St. Elmo Brady became the first African American to earn a PhD in chemistry in the United States, graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1916. Dr. Brady became just the 40th person to receive his PhD in chemistry from the U of I. He was also the first African American admitted to Phi Lambda Upsilon, the chemistry honor society, and the first inducted into Sigma Xi, the science honor society. This documentary, created and produced by the U of I, details Dr. Brady’s story through interviews with relatives and officials at the universities and colleges he influenced.
Video Services at Illinois - the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Andrew Gleason, David Schiller, Emily Polk & Todd Wilson
Produced by: The School of Chemical Sciences & The Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Images courtesy of The University of Illinois Archives & Carol Brady Fonvielle
Carlos Montezuma: Changing is Not Vanishing is a documentary film on the story of Dr. Carlos Montezuma, the first Native American alumnus of the University of Illinois. Montezuma was born in 1866 in the Arizona territory. As a small boy, he was stolen from his family and sold as a slave. He spent his early childhood on the road with an Italian photographer, and performed with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show before starting school in Chicago.
In 1884, Montezuma was the first Native American to graduate from the University of Illinois and later became one of the first to earn a medical degree. After working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a reservation doctor and witnessing the widespread poverty and bureaucratic corruption, he fought tirelessly for Native American rights and citizenship. When his own Yavapai tribe faced removal from their ancestral home, Montezuma went to Washington, D.C., to fight for and finally secure their land and water rights, setting a precedent for other Indian nations. Narration is by Hattie Kauffman, longtime CBS news reporter/anchor and a member of the Nez Perce tribe.
“Carlos Montezuma: Changing is Not Vanishing” was produced by the university’s Office of Public Affairs and the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics, with additional support from the Illinois Humanities Council.