Mathematics Dept. celebrate African American achievements

Southern University students, alumni, faculty and staff attended Reflections of Mathematics, a program hosted by the Department of Mathematics Celebrating the Achievements of African Americans.
The guest speaker Delores Spikes is a Baton Rouge native and SU alumni who graduated in 1957.
“In the four decades since the Supreme Court ruled on the desegregation of schools, African Americans have not made the strides we should have made in the southern states,” said Spikes.
Spikes asked the question, “How can we prosper economically if we are not educated?”
Spikes also spoke about the importance of knowing about our history and the achievements of African Americans because in order to know your place in history you have to first know the history.
“In spite of what’s portrayed to us, ancient Africa was not simply buildings, there were great empires there…intellectual empires,” said Spikes.
She also mentioned other famous African Americans in Mathematics such as David Blackwell and SU alumni Stella Ashford.
In closing, Spikes spoke of a promise for Southern University students and emphasized that students deserve nothing less than the best.
Preston Dinkins, chairperson of the department of mathematics said,” Spikes did a good hob of bridging the gap between the past and the present and letting the students know their responsibilities as far as the future is concerned.”
Spikes was the first African American, as well as the first SU graduate or woman to receive a doctorate in mathematics from LSU.
Spikes served as chancellor of SUBR and SUNO. She was also president of the SU system, which made her the first female to lead a public college or university in Louisiana and the first woman in the US to head a university system.
In 1990, Ebony magazine named her one of the 20 most influential black women in America.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton named her to his board of advisors of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.