While Black History Month is currently celebrated and recognized every year, February wasn’t officially declared Black History Month until 1976 by President Gerald R. Ford. We have Carter G. Woodson, historian, writer, and ultimately the “Father of Black History,” to thank for providing the impetus for Black History Month.
Stevens Institute of Technology became integrated in the early 1920s; Randolph Montrose Smith was the first Black student to graduate from Stevens in 1924. Smith grew up in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance, and his family emigrated from Barbados via a ship named The Cearence in 1903, two years after his birth. Smith earned a degree in Civil Engineering and played for one of the final Stevens football teams before the sport was abolished in 1925 by President Alexander C. Humphreys. Post-graduation, Smith utilized his engineering degree to work on the subway system in Manhattan.
Another notable alumnus is James Braxton ‘37. The library’s recent retrieval of the James Braxton Papers has illuminated newfound insight into his life. Braxton was born in 1914 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He grew up in a religious family in an integrated, faith-based community known as the Metropolitan Church Association, which his wife, Mrs. Virginia Braxton, expressed was “a unique experience” that was “fundamental to him” and “gave him the freedom to be the only black person in the room.” Braxton and his family moved to Jersey City when he was three years old. He excelled in high school, which made him eligible for the Edgar B. Bacon Scholarship at Stevens.
Braxton was an extraordinarily active student during his time at Stevens. In fact, not only was he a contributor for The Stute, but he was also involved in the Stevens Dramatic Society, Tau Beta Pi Honor Society (ostensibly the first black member), as well as the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, which has notable fraternity brothers like W.E.B, Du Bois and Martin Luther King Jr.
After graduating, Braxton worked mainly on developing functional affordable housing in areas like Chicago that experienced real estate redlining. Dr. Lindsay Swindall, a Stevens CAL professor and historian, put it best when she said Braxton had a passion for “bringing together engineering with social justice.” In addition, fellow Alpha Phi Alpha member Kobe Dawes speaks to Braxton’s empowering nature expressing that Braxton was “a man that made it in more stressful times than [us],” which is especially inspiring amidst living through a pandemic.
Last but not least is alumna Sheila Banks ‘78. Banks was the first Black female to graduate from Stevens. She grew up only about 20 minutes from campus in Newark, NJ. In her spare time, she was a part of the Glee Club and enjoyed playing the violin. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and worked for Westinghouse Electric Corporation as a technical marketer shortly after graduation and climbed her way up to a sales engineering position.
It is important for us to celebrate and honor the legacies of Stevens Alumni Randolph Montrose Smith, James Braxton, and Sheila Banks not only during the month of February but all year round. After all, Black history is everyone’s history.
Editor’s Note: All information and history was provided to The Stute by the Archives & Special Collections department at the Samuel C. Williams Library.
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