Elbert Cox

Elbert Cox

Elbert Frank Cox was born on December 5, 1895 in Evansville, IN.   His parents were Eugenia D. Talbot and Johnson D. Cox.   Johnson D. Cox was a high school principal.   The district of Evansville was racially mixed but schooling was segregated.   His family had a strong belief in education and was very religious people.
Elbert Frank Cox was the first African American to earn a PHD in Mathematics.   Elbert Cox is attributed with opening the door in Mathematics discipline for many other black scholars.   Cox was a teacher and an advisor who inspired and helped several young black mathematicians to achieve success in this field.  
When Elbert was in high school he showed talents which made his choice of career a difficult one.   He was a talented violinist but also showed remarkable talents in mathematics and physics.   What must have made decision harder to make was that Cox was awarded a music scholarship which would have enabled him to travel to Europe to study at the Prague Conservatory of Music.   His love of mathematics won he entered Indiana University, receiving an A.B. in 1917 having majored in mathematics and scored an “A” in every mathematics examination he took.   The transcript which he was presented with had “Colored” printed across it.   He was appointed as a mathematics teacher at Alves Street School in Henderson, Kentucky, but early in 1918 he resigned and enlisted in the army.   World War I was drawing to a close but Cox was sent to France where he served until 1919 when he was discharged.
In 1920, Cox obtained a job as an instructor at Shaw University in Raleigh, NC.   During his employment at Shaw University, he was appointed chairman to the Department of Natural Sciences.   He left Shaw University in 1922 to attend Cornell University with a full scholarship.   Elbert Cox studied pure mathematics, a field concerned with mathematical theory rather than with practice or application.   In 1925, he earned his doctorate degree from Cornell.   He was the first...