent domain as a result of racism and discrimination.

The package of bills includes a measure proposed by Assemblymember Reggie Jones Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), Assembly Bill (AB) 3089 to formally acknowledge California’s history of slavery and discrimination, requiring lawmakers to issue a formal apology.

Additionally, a proposed constitutional amendment, ACA 8, sponsored by Wilson aims to ban involuntary servitude, particularly within the state’s prison system.

Reparations advocates and social justice groups from statewide organizations shared their support and criticism of the 14-bill reparations package with California Black Media (CBM).

A Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC) stated that the CLBC’s package does not address direct-cash payment, which, for that group’s leadership, is a non-negotiable component of any proposed compensation package.

“Our coalition’s unwavering commitment has been to pursue lineage-based reparations, encompassing direct monetary payments/compensation, state recognition of descendants as a protected class, and the establishment of the California American Freedman Affairs Agency through Senate Bill (SB) 490,” CJEC member Chris Lodgson outlined in a statement.

Lodgson continued, “We believe these vital components are imperative and a necessary first step toward true reparations. As we’ve communicated to elected officials directly for some time, we believe any reparations package must be targeted explicitly and exclusively to California’s 2 million Black American descendants of persons enslaved in the U.S. (American Freedmen).”

Media present at the news briefing persistently questioned Wilson and other CLBC members about direct payments.

Wilson mentioned that the budget deficit California is currently facing is being considered in discussions about compensation. A Legislative Analyst’s Office report released  Feb. 20, estimates that the state’s budget shortfall could expand to $73 billion by May.

“In regard to direct-cash payments to individuals, we will continue to have that discussion as we navigate the next few years,” Wilson said. “As noted, we’re halfway through a legislative session. We have about three months of the legislative process in each house (Senate and Assembly) to work through these existing bills.

“In the next session, we have two years, and during that two-year session, we will consider including additional payments whether they are direct-cash payments or direct payments to communities,” Wilson said.

The Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth (ARRT), a collaboration of California’s leading Black power-building and justice groups, supports seven of CLBC’s 14 reparations bills with proposals that include the restoration of property, establishing the property tax assistance for Descendants of Enslaved Persons program, a formal apology for human rights violations and crimes against humanity, amending the California Constitution to prohibit involuntary servitude for incarcerated persons, and prohibiting discrimination based on natural and protective hairstyles.

“The California Legislative Black Caucus reparations package marks a historic and meaningful moment in time. ARRT encourages lawmakers to pursue an even more expansive and definitive action to fulfill the reparations principles as recognized by the United Nations,” stated James Woodson, AART co-founder and executive director of the California Black Power Network. “Reparative justice must be impactful, transformative, and enduring, thus paving the way toward atoning for the wrongdoings deeply imprinted in the state’s history and healing this democracy.”

ARRT is a collaboration between the Black Equity Collective, the California Black Power Network, Catalyst California, Equal Justice Society, and Live Free USA, Live Free California.

Former members of the California reparations task force have partnered with AART: Loyola-Marymount clinical psychologist professor Dr. Cheryl Grills; Oakland-based civil rights attorney Lisa Holder; Dr. Jovan Scott Lewis, chair of the Department of Geography at the University of California Berkeley and Oakland-based attorney Donald Tamaki.

“We absolutely are (in support of direct-cash payments),” Woodson told California Black Media. “I think we got to have it all. There were multiple harms that were caused and one of them was financial and that needs to be compensated for with cash payments. And there are also systemic harms that were created. We need to change laws. We need to change how rules work because a lot of it flows out of anti-Black racism. We have to have everything because if you leave anything out it’s not for reparations.”

CBM also learned that there will be a series of listening sessions with the CLBC to help educate Californians about the reparation bills and the workings of the legislative process.

The members of the CLBC are Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson (D-Suisun City); Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Inglewood); Assemblymember Akilah Weber (D-La Mesa); Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles); Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Alameda); Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena); Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson); Assemblymember Corey Jackson (D-Riverside); Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D- Los Angeles); Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood); and Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles).

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