SPEECHES & WRITING FILE "Ernest Everest JWT," [1929] [1929] By Mary Church Terrell 1615 S St N.W. Washington Ernest Everett Just. If you had stood at the pier of the North German Lloyd in New York City a short time ago, you might have seen a tall, slender, youthful-looking man go aboard the Dresden. He was on his way to Italy. If you should peep into a certain biological laboratory in Naples to day you would probably see this same man working hard trying to wrest secrets from mother nature. Glancing at him casually you might not observe that he differs much either in complexion or features from his companions, although Ernest Everett Just has African blood in his veins. This interesting man is a well-known scientist and by those competent to judge he is acknowledged to be the world's leading authority in his special field. For twenty one years Dr. Just has taught at Howard University which was established for colored youth largely through the influence of General O. O. Howard at the close of the Civil War. For eight years he was a professor and head of the department of Physiology in the Medical School of Howard University. Then he became convinced that he could render more valuable service by training pre-medical students and resigned from that position to become head of the department of Zoology in the college. But he has been studying and investigating on the side in addition to doing his regular work. Every summer for twenty years he has been engaged in research work at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In 1916 Dr. Just received the degree of Ph.D., magna cum laude from the University of Chicago in zoology and physiology. He studied there a year during a leave of absence from Howard University. From the very beginning of his career such a high estimate has been placed upon this scientist's knowledge and skill and he has given such a great promise of making valuable contributions to science that the National Research Council has made it financially possible for him to do some of his research work. And he certainly has not disappointed those who have reposed this confidence in him. Even if I were able to understand the important discoveries made by Dr. Just in the pursuit of his specialty I could neither enumerate nor describe 2 them in an article like this. It is said that some of the experiments he has made may throw light upon the cause and cure of cancer. Dr. Just cherishes the hope that they will. Through some of his experiments in which he used ultra-violet rays he has made important discoveries bearing upon heredity and the determination of sex. Although Ernest Everett Just was reared in poverty he had a great blessing for which he should be thankful. His inheritance was unusually good. His mother was a woman of high ideals and forceful character with a fairly good education for that time and section in which educational facilities for colored people are often so poor. When Mrs. Just's son was born forty five years in Charleston, S.C. the mother was sufficiently well equipped to teach school. Ernest's father died when he was four years old and then the mother supported her family of three children by teaching school and working in the phosphate fields about three miles from Charleston. The conditions under which Mrs. Just worked were very trying and hard owing to the type of men among whom her lot was cast. She tried to raise the community to a higher plane by organizing a church and holding the services in the school house. Mrs. Just enjoys the distinction of having established the first industrial school in the State of South Carolina and she did this by selling some property she owned. She was the first principal of the school which her young son attended until he went to the State college at Orangeburg, S.C. People who where acquainted with Ernest Just's father say he was a first class wharf builder and that he constructed some of the largest docks in the city of Charleston. When Ernest Just was about seventeen years old he decided to go North to study. He had only five dollars in his pocket, he says, and two pairs of shoes, one of which had seen better days and the other quite passable. But what he lacked in ready cash and clothes he more than made up in grit and grim determination. He succeeded in getting a job on the Clyde Line and thus made his way to New York City. As soon as he landed he hunted for work and found it. In a short time he had saved money enough to go to Kimball Academy at the Meriden, New Hampshire, and here he entered the lowest class. The surroundings, the customs and the climate were totally different from those to which he had been accustomed. He had to compete in the classroom with boys who had the advantage over him in environment, in proper preparation for their work in the academy and in the wherewithal to finance their course. The handicaps and disadvantages under which he labored seemed to spur him on to greater endeavor, for he completed the four year course in three years. In spite of the prodigious amount of studying he must have been obliged to do in order to shorten his course a whole year he found time to be editor in chief of the Academy magazine, was president of the Philadelphian Society, one of the oldest debating clubs in New England and won the Francis E. clark praise for extemporaneous speaking two years in succession. Then he decided to go to college. Ernest Just evidently resolved early in life that he would be a scholar. Those who knew him when he was a child can relate many incidents which prove that he headed in that direction, as soon as he could think for himself. Even when he was studying at Orangeburg, S.C. his ability was generally recognised and there were many who believed he could travel far in the realm of knowledge. After hesitating a bit concerning the institution he would choose the young man finally entered Dartmouth College. here he was able to finance his course by scholarships and by borrowing small sums when there was no other way to meet his expense. When he graduated in 1907 he had won special honors in zoology and history, honors in botany, zoology, and honorable mention in sociology, while he was the only man in his class who graduated magna cum laude. In several particulars Justs's course at Dartmouth was indeed remarkable. He was the first student who ever took special honors in two fields, for instance. He won the Rufus Choate scholarship for two years, the Grimes prise for seniors and is said to have received the highest mark in Greek ever made by a Freshman. At one time he thought seriously of specializing in Greek and then writing on a phase of the language in which he had become deeply interested. But when he discovered that a German savant had anticipated him and had already written a ponderous tone on the subject, he changed his mind. While reading an essay during his first year in Biology the young student was surprised to learn how little, comparatively speaking, was known about the development of the egg. The paucity of facts on the subject intrigued him greatly and he decided then and there to delve into it as deeply as he could To this resolution he has faithfully adhered in season and out. He started his quest for knowledge by taking every course on the subject which Dartmouth college offered and in his senior year he did considerable research work. There is nothing which some of the Dartmouth people enjoy more than talking about the brilliant record made by Ernest Just when he was a student there. After receiving his degree at Dartmouth Mr. Just accepted a position in Howard University where he has been teaching ever since. In addition to discharging his duties as a teacher of science Dr. Just has done an unbelievably large amount of work on the side. To some of it reference has already been made. But the half has not yet been told. If you should happen to read a book on "Cytology" which was published in 1984 you would find the name of Ernest Just as one of the authors among some of the most renowned scientists in the country, Dr. F.R. Lillie, president of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., Dr. T.H. Morgan, President of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. M.H. Jacobs, Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Dr. E.G. Conklin of Princeton and other eminent American zoologists collaborated with Just on this book. When the leading biologists of Germany were looking over the world's list of scholars who were best equipped to write a treatise on Fertilization they chose Ernest Just to render that service. In a huge work on Colloid Chemistry which consists of three volumes Ernest Just is one of the 5 authors among whom are some who have won the Nobel prize. He is also a member of the editorial Board of an international journal, "Protoplasma" which is published in Berlin, Germany. Among the editors of the official organ of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole his name also appears. He belongs to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to the American Society of Zoologists, to the American Naturalists and, last but not least, is a corresponding member of La Socièté des Sciences Naturelles et Mathematique of France. A signal honor was conferred upon Dr. Just at the Ethical Culture Hall in New York City on February 12th, 1915. Then he was presented with the Spingarn medal which is given annually by J.E. Spingarn "to the man or woman of African descent and American citizenship who shall have made the highest achievement during the preceding year or years in any honorable field of human endeavor, Thirty names were presented for consideration. Among the committee on awards were Ex-President Taft, now Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Oswald Garrison Villard, grandson of William Lloyd Garrison, Bishop John Hurst of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Mr. John Hope, president of Morehouse College and Mr. James Dillard of the Jeanness Fund. By these men Ernest Everett Just was selected as the first man upon whom this honor should be conferred. A more modest and embarrassed man than was the recipient of the award when he was notified that it had been bestowed upon him it would have been hard to find. He wrote to the Committee that he was sorry he had to appear before an audience to go through the ceremony. He was very grateful to the [Committee] gentlemen, of course, but he felt that such publicity was incompatible with scientific endeavor, he said. Nevertheless he acquiesced and put in his appearance. When he reached the hall he found the Governor of New York and his staff resplendent in full uniform to honor him. In an appropriate speech Governor Whitman presented the gold medal and received a shy "Thank you" from the recipient in return. Nobody dislikes being in the limelight more than the hero of this story. Courting publicity is not a fault with which 6 he can truthfully be charged. When one praises his work and places a high estimate upon it, he is quick to declare that there are many scientists who have done and are doing much better work than he has [done] accomplished. And now, thanks to the generosity of the good friends who manage the Julius Rosenwald Foundation, Dr. Just is in Naples, Italy where he will pursue the studies he loves so well for six months and engage in the experiments in which his heart delights. The Foundation has given the Howard University Department of Zoology, of which Dr. Just is the head, $80,000. Of this gift the sum $15,000 is to be used each year for five years and $5,000 of it is to be expended in equipping the laboratory. In the agreement made by the Foundation it is expressly [stated] stipulated that if Dr. Just should leave Howard University or should die the gift would be automatically canceled. No better evidence of the confidence reposed in Dr. Just than that could be cited. While Dr. Just is abroad he will be the guest of the Prince of Monaco and conduct experiments in the Prince's private laboratory. He will also be associated with Dr. Doorn, an eminent Italian scientist. If Dr. Just is able to carry out his plans while he is in Naples, he will complete a monograph on Fertilization which will be published next spring. Leaving Naples in May he will travel in Northern Europe, the guest of fellow scientists at Gratz, Austria and the University of Berlin. He will spend some times in their laboratories and deliver lectures in several European universities including Oxford and Cambridge. In July he will probably return to his work at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. And when he returns to his duties in Howard University Dr. Just will set in motion forces looking toward the establishment of a Post Graduate course in science, so far as he possibly can. That is one of his dreams, for he is a dreamer as well as a practical, hardworking, clear-headed, unemotional scientist. Accompanying Dr. Just when he started on his voyage was his daughter Margaret, the eldest child, who is a second year student in the Dunbar High school in the National Capital, and is one of [three children] a family consisting of two girls and a boy. Mrs. Just who reminds one of a piece of dainty Dresden china with her black, bobbed hair and her girlish face and figure, insisted that not one word should be 7 said about herself. But at the risk of disobeying her I shall say that she graduated with honor from the Ohio State University and has taught in the High School [here] in Washington. The friends of the scientist have often advised him to give up teaching altogether and devote himself entirely to research work. They regret that he consumes so much of his [valuable] time and precious strength in the classroom that might better be devoted,[to experi] they say, to experiments and investigations from which so much valuable information might be gained. But Dr. Just will not listen to any such suggestion. He feels he is "called" to teach and inspire youth of his race. He is convinced that his contribution to the development and the welfare of his group lies in rendering that particular service and up to date nobody has been able to swerve him from his purpose. "If I can give the boys and girls a scientific start," Dr. Just once said, "it will help them in whatever they do later. It will clarify life. I doubt if I'd leave here to go into the best research laboratory in the world. I believe in mass action, and I'm here to help raise the general level of race attainment. I [fell] feel as if I ought to do something for my race in the South." Those who are personally acquainted with the man know that it would require a dynamic force of some kind to move him from this conception of his duty. Although Dr. Just is forty five years old, he looks much younger and is in excellent health. he is in the prime of life and there is every reason to hope and believe that he has many years of activity and usefulness before him. Mary Church Terrell- 1615 S St. N.W. Washington, D.C. Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.