“Because of my family and our community, my childhood was unique. I never learned what I couldn’t do — as a child, as a woman, or as a Black woman.”
Dr. Margaret S. Collins
Dr. Margaret S. Collins, AKA “The Termite Lady,” was the first Black woman entomologist and the third Black woman zoologist. She was a field biologist, termite scientist, and human rights activist. Let’s talk about her brilliance!
Dr. Collins started college at age 14! and received her BS from West Virginia State University in 1943 and her PhD from University of Chicago in 1950. Dr. Alfred Emerson was her PhD mentor, and while his mentorship protected her from racism, it did not protect her from sexism. In fact, Emerson himself felt that women were “annoying” in the field; consequently, he kept her in the laboratory working with his [very large] termite collection. Following graduation, Dr. Collins went on to briefly teach at Howard University, then Florida A&M University due to the sexism she experienced at Howard.
Dr. Collins took a five-year break to focus on her activism work (1952-1957). I find it incredibly brave and selfless to put one’s career on hold for that long for the cause. Dr. Collins was giving talks on human rights issues, and even had to cancel a talk on biology and equality due to a bomb threat. During her activist work, she was tailed by the FBI 😧 and served as a volunteer bus driver for the Tallahassee Bus Boycott.
Concerning her research, Dr. Collins conducted research in North and South America, specializing in the insects from Guyana and Florida. She and her colleague Dr. David Nickle discovered a new species of termite called the Florida damp wood termite (Neotermes luykxi). Her research areas included evolution of desiccation resistance in termites, tolerance to high temperature, species abundance, chemical defense and defense behavior, and more. Now I gotta hit the good sis Google to find out what desiccation means lol.
Dr. Collins eventually returned to Howard as a full time professor and also took a tenured position at Federal City College (now University of District of Columbia). She served as president of the Entomological Society of Washington and as a research associate at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. With grants from the Smithsonian and Howard, she led an expedition to Mexico. A few years later, while in Guyana, she reopened the Alfred Emerson Research Station. That same year, she coordinated a symposium for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which focused on Science and the Question of Human Equality. The next year, she published a book under the same name as the symposium’s focus. Y’all. The Termite Lady was busy.
Dr. Margaret S. Collins was out here! and paved the way for new generations of Black folks in entomology. 🐜
I only shared a snippet of what I found. Share with me and others what you learn about The Termite Lady!
Resources:
- Ask An Entomologist – Featuring Black Stories [article]
- Tallahassee Bus Boycott [article]
- People Pill – Margaret S. Collins [article]
- Remembering Dr. Margaret Collins [article]
- Margaret Collins Used Biology to Push for Equality [article]
- Margaret S. Collins – Pioneering Black Entomologist [article]
- Science and the Question of Human Equality [book]
In Solidarity,