Fern Hunt

"My initial intellectual interest was not in mathematics but in science. My mother (for some reason) decided to give me a Gilbert chemistry set for Christmas when I was 9."

"My interest in mathematics was sparked and sustained in high school not by courses per se but by a number of well written, engaging books aimed at readers with a high school mathematics background."

"I suppose many would say I should be proud of these educational attainments and indeed I take a lot of satisfaction in them as I come from a very modest social background—my parents had steady jobs, thank goodness but we lived in a housing project until I was 16. After Mr. Wilson, I did not meet another African American scientist let alone a mathematician until I was nearly done with graduate school."

"But whatever success I had or will have is bound up in the swirl of social and political forces that pushed mid-century America forward and these were largely beyond my control. I was born when the momentum of the New Deal, World War II and then Sputnik created sustained support for fostering STEM excellence in education."

"Although I was never in the American South and was a little too young to participate in civil rights demonstrations very much, I benefited quite directly from the Birmingham children’s march. The appalling assassination of Martin Luther King also had a profound impact on me. The shock wave of this movement percolated to the smallest scales of society so that it affected even the person to person interactions in mathematical culture that are so critical to career success or failure. I have also benefited from the support and friendship of the many African-American women mathematicians who preceded me and who have come onto the scene since. Collectively, our actions make it easier for all of us."