“I always, always, always liked mathematics. As a child I was rather introverted, and as far back as I can remember I liked mathematics . . . I could do it alone.” – Dr. Majorie Lee Brown
Point #1
Browne was born in Tennessee in 1914. Her mother died when she was only two years old, and she was raised by her stepmother, Mary Taylor Lee, and her father, Lawrence Johnson Lee. Her father, a railway postal clerk, was also a “math whiz” who shared his passion for mathematics with his children. She attended LeMoyne High School, a private Methodist school started after the Civil War to offer education for African-Americans.
Point #2
Third African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Mathematics
Point #3
After completing her dissertation at the University of Michigan, Browne joined the faculty at North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central University), serving as department head from 1951-1970. In fact, for 25 years she was the only instructor in the NCCU math department who had a PhD. While at NCCU, she not only pursued her own research, but also was able to secure funding for the university’s mathematics program for secondary school teachers.
In 1960, Marjorie Lee Browne wrote a grant to IBM to bring a computer to a college campus—one of the first such college computerss, and likely the first at any historically black college.
“Her thoroughness, demands for excellence and rigor, wisdom, vision, and productive powers in the classroom have profoundly influenced not only the academic growth and development of countless students but also their aspirations to achieve and succeed in the field of mathematics.” – The words from one of her students
The Marjorie Lee Browne Trust Fund was established by four of her students at North Carolina Central University.
Marjorie Lee Browne died of a heart attack on October 19, 1979 at her home in Durham, North Carolina, aged 65.
Works cited
Marjorie Lee Browne – Wikipedia
Women in Science: Marjorie Lee Browne: mathematician and educator
Marjorie Lee Browne – Educator, Mathematician – Biography