Anita --

While I am deeply empathic to the plight of those who were oppressed,  
history tells us clearly that genius appears in the most unlikely  
places, and that these individuals, regardless of their  
circumstances, arc across the human narrative like comets,  
enlightening the lives of everyone. I can't seem to find the paper —  
probably lost in the transfer from one generation of computers to  
another, and I can no longer remember the journal in which it was  
published — but about 30 years ago, prompted by a conversation I had  
with an extraordinary materials scientist, then on the faculty of  
Hampton Institute, I wrote a paper on genius that arose from the  
American slave population, and in the years immediately afterwards.  
Obvious examples are Frederick Douglas, and Booker T. Washington  
(born in Hales Ford, Virginia in April 1856), but the list is much  
longer.  There are also many accounts of slaves who were considered  
brilliant technical craftsmen. I particularly remember the story of a  
slave in Louisiana, who became an early expert in optics.

-- Stephan


On 9 May 2008, at 18:38, Anita Wills wrote:

> It is much easier to be considered a genius when you have the time  
> to sit and think. It would have been extremely difficult for  
> Natives and African slaves to produce geniuses during that time  
> period.


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