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Birth
On this day, Elbert was born in Evansville, Indiana. He had two younger brothers, an elementary school principal as his father (Johnson D. Cox) and a heavily religious mother (Eugenia T. Cox). His family valued education and learning. -
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Elbert F. Cox Timeline
The first African-American to be given a mathematics Ph.D. -
Evansville Riot (Part 1)
Evansville was a mixed town. There were five white and three black families in his neighborhood. Lee Brown was an African American that left a bar that he had owed a debt to the bartender. The bartender had followed him down the streets when Officer Massey came by, Brown shot Officer Massey in the abdomen. they keep shooting at each other until they run out of bullets. Officer Massey dies and Brown is arrested. -
Evansville Riot (Part 2)
People grieved over Officer Massey and surrounded the jail angrily. Brown was sent away to a prison in Vincennes, Indiana by train but people didn't believe it. They tore down a telephone pole and used it as a battering ram to enter the jail. The governor called in the state militia. 12 dead and 50 wounded. Many African Americans left. Cox went to a segregated school with limited resources. His father was a big inspiration to him. -
High School
In high school, he was a remarkable violinist and was offered a music shocalarship in Europe at the Prauge Converstory of Music but he declined because he had more love for math and applied for Indiana University.. -
College
Along with three other African Americans, Cox graduates from Indiana University with COLORED on his transcript. He majored in math and aced in every math exam he took. -
World War I
In early 1918 Cox got a job as a teacher at Alves Street School in Henderson, Kentucky he resigned to join the army. World War I was ending soon so they put him in France to serve until he is discharged around 1920 and 1921. -
After the War
After the war, he joined Shaw University at Raleigh, North Carolina, and became chairman of the Department of Natural Sciences. He applies to Cornell University. Cornell University was one of the seven only schools that offered PhDs in math in the US. One of his references gave their approval but was worried about the challenges he will face because of his race. -
Cornell University
Cox earns an Estratus Fellowship in 1922 and joins Cornell University. -
The First in the World
Cox awarded for his thesis for Polynomial Solutions of Difference. His supervisor, William Lloyd Garrison Williams believed that since he was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. In America but also in the whole world. Universities in England and Germany refused because of his race but the Imperial University in Japan accepted it. Cox was one of the 28 PhDs in America at the time with the Klu Klux Klan lynching 31 black people by 1926. His success inspired other black mathematicians. -
Teaching at West Virginia University
Cox became a physics professor at West Virginia State College. It had very little funding. There were only two staff members with a doctorate and tried to improve the college. -
Wife and Kids
Cox marries elementary school teacher Beulah P. Kaufman. They have three sons James, Eugene, and Elbert. -
Teaching at Howard University
Cox becomes an associate professor of mathematics at Howard University at Washington D.C. It was open to every one of race and color and to provide advanced studies for African American students. -
World War II
Cox contributed to the war by teaching war management and engineering science. He led a specialist army training program. After the war, he was promoted to full-time professor at Howard University. -
Death
Cox dies at Craftiz Memorial Hospital, Washington D.C. after a brief illness. The Ph.D. program at Howard University starts. -
Cox-Talbot Address
The National Association of Mathematicians (NAM) celebrate and remember Cox by the creation of the Cox-Talbot Address. It is given annually at the NAM meetings
