‘Hands up those who know who the black person to invent a clock is,†said the teacher to her class. No child raised a hand. ‘Does anyone know who Patricia Bath is? Who is the black person who invented the electric kettle in 1922?†Again, no hands were raised.
Most children don’t know the answers to these questions. The reason? There is very little written about black scientists and inventors.
The lack of information prompted Michael Williams, chief executive of BIS Publications, to set up a series to record the achievements of scientists and inventors of African descent .
Williams believes that his series, Black Scientists and Inventors, will inspire children to ‘reach for their dreamsâ€.
Said Williams: ‘One thing I discovered was the lack of books or materials about the contributions made by black Africans, African-Americans and Americans. After I made my own personal research, I came up with the idea of the book.â€
The first published title, which hit the shelves in 2000, received rave reviews from the media, particularly from the BBC, which featured it in its programming. After that, said Williams, the demand was phenomenal.
The books, which feature biographies of prominent black scientists, are aimed at children aged between six and 16. South African children can easily identify with the featured scientists. The third series, for instance, features Hamilton Naki, a South African gardener-turned-scientist. Naki made headlines as the right-hand man of the late heart transplant specialist Chris Barnard when they performed the first successful heart operation in South Africa.
Already, books that feature Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela have been translated into Zulu and Xhosa, making them even more accessible to South African children.
Williams, who lives in the United Kingdom, recently visited South Africa to identify an additional local distributor to increase circulation here. Currently the books are distributed to libraries through Cape Town-based distributor Hargraves Library Service.
Williams said the book is a valuable resource for teachers as it has questions on the biographies, activities based on the questions, an answer section, a timeline of scientists and inventors and inventions, a glossary and bibliography for further reading.
Asked if the poor culture of reading among people means few black people would read the book, Williams said the book has been carefully put together to overcome some of these problems. He said a great deal of planning went into the design of the cover to ‘pull†potential readers.
Williams added that the book is very relevant to South Africa at this stage when the country is faced with a critical shortage of technical skills. ‘You need more black children to get training in science and engineering programmes,†he said.