HENRY CECIL RANSOM MCBAY
Henry Ransom Cecil McBay (1914-1995) was a chemist and a teacher.
McBay was born in 1914 in Mexia, Texas. His father was a barber who eventually
became an embalmer and funeral director; his mother was a seamstress. Both
parents had left school after the seventh grade because there was no high school
for African-Americans in Mexia. By the time Henry was in high school, however,
oil had been discovered in Mexia and the quality of life of its residents had
improved. One result of that improvement was that a high school for African-Americans
had opened and McBay was able to receive a good education.
Because of his proficiency in math, McBay was able to gain admission to Wiley
College in Marshall, Texas. He paid for his education by working in the college's
dining hall and post office. Inspired by his math and chemistry professors,
McBay studied organic chemistry and earned his B.S. degree in 1934. His Wiley
professors helped him acquire a scholarship to Atlanta to work on his next
degree.
With only $1.65 in his pocket, McBay immediately took a job in the Atlanta
University dining hall so he could eat. After only a few days on campus, his
faculty advisor, Professor K.A. Huggins, arranged for him to work in the
chemistry laboratory.
McBay began to help Huggins study new types of plastics that had properties
similar to natural rubber. Soon, McBay was performing his own analysis of the
plastics. When the project was finished, McBay received his master's degree from
Atlanta University and Huggins received his doctorate from the University of
Chicago. This indirect connection to the University of Chicago would later be
important to McBay's career.
After earning his master's degree McBay returned to Wiley College so he could
help his younger brother and sister pay for college. However, going home
proved to be a disappointment. Some faculty members still thought of him as
their student and never accepted McBay as an academic peer. Because of his
devotion to his siblings, however, he remained at Wiley until his brother
received his college degree and his parents were able to pay for his sister's
education.
In 1938 McBay took a better-paying teaching job at a Quindaro, Kansas junior
college. At the end of the first year, he enrolled in the University of Chicago
summer school program, where he received good grades for that term. When he
returned to Quindaro, he found that the new junior college principal had, for
political reasons, hired an instructor in his place.
McBay then moved to a high school mathematics teaching position in Huntsville,
Texas, where he stayed for three semesters. He then joined a newly-formed
research team at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama assigned the task of finding a
suitable substitute for jute fiber. Indian shipments of jute, which was used for
rope and fabrics for sacks, had ended due to World War I.
The Tuskegee team hoped to prove that okra stems would be an effective
substitute, but McBay proved that, by the time an okra plant had matured, the
stems were too brittle. Okra could be harvested for food or for fiber, but not
for both. Ironically, McBay had worked himself out of a job.
McBay then accepted a teaching assistant’s position at the University of Chicago
and resumed his doctoral studies. This move also kept him out of the U.S.
military: the government needed large numbers of chemistry graduates and was not
drafting people in those positions. He demonstrated his love of teaching by
designing a chemistry course for first-year college course.
In 1944 McBay chose Professor Morris Kharasch as his research advisor. He began
to learn very specialized techniques in handling dangerous compounds. McBay
began to create highly explosive materials that offered great value as chemical
building blocks. He subsequently developed new methods of producing a dangerous
compound from hydrogen peroxide. Discoveries by McBay (and Kharasch) allowed
chemists around the world to create inexpensive peroxide compounds which are
extremely useful as building blocks in many chemical reactions. As a result of
that research, McBay received the Elizabeth Norton for excellence in chemical
research in 1944 and 1945. His dissertation focused on his hydrogen peroxide
project, and in 1945 he received his doctoral degree from the University of
Chicago.
McBay then returned to Atlanta as an assistant professor at Morehouse College in
Atlanta. In 1956, he was appointed chairman of the chemistry department. In 1982
he transferred to his old school, Atlanta University, and became the Fuller E.
Callaway Professor of Chemistry there. McBay would eventually teach for 41 years
in the Atlanta University system (Morehouse, Spelman, and Atlanta).
Henry Ransom Cecil McBay (1914-1995) was a chemist and a teacher.
McBay was born in 1914 in Mexia, Texas. His father was a barber who eventually
became an embalmer and funeral director; his mother was a seamstress. Both
parents had left school after the seventh grade because there was no high school
for African-Americans in Mexia. By the time Henry was in high school, however,
oil had been discovered in Mexia and the quality of life of its residents had
improved. One result of that improvement was that a high school for African-Americans
had opened and McBay was able to receive a good education.
Because of his proficiency in math, McBay was able to gain admission to Wiley
College in Marshall, Texas. He paid for his education by working in the college's
dining hall and post office. Inspired by his math and chemistry professors,
McBay studied organic chemistry and earned his B.S. degree in 1934. His Wiley
professors helped him acquire a scholarship to Atlanta to work on his next
degree.
With only $1.65 in his pocket, McBay immediately took a job in the Atlanta
University dining hall so he could eat. After only a few days on campus, his
faculty advisor, Professor K.A. Huggins, arranged for him to work in the
chemistry laboratory.
McBay began to help Huggins study new types of plastics that had properties
similar to natural rubber. Soon, McBay was performing his own analysis of the
plastics. When the project was finished, McBay received his master's degree from
Atlanta University and Huggins received his doctorate from the University of
Chicago. This indirect connection to the University of Chicago would later be
important to McBay's career.
After earning his master's degree McBay returned to Wiley College so he could
help his younger brother and sister pay for college. However, going home
proved to be a disappointment. Some faculty members still thought of him as
their student and never accepted McBay as an academic peer. Because of his
devotion to his siblings, however, he remained at Wiley until his brother
received his college degree and his parents were able to pay for his sister's
education.
In 1938 McBay took a better-paying teaching job at a Quindaro, Kansas junior
college. At the end of the first year, he enrolled in the University of Chicago
summer school program, where he received good grades for that term. When he
returned to Quindaro, he found that the new junior college principal had, for
political reasons, hired an instructor in his place.
McBay then moved to a high school mathematics teaching position in Huntsville,
Texas, where he stayed for three semesters. He then joined a newly-formed
research team at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama assigned the task of finding a
suitable substitute for jute fiber. Indian shipments of jute, which was used for
rope and fabrics for sacks, had ended due to World War I.
The Tuskegee team hoped to prove that okra stems would be an effective
substitute, but McBay proved that, by the time an okra plant had matured, the
stems were too brittle. Okra could be harvested for food or for fiber, but not
for both. Ironically, McBay had worked himself out of a job.
McBay then accepted a teaching assistant’s position at the University of Chicago
and resumed his doctoral studies. This move also kept him out of the U.S.
military: the government needed large numbers of chemistry graduates and was not
drafting people in those positions. He demonstrated his love of teaching by
designing a chemistry course for first-year college course.
In 1944 McBay chose Professor Morris Kharasch as his research advisor. He began
to learn very specialized techniques in handling dangerous compounds. McBay
began to create highly explosive materials that offered great value as chemical
building blocks. He subsequently developed new methods of producing a dangerous
compound from hydrogen peroxide. Discoveries by McBay (and Kharasch) allowed
chemists around the world to create inexpensive peroxide compounds which are
extremely useful as building blocks in many chemical reactions. As a result of
that research, McBay received the Elizabeth Norton for excellence in chemical
research in 1944 and 1945. His dissertation focused on his hydrogen peroxide
project, and in 1945 he received his doctoral degree from the University of
Chicago.
McBay then returned to Atlanta as an assistant professor at Morehouse College in
Atlanta. In 1956, he was appointed chairman of the chemistry department. In 1982
he transferred to his old school, Atlanta University, and became the Fuller E.
Callaway Professor of Chemistry there. McBay would eventually teach for 41 years
in the Atlanta University system (Morehouse, Spelman, and Atlanta).