2025 Black History Month: Black Plant Scientists Spotlight

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A Message from the Initiative Originator, Kevin Cox Jr., Ph.D:

What has become a tradition of mine since February 2021, every day of Black History Month I highlight a Black botanist, resulting in over 110 Black botanists and their work being highlighted and amplified by others over the last four years. This effort was performed on my X (formerly known as Twitter) profile from February 2021 – 2023 before moving this effort to Plantae in February 2024. This year, I am excited to present another list consisting of 28 Black botanists on Plantae.

I would like to thank ASPB (particularly Sarah Black and Jayson Padilla) for offering their platform and assistance for this tradition. Lastly, I apologize to anyone that was left off this year’s list. There are many more Black plant scientists out there – your effort is not forgotten.

         

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

         

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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About Kevin Cox Jr., PhD

Kevin Cox is a HHMI Hanna Gray Fellow who is a joint faculty member as an Assistant Professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis and an Assistant Member/Principal Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Kevin’s research interest is in spatial genomics, or the spatial organization of genes, with a core objective of understanding how cells use genes to communicate information throughout the plant. He aims to use spatial genomics to further understand how crops defend against pathogens and how duckweed plants rapidly grow and develop. Kevin is also a co-director of Front & Center, a visibility and community building campaign for Black, Indigenous, & Latine scientists in the plant biology community.