Black Apollo of Science

Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just is a 1983 biography of pioneering African-American biologist Ernest Everett Just, written by Kenneth R. Manning. The book not only explores the facts of Just’s life, but also explores the way that racism hindered his career and opportunities in the world of 1940s science. His life was a battle for equal treatment and opportunity, struggling to fund his research and receive recognition for his work from white peers. Manning is an African-American academic and writer, currently serving as the Thomas Meloy Professor of Rhetoric and the History of Science at MIT.

Just was born in South Carolina in 1883. His beginnings were humble. Just’s father, Charles Frazier Just, Jr., was a dock worker, while his mother Mary was a teacher. When Just was only four years old, his father died of alcoholism, and his grandfather died that same year. Mary was left to raise Just and his two younger siblings by herself. She continued to teach at an African-American school and also spent her summers working at a phosphate mine on James Island. Over time, Mary persuaded a number of black families to move to vacant land on the island; today, the town there is named Marysville to honor her.

Just faced many difficulties as a child. A prolonged battle with typhoid left him physically and mentally weakened. He had learned to read and write prior to his illness, but after the fever passed, he had to relearn everything, and struggled to do so. His mother tried patiently to teach him all over again, but even she gave up. Just continued to try on his own. Finally, he read a page of text on his own, which felt like a miracle to the boy. But he kept the secret from his mother for over a month because he was hurt by the way she had abandoned his education.



When Just was 13, his mother moved the family to New Hampshire in the hopes that he would receive a better education. There were few public institutes of higher learning in the South that would accept black students, and Mary believed black schools were inferior, with less funding and fewer resources. Just attended Kimball Union Academy when he was 16. In his second year there, his mother died, and he returned home to discover she had been buried an hour before his arrival. Though his mother’s death was not easy, he persevered and was able to graduate in three years instead of four.

After that, Just enrolled in Dartmouth College, where he discovered his passion for biology after reading an academic paper on fertilization and the development of eggs. He was one of the top students in his class and was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa. He was the only black student to graduate in his class, and he earned nearly every single award for that year.

Despite his academic success, Just met with racial barriers after graduation. It was nearly impossible for black men to obtain professorships at white universities, no matter how talented. Just ended up accepting a position at historically black Howard University instead, where he also helped found the nation’s first black fraternity, Omega Psi Phi.



By 1912, Just was appointed head of the Department of Zoology. And by that time, he had been introduced to Frank R. Lillie, Zoology head at the University of Chicago. Lillie invited Just to become his research assistant at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Just would end up spending the next 20 summers researching and performing experiments there.

Woods Hole is where Just made scientific breakthroughs in the study of marine invertebrates. He discovered the breeding habits of species such as sea urchins, and found ways to make marine embryos develop normally. His work surprised his peers, and he was called a genius for his ability to design experiments.

He took time off from Howard to continue his studies at the University of Chicago, where he further developed his reputation as a pioneering black scientist. In 1915, the NAACP awarded him the first Springarn Medal, given out to the country’s highest-achieving African-American. The following year, Just received his doctorate, becoming one of only a few African-Americans to do so.



But race would still remain an obstacle. Despite everything Just was accomplishing, he was still unable to gain a position at a major American university, and he struggled constantly to obtain enough funding for his research, even as white peers recognized his genius. In 1929, he traveled to Italy to conduct experiments at the Anton Dorhm zoological station, and later became the first American invited to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Germany. Just visited Europe multiple times to conduct research there over the next decade. In Europe, he found better treatment and recognition for his work.

Over his career, he published over 70 papers and two books: Basic Methods for Experiments on Eggs of Marine Animals and The Biology of the Cell Surface, both in 1939. The following year, Just was doing research in France at the outset of WWII. France asked foreigners to evacuate, but Just remained in the pursuit of science. When the German Army invaded, Just was briefly interred in a prisoner-of-war camp, but the U. S. State Department rescued him and brought him home. However, he became ill in the POW camp and his health never recovered. In 1941, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away.

Black Apollo of Science was a critical success. The book received the 1983 Pfizer Award and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Long after death, Just was given the recognition he rarely received in life. The American Society for Cell Biology now offers an award named after Just, and he has been the subject of international symposia.