Sampson Autobiography Chronicled in The Journal of African American History

A recollection of the prejudices and eventual triumphs NPRE alumnus Henry T. Sampson, Jr., experienced as he worked to become a successful nuclear engineer and author are detailed in the Spring 2009 edition of The Journal of African American History.

 

"Autobiographies and 'life-writings' are some of the most valuable primary sources on the African American experience, and autobiography is the most important genre in the African American literary and intellectual traditions," according to the journal's introduction.

 

Beginning with his 1934 birth in racially segregated Jackson, Mississippi, Sampson carries the reader through a litany of obstacles he overcame in his effort to maintain his human dignity. In one case he talked about how he and other African American boy scouts, on a train ride home from a national jamboree in 1950, were told to exit their coach because a group of white scouts preferred it and wanted to use it. Sampson led the way in exiting the train but refused when told to re-board to another coach. Faced with the peaceful demonstration, organizers eventually allowed the black scouts to return to their original coach.

Sampson also tells how he was given a bed in the Purdue University infirmary rather than a dorm room early on while earning his bachelor’s degree there in the 1950s, and that he was told, “No Negro engineers are being hired,” when he first went for interviews as a senior.

Despite the hardships, Sampson got a job at the U.S. Naval Ordnance Test Station in El Segundo, California, and earned a few patents while there. He later earned a master’s degree at the University of California at Los Angeles before coming to Illinois for a PhD. Sampson and his advisor, NPRE Prof. George H. Miley, worked together to invent the gamma-electric cell, a new type of solid-state device that converted gamma radiation directly into useful electrical power. They gained a patent on the device.

Sampson then returned to California to work on satellite programs for the Aerospace Corporation, continuing there until his retirement in 2004. In addition to his engineering career, Sampson pursued a second interest of documenting the history of African Americans in films, theater and other entertainment. This research project, started while he was still in graduate school at Illinois, culminated in several books, including Blacks in Black and White: A Source Book on Black Films (1977; second edition 1995); Blacks in Blackface: A Source Book on Early Black Musical Shows (1980); The Ghost Walks: A Chronological History of Blacks in Show Business, 1965-1910 (1988); That’s Enough Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960 (1998); and Swingin’ on the Ether Waves: A Chronological History of African Americans in Radio and Television Broadcasting, 1925-1955 (2005).

Recognizing Sampson's notable career and record of service, the University of Illinois College of Engineering honored him in April with the 2009 Alumni Award for Distinguished Service.