Forgotten Genius (NOVA) (2007)

Forgotten Genius is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2007.

It is an episode of the long-running program NOVA which is devoted to science and technology (season 34 episode 03).

The topic of this episode is the life and career of the African American scientist Dr Percy Lavon Julian (Senior) (1899-1975), who worked in the field of chemistry.

Here is some basic information about this film:

** Director: Llewellyn M. Smith

** Writers: Llewellyn M. Smith and Stephen Lyons

** Narrator: Courtney B. Vance

** Encore presentation on US television (PBS) in 2021

** Available on DVD

** Run time: 112 minutes

Several historical moments in Percy Julian’s life were re-created by using modern actors. The role of the adult Percy Julian (Senior) is played by actor Ruben Santiago-Hudson.

The words spoken by Ruben Santiago-Hudson in this film were taken from Percy Julian’s writings and congressional testimony.

Several persons are interviewed in the film. The list of names is quite long, but I want to present the complete list in order to show how much effort the staff of NOVA put into this episode. Here are the names (listed in alphabetical order):

** Todd Allen – United Soybean Board

** James Anderson – University of Illinois

** Virginia Cassin (1924-2020) – resident of Oak Park, Chicago

** Donald “Jack” Cook (1915-2002) – DePauw University

** Earl Dailey – chemist, Glidden

** Ray Dawson (1911-2012) – DePauw University alumnus

** Carl Djerassi (1923-2015) – Stanford University

** Arnold Hirsh (1949-2018) - historian

** Ned Heindel – Lehigh University

** Vernon Jarrett (1918-2004) – journalist

** Cliff Johnson (1915-2005) – CBS radio host

** Katherine Julian – granddaughter of Percy Julian (Senior) – MD – University of California, San Francisco

** Percy Julian (Junior) (1940-2008) – son of Percy Julian (Senior) - lawyer

** James Letton – chemist, Julian Laboratories

** Willie Pearson – Georgia Institute of Technology

** Gregory Petsko – Brandeis University

** Charles Plotz (1921-2016) – rheumatologist, Mount Sinai Hospital

** Helen Printy (1921-2002) – chemist, Glidden

** Roberta Lee Raymond (1938-2019) – Oak Park sociologist

** Dagmar Ringe – Brandeis University

** Gregory Robinson – University of Georgia

** James Shoffner – Columbia College, Chicago

** John Kenly Smith – Lehigh University

** Peter Walton – General Manager, Julian Laboratories

** Risher Watts – chemist, Julian Laboratories - physician

** Bernhard Witkop (1917-2010) – National Institutes of Health

** Eugene Woroch (1922-2015) – chemist, Glidden

In 1935, Percy Julian married Anna Johnson who was born in 1903. They were together until she died in 1994. The couple had two children:

A son, named after his father, was born in 1940. He appears in the film.

A daughter, named Faith Roselle Julian, was born in 1944. She does not appear in this film. As far as I know, she is still alive.

This film was a long-term project. When you look at the chart above, you can see that several participants were already quite old when they were interviewed. Some of them were no longer alive in 2007 when the film premiered on US television.

Around the year 2000 when the staff of NOVA began working on this film, there was no biography about Percy Julian. There were several articles, but no comprehensive biography. This fact confirms the title of the film: Percy Julian really was a forgotten genius.

The staff of NOVA had to create their own biography of Percy Julian and try to find people who knew him or had worked with him or at least some people who knew about his work.

Many people who knew him and who had worked with him were no longer alive when the work began around the year 2000. It is fortunate that the staff of NOVA managed to find and interview as many as they did. Several participants are no longer alive today.

This film covers the life and times of Percy Julian in 13 chapters. Here are the headlines:

# 01. Beginnings

# 02. Black and White

# 03. Alkaloids

# 04. Rumors and Ruin

# 05. Race for the Synthesis

# 06. Julian Lands at Glidden

# 07. The Soybean

# 08. Steroids

# 09. Oak Park

# 10. The Miracle Drug

# 11. Success

# 12. Julian Laboratories

# 13. Julian’s Legacy

Generally speaking, this film has two themes:

The first theme is the life and career of Percy Julian. His education in school and university as well as the different jobs he had at different institutions and companies.

The second theme is the numerous obstacles Percy Julian faced when he wanted to get an education and to have a career as a scientist in the field of chemistry.

Many things could help him on the way towards his goal. He had a drive, he had energy, he knew what he wanted. He was a clever guy with a sharp brain. And he was very efficient.

Only one thing held him back; only one thing made it difficult (almost impossible) for him to move forward: the colour of his skin.

He was a black man in America. And in this country, at that time, a black man was not supposed to have the dreams he had.

A black person was supposed to finish elementary school. But no more than that.

A black woman was supposed to learn enough to be a cook or a maid and work for a white family. Maybe enough to be an unskilled worker in a factory.

A black man was supposed to learn enough to be a low-level worker who could do what he was told to do by a white manager.

A black man was not supposed to dream about going to college. Hoping to earn a doctorate in chemistry was just absurd!

When Percy Julian started his education, only one African American man had earned a doctorate in chemistry: his name was St. Elmo Brady (1884-1966). Brady earned his doctorate in 1916.

Percy Julian was determined to follow in his footsteps, but it was hard to do so. In fact, it was impossible for him to do so in the United States. No university was prepared to accept him, because he had the wrong colour.

He had to leave the US and go to Europe find a place that would accept him. In Vienna, the capital of Austria, he found a university which was prepared to accept him as a candidate for a doctorate in chemistry.

Once he had his doctorate, he returned to the US, but in the US, he was still regarded as a second-class citizen and he still faced many kinds of discrimination.

Here is one example:

When Percy Julian and a friend from Austria applied for jobs at a private company, they were both invited to an interview. When the interviewers saw his friend (who was white), they said welcome and offered him a job. When the interviewers saw Percy Julian, they offered him an apology:

“We did not know you were black.”

No job for him!

More examples of discrimination against Percy Julian and his family are presented in the film.

What do reviewers say about the film?

On IMDb this episode of NOVA has a rating of 80 percent. On Amazon there are at the moment 27 global ratings and 23 global reviews. The average rating is 4.1 stars which corresponds to a rating of 82 percent.

As you can see, the ratings are good. But if you ask me, they are not good enough.

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).

REFERENCES

Black Scientists, White Society, and Colorless Science: A Study of Universalism in American Science by Willie Pearson (1985)

Distinguished African American Scientists of the 20th Century by James H. Kessler, J. S. Kidd, Renee A. Kidd and Katherine A. Morin (1996)

As stated above, there was no biography of Percy Julian when the staff of NOVA began working on this film. Today (in 2021) there is still no biography of this remarkable scientist who is responsible for numerous break-throughs in chemistry.

Obviously, several short items can be found on the internet. Here are a few examples:

** Percy Lavon Julian

Science History Institute

** Percy Lavon Julian

Biography

** Percy Lavon Julian

American Chemical Society

** Percy Lavon Julian

DePauw University

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