Educational

African American scientists of the Manhattan Project

During the height of World War II between 1942 and 1945, the U.S. government’s top-secret program to build an atomic bomb, code-named the Manhattan Project, cumulatively employed some 600,000 people, including scientists, technicians, janitors, engineers, chemists, maids, and day laborers. What some don’t know is that the number of workers comprised of hardworking and intelligent Black minds as well. Read about the primary researchers and workers that developed the technology behind the atomic bomb in the article below.

(Photography: Washington State University-Tri Cities)

African American - Black workers of the Manhattan Project