Mary Elliott Hill, a pioneer, educator and inventor, is known as one of the earliest African American women in the field of chemistry and is responsible (with her husband, Carl McClellan Hill) for the development of ketene synthesis. Hill’s research on ketene synthesis is described as a building block and significant in the science and medical community.
Elliott—born January 5, 1907, to Frances Bass and Robert Elliott, a fireman in South Mills, North Carolina—has two brothers. The small town the Elliott family resided in was segregated and the educational system was significantly impacted by Jim Crow, resulting in limited opportunities for African Americans. Overcoming barriers and challenges due to systemic racism and racial disparities, Elliott pursued an academic career in chemistry at the Virginia State College for Negroes, an Historically Black College and University (HBCU) located in Petersburg, Virginia (later renamed Virginia State University).
In 1925, Elliott married Carl McClellan Hill, an educator, chemist, and academic administrator at Virginia State and the couple had three children during their marriage. In 1929 Hill obtained her bachelor’s degree in chemistry. After graduating, Hill became an educator at Virginia State University Laboratory high school in 1930. In 1941 she became one of the first African American women to earn a master’s degree in chemistry, also at Virginia State University.
The work and research Hill conducted, and the analytical method she and her husband created, were considered groundbreaking. Ketene synthesis (funded by the National Science Foundation and the US Air Force) is a significant factor in the creation of all plastics. Additionally, the research contributed medically as ketenes were used in the synthesis of the early antibiotics penicillin and amoxicillin. Hill tracked chemical reactions, and by documenting her observations, created a foundation for future work with the study of ketene including its reaction in the body that provides fuel and is associated with energy.
After Ketene Synthesis, Hill continued her work as an educator and researcher creating numerous methods and generating publications which described the usage of ultraviolet light. Hill held membership in the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, Beta Kappa Chi national honor society, and the National Institute of Science. She was also the founder of American Chemical Society at some of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities where she was a professor.
Mary Hill was a co-author on more than 40 papers although she was never listed as the senior author. She collaborated with her husband and Myron B. Towns in writing the textbook, General College Chemistry (1944). She also authored the widely used laboratory manual, Experiments in Organic Chemistry (1954).
Hill taught at Hampton Institute (1932-1937), Bennett College for one year (1938), and at Tennessee A & I State College (1944–1962). She then moved to Frankfort, Kentucky with her husband after he was named president of Kentucky State University (1962). Hill and her husband continued to work on projects together.
On February 12, 1969, Hill passed away of congestive heart failure in King’s Daughters Hospital Frankfort, Kentucky. She was 62 at the time of her death.
The post Mary Elliott Hill (1907-1969) appeared first on BlackPast.org.