Ernest Everett Just (1883 - 1941)

Born 14 Aug 1883 in Charleston, South Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Ethel W (Highwarden) Just — married 26 Jun 1912 in District of Columbia, United States

Died 27 Oct 1941 at age 58 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

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Biography

Ernest Just is Notable.

Ernest Just was awarded the Spingarn Medal for his efforts as a pioneer in the field of biology.

Dr. Ernest Everett Just was awarded the first Spingarn award by the NAACP for his efforts as a pioneer in the field of biology.^[1] He was also an academic and science writer.^[1] He worked in the fields of marine biology, cytology, and parthenogenesis, advocating the study of whole cells under normal conditions rather than breaking them apart in a laboratory setting.^[1]

Early Life

His parents were Charles Frazier Just Jr. and Mary Matthews. His father and grandfather, Charles Sr., were builders. They both died in 1887 when Ernest was just four years old, the father due to alcoholism. ^[2] To support the family, Ernest's mother, Mary, went to work in the phosphate mines on James Island, South Carolina.^[2] She also had a town named in her honor, Maryville, South Carolina.^[2] He can be found on the 1900 census records of Sullivan Island at age 17, listed under his stepfather's last name (Williams), in Maryville/St. Andrew's Twp, Charleston, South Carolina. ^[3]

At age 16, Ernest earned a teaching degree from the Colored Normal Industrial Agricultural and Mechanical College of South Carolina (now South Carolina State University).^[2] Mary and Ernest felt the schools in the north were better, so she sent him to Kimball Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire.^[2] When the school burned down, he returned to South Carolina to visit, only to find his mother had been buried an hour before his arrival.^[1] Brokenhearted, he never returned to South Carolina again.^[2]

He enrolled at Dartmouth College, and it was there that he became interested in biology.^[2] He graduated magna cum laude in 1907, winning numerous prizes and honors in sociology, history, botany, and zoology.^[2] He was the only Black man in his graduating class.^[2] Upon graduation, he was offered a job teaching English at Howard University. ^[2] Two years later he was offered an appointment as an instructor in the biology department.^[2] He established and became the head of Howard's Department of Zoology.^{[2] [4]}

Although Ernest was initially discouraged by the lack of opportunity to conduct research because he was a Black scientist, he did eventually come to the notice of Frank Lillie, Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and was invited to to study with him and act as a lab assistant.^[2] In 1915, despite the delays and obstacles, Ernest earned his PhD in 1916, summa cum laude, from the University of Chicago.^[2] He also researched in Italy, France, and Germany and published over 50 papers.^[2] His scientific ideas were innovative and radical.^[2]

Marriage

Ernest Everett Just married Ethel Highwarden on 26 June 1912 in Washington, D.C.^[5] They had three children:

• Margaret Just (1913)
• Highwarden Just (1918)
• Maribel Just (1922)

Ethel was well-educated, extremely intelligent, and sophisticated, but their marriage was not an easy one.^[2] While Ernest was in Germany he had a couple of affairs with German women.^[2] The marriage ended and Ernest married Hedwig Schnetzler in Germany. They, and their daughter Elizabeth, had to flee back to the United States after the Germans invaded France.^[2] They traveled to the United States aboard the S. S. Excambion from Lisbon, Portugal on 4 September 1940.^[6]

Death

Ernest was quite ill at the time he returned to the United States. He had been working at the Station Biologique in Roscoff and did not evacuate when the French government requested foreigners to.^[1] In 1940, when Germany invaded, Ernest was imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp.^[1] His wife, a German citizen, contacted the U.S. State Department for help returning him to the United States.^[1] Ernest had been ill before his imprisonment and died of pancreatic cancer in October 1941.^[2][1] He was 58. He was laid to rest at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery, Suitland, Maryland.

Legacy

1983 - Biography written by Kenneth R. Manning, Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just; received the 1983 Pfizer Award and was a finalist for the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.

1994 - The first award and and lecture dedicated to Dr. Just by the American Society for Cell Biology.

1996 - The U.S. Postal Service issued a 32-cent commemorative stamp honoring Dr. Just.

2000 - The Medical University of South Carolina began hosting the annual Ernest E. Just Symposium to encourage students of color to pursue careers in the biomedical sciences and health professions.

2002 - Molefi Kete Asante included him in his book, 100 Greatest African Americans.

2008 - A National Science Foundation-funded symposium honored his scientific work held at Howard University.

2009 - Molecular Reproduction and Development dedicated a special issue containing papers contributed by many of the speakers at the 2008 symposium.

2013 - International symposium honoring Dr. Just held at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Naples, Italy.

2018 - A children's book about Dr. Just, The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just, written by Mélina Mangal and illustrated by Luisa Uribe, was published by Millbrook Press.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7} Wikipedia contributors. "Ernest Everett Just." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 17 Jan. 2018. Web. 17 Jan. 2018.
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19} "Dr. Ernest Everett Just," Capital Region Ques Member Portal, online article, (accessed 20 February 2021) NOTE: The website has moved to http://www.capitalregionques.org and is now a members-only site.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (ark:/61903/1:1:M3RF-MS5 : Sat Apr 22 00:09:16 UTC 2023), Entry for Ernest Williams, 1900.
4. ↑ "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-8BTZ-F8P?cc=1968530&wc=9FHK-W3D%3A928310901%2C928373801 : 24 August 2019), District of Columbia > District of Columbia no 8; Fagan, Edward-Stewart, Hershall H. > image 2177 of 5726; citing NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
5. ↑ "District of Columbia Marriages, 1811-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9B-Y12Z : 15 January 2021), Ernest E Just and Ethel Highwarden, 26 Jun 1912; citing p. 57496, Records Office, Washington D.C.; FHL microfilm 2,051,877.
6. ↑ "New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24LS-KRS : 11 December 2020), Ernest E Just, 1940; citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

• Wikidata: Item Q724591

See also:

• His parents and sister in 1880 enumeration "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6SM-7BB : 13 November 2020), Just in household of Charles Just, Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, United States; citing enumeration district ED 59, sheet 140B, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,255,222.
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MKL2-KNH : accessed 12 February 2021), Earnest E Just in household of Richard E Schuh, Precinct 10, Washington, District of Columbia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 202, sheet 9B, family 180, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 155; FHL microfilm 1,374,168.
• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNLB-Z35 : 1 February 2021), Ernest Just, 1920. Washington, District of Columbia, United States
• "New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24F1-JR6 : 11 December 2020), Ernest E Just, 1930; citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K73W-M2M : 24 May 2020), Ernest Just, Tract 34, District of Columbia, Police Precinct 13, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 1-515, sheet 11B, line 68, family 174, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 571.
• Selassie, W. Gabriel. “Ernest Everett Just (1883-1941),” ‘’Black Past’’, online article, 30 January 2007 (https://www.blackpast.org : accessed 20 February 2021); citing Kenneth Manning’s ‘’Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983) and Kwame Anthony Appiah & Henry Louis Gates, Jr., ‘’Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African & African American Experience’’ (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) BlackPast.org
• Distinguished African American Scientists of the 20th Century, Oryx Press, 1996. Pages 201-204.