Black History
Pioneering Chemist Bettye Washington Greene Researched Latex Products and Uses for Dow
Bettye Washington Greene (1935–1995), who was believed to be the first African-American female chemist employed to work in a professional position at the Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Mich.

According to researchers, the first African American to earn a PhD in chemistry (1916) was Saint Elmo Brady. He studied at Fisk University and later at the University of Illinois. This qualified him for several positions, yet he faced a stark choice.
Brady described himself as a young man who had “all of the advantages of a great university, contact with great minds, and the use of all modern equipment. “Was I willing to forget these and go back to a school in the heart of Alabama where I wouldn’t even have a Bunsen burner?”
But that’s what he did: He chose to return to Alabama and teach at Tuskegee Institute.
Brady devoted a lot of his life to building educational opportunities for Black students. He developed the first graduate program for Blacks in chemistry as well as chemistry departments at several historically Black colleges and universities.
Among those benefitting from the path Brady blazed at Tuskegee was Bettye Washington Greene (1935–1995), who was believed to be the first African-American female chemist employed to work in a professional position at the Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Mich.
She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Tuskegee (1955) and her PhD in physical chemistry from Wayne State University (1962).
She married veteran air force captain William Miller Greene the year she graduated from Tuskegee. The couple had three children. Her doctoral dissertation, “Determination of Particle Size Distributions in Emulsions by Light Scattering,” was published as a book 10 years later (1965).
The Fort Worth, Texas–born Greene (then Bettye Washington) joined Dow in 1965. She worked in the firm’s E.C. Britton Research Laboratory, specializing in latex products. She was the first Black employee hired in a professional capacity. Her research for the company was focused on colloidal chemistry, the chemistry of latex, including the interaction between latex and paper.
Greene served as a consultant on polymers issues in Dow’s Saran Research Laboratory. Members of the Styrene Butadiene Latex group often utilized her expertise and knowledge. In 1970, she was promoted to the position of senior research chemist, and then to senior research specialist in 1975.
During her tenure at Dow, Greene obtained several patents for various modifications of latex. Included were latex-based adhesive prepared by emulsion polymerization; composite sheet prepared with stable latexes containing phosphorus surface groups; stable latexes containing phosphorus surface groups; and novel adhesives in the form of composite latex polymer sheets with phosphorus surface groups.
Active in community service in Midland, Greene was a charter member of the Midland Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. a national public service group with a focus on working with African-American women. She was also elected to Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society.
Best remembered as a pioneering black woman scientist, Greene would spend her entire career as a research chemist with Dow. She retired from Dow in 1990.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of March 28 – April 1, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 28 – April 1, 2025

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Activism
Report Offers Policies, Ideas to Improve the Workplace Experiences of Black Women in California
The “Invisible Labor, Visible Struggles: The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Workplace Equity for Black Women in California” report by the California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute (CBWCEI), unveiled the findings of a December 2024 survey of 452 employed Black women across the Golden State. Three-fifths of the participants said they experienced racism or discrimination last year and 57% of the unfair treatment was related to incidents at work.

By McKenzie Jackson, California Black Media
Backed by data, a report released last month details the numerous hurdles Black women in the Golden State must overcome to effectively contribute and succeed in the workplace.
The “Invisible Labor, Visible Struggles: The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Workplace Equity for Black Women in California” report by the California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute (CBWCEI), unveiled the findings of a December 2024 survey of 452 employed Black women across the Golden State. Three-fifths of the participants said they experienced racism or discrimination last year and 57% of the unfair treatment was related to incidents at work.
CBWCEI President and CEO Kellie Todd Griffin said Black women have been the backbone of communities, industries, and movements but are still overlooked, underpaid, and undervalued at work.
“The data is clear,” she explained. “Systemic racism and sexism are not just historical injustices. They are active forces shaping the workplace experiences of Black women today. This report is a call to action. it demands intentional polices, corporate accountability, and systemic changes.”
The 16-page study, conducted by the public opinion research and strategic consulting firm EVITARUS, showcases the lived workplace experiences of Black women, many who say they are stuck in the crosshairs of discrimination based on gender and race which hinders their work opportunities, advancements, and aspirations, according to the report’s authors, Todd Griffin and CBWCEI researcher Dr. Sharon Uche.
“We wanted to look at how Black women are experiencing the workplace where there are systematic barriers,” Todd Griffin told the media during a press conference co-hosted by Ethnic Media Services and California Black Media. “This report is focused on the invisible labor struggles of Black women throughout California.”
The aspects of the workplace most important to Black women, according to those surveyed, are salary or wage, benefits, and job security.
However, only 21% of the survey’s respondents felt they had strong chances for career advancement into the executive or senior leadership ranks in California’s job market; 49% felt passed over, excluded from, or marginalized at work; and 48% felt their accomplishments at work were undervalued. Thirty-eight percent said they had been thought of as the stereotypical “angry Black woman” at work, and 42% said workplace racism or discrimination effected their physical or mental health.
“These sentiments play a factor in contributing to a workplace that is unsafe and not equitable for Black women in California,” the report reads.
Most Black women said providing for their families and personal fulfillment motivated them to show up to work daily, while 38% said they were dissatisfied in their current job with salary, supervisors, and work environment being the top sources of their discontent.
When asked if they agree or disagree with a statement about their workplace 58% of Black women said they feel supported at work, while 52% said their contributions are acknowledged. Forty-nine percent said they felt empowered.
Uche said Black women are paid $54,000 annually on average — including Black single mothers, who averaged $50,000 — while White men earn an average of $90,000 each year.
“More than half of Black families in California are led by single Black women,” said Uche, who added that the pay gap between Black women and White men isn’t forecasted to close until 2121.
Alameda County
Trump Order Slashes Federal Agencies Supporting Minority Business and Neighborhood Development
The latest executive order targeted several federal agencies, including the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, ordering that their programs and staff be reduced “to the minimum presence and function required by law.” The executive order targeted more agencies that Trump “has determined are unnecessary,” the order stated.

By Brandon Patterson
On March 14, President Trump signed an executive order slashing the operations of two federal agencies supporting growth in minority business and neighborhoods as he continued his attacks on programs supporting people of color and on the size of the federal bureaucracy.
The latest executive order targeted several federal agencies, including the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, ordering that their programs and staff be reduced “to the minimum presence and function required by law.” The executive order targeted more agencies that Trump “has determined are unnecessary,” the order stated.
The MBDA’s mission is to “promote the growth and global competitiveness” of minority business enterprises, or MBEs. In 2023, according to its website, the agency helped MBEs access $1.5 billion in capital and facilitated nearly $3.8 billion in contracts awarded to minority business enterprises. It also helped MBEs create or sustain more than 19,000 jobs nationwide. Similarly, the CDFI Fund supports economic growth in under-invested communities by providing funding and technical assistance to local CDFIs, including banks, loan funds, and credit unions, that support community development projects in cities across the country. In 2023, the fund supported more than 1,400 local CDFIs across the country, including more than 80 in California — among the highest number for any state in the country.
The MBDA has local satellite business centers operated by organizations that support minority clients with services such as business consulting, contract bid preparation, loan packaging, and accessing capital funding. The San Francisco Bay Area business center is San Jose, operated by San Francisco-based organization Asian, Inc. Meanwhile, local Oakland CDFIs supported by the federal CDFI fund since 2021 include Habitat Community Capital, TMC Community Capital, Gateway Bank Federal Savings Bank, Beneficial State Bancorp, Inc., and Main Street Launch.
“It is clear that the hollowing out of the CDFI Fund and MBDA is not being ordered because those programs have failed in their mission,” the CEO of Small Business Majority John Arensmeyer, a national organization that advocates for small businesses, said in a statement on Saturday. “Instead, it is yet another case of President Trump using DEI as a club to eviscerate programs that seek to level our economic playing field.”
Congresswoman Lateefah Simon also slammed the decision in a statement to the Oakland Post. “As a member of the House Small Business Committee who represents multiple CDFIs in CA-12, I believe Trump’s gutting of operations at the Minority Business Development Agency and at the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund is a direct attack on small businesses, communities of color and other underserved communities,” Rep. Simon said. “Both the MBDA and the CDFI Fund were created with bipartisan support to help historically underserved communities and small businesses — and both programs have helped to dramatically change the material realities of people and bolster entrepreneurship in the U.S. There is no logic to this decision. The point is discrimination and cruelty.”
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