Roger Arliner Young

Roger Arliner Young (August 20, 1899 – November 9, 1964) was an American scientist of zoology, biology, and marine biology. She was the first African American woman to receive a doctorate degree in zoology.

Early years
Born in Clifton Forge, Virginia in 1899, Young soon moved with her family to Burgettstown, Pennsylvania where she graduated from Burgettstown High School. Her father labored as a coal miner, and her mother initially worked as a housekeeper before disability left her unable to work. The family was poor and most of the time resources were expended in the care of her disabled mother.

Education
In 1916, Young enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C. to study music. She wrote in the yearbook: "Not failure, but low aim is a crime." She did not take her first science course until 1921. Though her grades were poor at the beginning of her college career, some of her teachers saw promise in her. One such teacher was Ernest Everett Just, a prominent black biologist and head of the Zoology department at Howard University. Young graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1923. Just tried unsuccessfully to help her to gain funding for graduate school, but in 1924 Young began studying for her master's degree at the University of Chicago, which she received in 1926.

Young worked with Ernest Everett Just for many years, teaching as an assistant professor at Howard University, from 1923 to 1935. Research was done during the summers. Young assisted Just in his research from 1927 through 1930, but although her assistance was noted in his grant applications, her name does not appear as a coauthor in the resulting publications.

While studying at Chicago, she was asked to join Sigma Xi, a scientific research society, which was an unusual honor for a master's student. During the time she was concurrently studying for her master's degree, Young conducted research which led to the 1924 her publication, "On the excretory apparatus in Paramecium" which was published in the "Discussion and Correspondence" section of the prestigious journal Science. Young was the sole author on the research article, making her the first African American woman to obtain a professional publication on original research in this field. This publication was revered by leading researchers of the time in the zoology field and was an international success, symbolizing the impact of Young's scientific achievements early in her career.

Career
Ernest Everett Just invited Young to work with him during summers at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts beginning in 1927. During their time in Woods Hole, Just and Young worked on researching the fertilization process in marine organisms, as well as the process of hydration and dehydration in living cells. While conducting research at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, she presented research papers detailing her work there on three occasions, receiving additional funding in the form of three separate grants under the mentorship of Ernest Everett Just.

In the late 1920's, Young served as the acting chair for the zoology department at Howard University while Ernest Just had travelled to Europe seeking grant money. Young's eyes were permanently damaged by the ultraviolet rays used in the experiments conducted at Howard for Just. During Young's time as acting chair, Just was able to publish a record 20 articles, a level of productivity he did not reach before or after working with Roger Young.

In the fall of 1930, Young returned to the University of Chicago to begin her doctorate degree under the direction of Frank Rattray Lillie. Lillie had been a mentor of Just while both were involved with the Marine Biological Laboratory. However, in 1930 she failed to pass her qualifying exams, and for a time, disappeared from the scientific community. She returned to Howard University to teach and continued working with Just at the Marine Biological Laboratory during the summers.

However, around 1934, rumors started circulating that there was a romance between Just and Young, and in 1936 they had a huge confrontation. Later that year she was fired, ostensibly because she missed classes. In her words, "The situation here is so cruel and cowardly that every spark of sentiment that I have held for Howard is cold." Whether related to academic performance or a romantic conflict, Just had created a paper trail of complaints surrounding Roger Young leading up to 1936 painting her performance as disruptive to the smooth operation of research and teaching at Howard University. He restricted Young's access to important research equipment, and finally in 1936, used his trail of evidence to fire Roger Young. Young had this to say on the subject: “You seem to be making a deliberate effort to keep me from doing any research while in residence in your department. This type of thing is so averse to a true scientific or real university spirit that for a long time I have tried not to believe that it is the correct expression of your sincere attitude.” —Roger Arliner Young to Ernest Everett Just, May 6, 1935.

She used this setback as an opportunity to try again to obtain a Ph.D after ending her association with Howard. In June 1937, she went to the University of Pennsylvania, studying with Lewis Victor Heilbrunn (another scientist she met at the Marine Biological Laboratory). After this leave of absence from Just's supposed tutelage, Young was able to earn her PhD in Zoology in only 3 years, graduating in 1940, and earning her the title of the first African American woman to earn a PhD in Zoology.

After obtaining her doctorate, Young became an assistant professor at the North Carolina College for Negroes and Shaw University (1940–1947). Although this position came at a $700 per year pay decrease in relation to her position at Howard University, Young and her mother rented a house in the nearby Hayti district and continued her career here. Later in her scientific career, Roger Young held teaching positions at Bishop College in Marshall, Texas in 1953, Paul Quinn University in Waco, Texas in 1955, and at colleges in Mississippi and Louisiana until 1959. In 1960, Roger Young found employment as a Professor of Science at Jackson State University.

Young contributed a great deal of work to science. She studied the effects of direct and indirect radiation on sea urchin eggs, on the structures that control the salt concentration in paramecium, as well as hydration and dehydration of living cells.

Personal life
Young never married and in addition to the occupation-related damage to her eyes, she had financial struggles, and was the sole support for her ill mother, Lillie Young, until she died. Away from Howard, her options as an African-American woman scientist were limited to teaching positions without access to research facilities and support.

Her limited financial resources did not stop Young from being an active member of her community, as she has been noted as being active in community service and arts programs throughout her life. During her time at Howard University, Young was an active member of the Dunbar Players, a university-affiliated drama troupe. Additionally at Howard, Young held a position as President of the Women's Faculty Club, during which time she met Eleanor Roosevelt in 1935 with whom she continued correspondence. Later, Young continued her community service on the Phyllis Wheatley Young Women's Christian Association, or YWCA, as an active member of their social service committee. Noted at various times as a strong advocate for civil rights, Young joined the NAACP in 1944, and was soon elected as the secretary of their chapter in Durham, NC. Young was once arrested in 1946 for refusing to move to the back of a bus while concurrently travelling to organize activist workers on an early morning trip.

In the 1950s, she hospitalized herself for mental health problems. It was reported by biographer Kenneth Manning that Young spent some time near the end of her life at the Mississippi State Asylum. Additionally, Young's mother, whom Young cared for throughout her life, passed away in 1953. Roger Arliner Young died on November 9, 1964 at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Honors
Roger Arliner Young was recognized in a 2005 Congressional Resolution along with four other African American women "who have broken through many barriers to achieve greatness in science." The others honored were Ruth Ella Moore ("who in 1933 became the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in natural science from the Ohio State University"), Euphemia Lofton Haynes ("who in 1943 became the first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics from the Catholic University of America"), Shirley Ann Jackson ("who in 1973 became the first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology"), and Mae Jemison ("a physician and the first African American woman in space").

A group of environmental and conservation groups established the Roger Arliner Young (RAY) Marine Conservation Diversity Fellowship in Young's honor, to support young African Americans who want to become involved in marine environmental conservation work.