[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 47 (Tuesday, April 19, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E702]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           REMEMBERING THE LIFE OF DR. SAMUEL PROCTOR MASSIE

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                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 19, 2005

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the 
outstanding life of Dr. Samuel P. Massie, who passed away at the age of 
85 on April 10, 2005.
  Dr. Massie, a chemistry professor, was the first African American to 
teach at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
  As a young graduate student, Dr. Massie worked on the Manhattan 
Project where he and other scientists made liquid compounds of Uranium 
for the making of an atomic bomb. He also conducted pioneering silicon 
chemistry research and investigated antibacterial agents. Dr. Massie 
held the patent for chemical agents effective in battling gonorrhea. 
Additionally, he received awards for research in combating malaria and 
meningitis, worked on drugs to fight herpes and cancer and developed 
protective foams against nerve gases.
  Dr. Massie was a former professor at several historically black 
colleges including my alma mater, Fisk University. Dr. Massie was 
instrumental in encouraging African American and other minority 
students to pursue science careers.
  Samuel Proctor Massie Jr. was born in North Little Rock, Arkansas, 
the son of two schoolteachers. It is purported that he could read at a 
third grade level by the time he entered the first grade. He graduated 
high school at the age of 13 and went on to graduate Summa Cum Laude in 
chemistry from Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College 
(now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) in 1936. He then 
received a Master's degree in Chemistry from Fisk University in 1940.
  I met Dr. Massie when I was a student at Fisk University, where he 
was teaching physical chemistry. It was an extremely difficult class 
and as a boy who had received an education in the rural, segregated 
south, all of this was unfamiliar territory. I was failing his class 
and Dr. Massie came to me and said, ``Young man, you're going to fail 
this class, sign this card and drop the class.'' I did, and Dr. Massie 
credits himself as the reason I became a lawyer.
  Dr. Massie was a remarkable chemist, academician, and friend. His 
accomplishments are too many to mention and the lives he's impacted too 
numerous to count. He will forever be remembered for his character and 
his extraordinary work.

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