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Inventory to the Percy Lavon Julian Family Papers
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Percy Lavon Julian
Family Papers Anna Johnson Julian Dr. Anna Johnson Julian has the distinction of being the first African American woman in the nation to receive the Ph.D. degree in sociology. This extraordinary woman was born Anna Roselle Johnson on November 24, 1903, in Baltimore, Maryland, the fifth daughter in a family of seven girls. She was named after her godmother, Mrs. Anna Roselle, of Philadelphia, who as destiny would have it, was the mother of Margaret Roselle Hawkins, the founder of the Links, Inc., a national civic organization of Africa American women, in which Anna Julian held membership for over forty years. She served as national vice-president and national treasurer, as well as the sorority's first chapter organizer. Her father, Charles Speare Johnson, was a chiropodist, today commonly referred to as a podiatrist; and her mother, Adelaide Scott Johnson, was a homemaker. Anna often said that the qualities which she loved most about her father was his fairness, his great sense of humor, and his devotion to his family. The qualities which she appreciated most of all in her mother were her deep religious faith, her sacrificial spirit, and the love that she demonstrated to her children, by always putting first and foremost their needs and interests. It should come as no surprise that the very qualities which Anna most loved and respected in her parents were the same endearing qualities which she, herself, exemplified throughout her lifetime and which her own children loved most about her. Shortly before she was due to enter the first grade, Anna was stricken with rheumatic fever. Her father taught her at home during a long period of convalescence. As a result of her illness, she entered school for the first time in third grade. She was so bright that in four and half years she was promoted through the eighth grade, entering high school at the age of twelve. At this tender age, she left home to go live with an aunt in Philadelphia, where she attended West Philadelphia High School, an integrated high school for girls, since the high schools in Baltimore were segregated and the curriculum was deficient. Like her husband, Dr. Percy L. Julian, whose pioneering efforts created medicinal uses for soybean (he was frequently referred to as the "soybean chemist"), Dr. Anna Julian, also, was a pioneer in her own right, breaking new ground throughout her life. Pioneering a path for change came as early as her days at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was awarded Phi Beta Kappa honors, the first African American to received this honor at Penn. She received her bachelor's degree in 1923, her master's degree in 1925, and the Ph.D. degree in 1937, all from this university. Upon entering the Ph.D. program, the University of Pennsylvania awarded her the highest stipend available to women at that time, the Moore Fellowship. While pursuing her doctorate, she simultaneously was employed in Washington, D.C., and commuted 150 miles to Philadelphia to attend classes. Her professional career included employment as a social worker for United Charities in Washington, D.C., teaching at an industrial school in Bordentown, New Jersey, as well as holding a position on the faculty of Miner Teachers College in Washington, D.C. For ten years she was employed on the staff of the Research Department of the Washington, D.C., Public Schools, where she had the opportunity to study the sociological, psychological and environmental factors which inhibit a child's normal educational progress and school adjustment. She resigned from this position in 1939 to join her husband in the Chicago area. In 1935, she married Dr. Percy L. Julian, the grandson of a slave, who achieved unprecedented acclaim for his low-cost synthesis of cortisone, thereby making it widely available to those who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions. Some of his other scientific achievements included the synthesis of a drug used to treat glaucoma; the synthesis of the female hormone, progesterone; and the development of a fire-fighting foam used in World War II. He died in 1975. In 1953, Julian Laboratories, Inc., was established in Franklin Park, Illinois. During its formative years Anna Julian worked tirelessly beside her husband as vice-president, treasurer, and bookkeeper of the business, even setting up an office at home in order that she could be with her children when they came home from elementary school. Breaking new ground came literally when she and her husband bought a home in all-white Oak Park, Illinois, in the early fifties. Anna Julian's pioneering spirit and dedication to the belief that man has the right to live wherever he chooses helped her to survive the bombing of her home and the attempts at arson which threatened her family's safety and mad national news. Frightening as it was, she and her husband were determined to stay and fight the racism which confronted them. Anna and her family were forced to maintain a guard at their home, day and night, for a year. For Anna Julian, the decision to remain in Oak Park and fight was as right then as it would be now. She witnessed the change and growth which her pioneering efforts brought to the Village of Oak Park. She lived to see the town which once shunned her and her family perpetuate her husband's memory by renaming a school in his honor. Dr. Anna Julian devoted herself to a lifetime of extensive community service. She kept abreast of educational progress by serving as a life member on the Board of Trustees of MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, as well as on the Board of Erikson Institute of Early Childhood Education, where she was a founding trustee. In addition, she served as a life member on the Visiting Committee of the School of Social Service Administration of the University of Chicago and on the University of Chicago Women's Board, as well as on the Board of Governors of its International House. For fourteen years she was a member of the Board of Trustees of Rosary College in River Forest, Illinois, which included two terms as chairman of the Board, resigning in 1985. Anna Julian was the recipient of three honorary doctor's degrees. The first one was awarded to her, in 1987, by DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, her husband's alma mater, and where, in his honor, she established the Percy L. Julian Scholarship Fund. Young science scholars have benefited from this scholarship program, and many distinguished people have delivered the annual lecture. A second honorary doctorate was conferred on her by Rosary College in 1993, and, most recently, a third one was awarded to her by MacMurray College in May, 1994. Anna's community and educational service had a far-reaching impact. In 1963, she was appointed by Governor Otto Kerner of Illinois to the Kerner Commission on the Study of Birth Control. The Commission's Report became the basis of legislation making it lawful to disseminate birth control information in Illinois. In 1970, she was made an official delegate from Illinois to attend the White House Conference on Children. In 1979, she was appointed by the British Ambassador to the United States, Sir Nicholas Henderson, to serve on the Advisory Council of the Marshall Scholarship Program, which selects outstanding students to do graduate work in Great Britain at the expense of the British government. She served on the Advisory Council for three years. Anna Johnson Julian was the fourth national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a public service sorority, assuming the responsibilities of this high office while still in her twenties. Her administration put the sorority on a sound financial basis and incorporated the national organization under the laws of the District of Columbia. Anna Julian's service has included membership on many boards, some of which were the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the United Nations Association, the Y.W.C.A. World Service, the Oak Park Educational Foundation, the Delta Research and Educational Foundation, and the Sigma Pi Phi Boule Foundation. Among the numerous awards which she received in her lifetime were The Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews; The Distinguished Service Award from the Community Renewal Society; The Shalom Award from the Coalition of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish Clergy of Oak Park; and, most recently, the 1994 Rita Johnson Humanitarian Award from the Family Service and Mental Health Center of Oak Park and River Forest. Anna Julian was a Fellow of the American Sociological Society, a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Service, a member of the American Association of University Women, and a life member of the NAACP. The sociologist, civic activist, and distinguished resident of Oak Park for forty-three years died on July 3, 1994, in West Suburban Hospital Medical Center after twenty-five days in the intensive care unit. A private funeral and burial took place on July 9th. Among the issues closest to Anna Julian's heart were those concerning women. She believed that it was important for modern women to reach out beyond their narrow self interests and become knowledgeable about problems that face other women in the world. She one said, "They must join hands with other women to help alleviate the poverty, ignorance, and misery which so many women in the world endure. How else can we ever hope for a peaceful world?" Anna Julian was one of God's sparkling jewels. One of her greatest attributes was her deep, abiding faith in God. She relied on God as her source of help with every need. She believed that it was important to develop certain moral and religious values as guidelines for daily living as well as to sustain us through disappointments, believing that love, at all times, is stronger and more effective than hate. Anna was a loving and devoted mother, a generous and loyal friend. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her, for she has left behind a legacy of love. Anna is survived by three children: her daughter, Faith, with whom she lived in Oak Park; her son, Percy L. Julian, Jr., a practicing attorney in Madison, Wisconsin; and a nephew, Leon R. Ellis, of New York City, who was reared by the Julians and is considered like a son in the family; also she is survived by a granddaughter, Katherine Ann Julian, of San Francisco.
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Anna
Johnson Julian, Dedication of Julian Science and Mathematics Center, DePauw
University