Read on Twitter
The people who built more than just a particle accelerator.
This was such a ride of a video to create from start to finish. If you've got 7 minutes, please watch this week's video that begins with architecture and concludes with human rights.
Fermilab
This was such a ride of a video to create from start to finish. If you've got 7 minutes, please watch this week's video that begins with architecture and concludes with human rights.
Fermilab
After you watch, definitely click on the "relevant links" in the YouTube description. They illuminate far more than I could fit into the video.
So, I have to share my rabbit hole into discovering more about @Fermilab's past.
Fermilab gets much deserved fanfare for its thoughtfulness about art and design, which was the vision of its founding director Robert Rathbun Wilson, who was both a physicist and a sculptor.
Fermilab gets much deserved fanfare for its thoughtfulness about art and design, which was the vision of its founding director Robert Rathbun Wilson, who was both a physicist and a sculptor.
But, I began digging into some writing from Wilson himself about the founding of @Fermilab in the 1960s, and found this footnote he wrote that made me pause and begin digging further. https://history.fnal.gov/GoldenBooks/gb_wilson2.html
Who was Kennard Williams?
Who was Kennard Williams?
But first, I was impressed that this was the official policy of @Fermilab in the 1960s.
Sadly, this is something that tech and science companies should still be stating strongly TODAY, but most fall short.
Sadly, this is something that tech and science companies should still be stating strongly TODAY, but most fall short.
So, back to Kennard Williams. I was only able to find one photo of him. His title was "Equal Opportunity and Community Relations officer".
I found this short summary of the significance of his work: https://history.fnal.gov/significant_staff.html#Kennard_Williams
Fermilab
I found this short summary of the significance of his work: https://history.fnal.gov/significant_staff.html#Kennard_Williams
Fermilab
From that summary:
"Williams' job is to encourage [Fermilab] to give advance notice of their needs for construction so that he &his staff can search for qualified small businesses that may have been part of the big picture of discrimination in any way &offer them [participation]"
"Williams' job is to encourage [Fermilab] to give advance notice of their needs for construction so that he &his staff can search for qualified small businesses that may have been part of the big picture of discrimination in any way &offer them [participation]"
"We have to open some doors for the people who have been victims of discrimination in many forms. ... You just have to `say it like it is.' While we are building an atomic accelerator we have a chance to think of more than just that." - Kennard Williams (cont)
"If we don't give more than `construction and completion' to this project we've missed an opportunity to do something about this human relations bit and it could do a lot for the future problems that we face." - Kennard Williams on the building out of @Fermilab in 1969
In 1969, 40% of @Fermilab's small contracts went to black contractors, during a time in which they cite <1% of government-funded contracts went to white women/POC combined. https://news.fnal.gov/2017/03/looking-back-fermilab-civil-rights-era/
In @Fermilab's archives, they have interviews with early black employees at Fermilab about their experiences. Nope, spoiler, this is not a thread about how awesome everything was.
Halbert Landers was a long-time employee, quoted below.
Fermilab
Halbert Landers was a long-time employee, quoted below.
Fermilab
That quote is from this article from Fermilab documenting an early training/skill acquisition program they implemented https://news.fnal.gov/2017/03/looking-back-fermilab-civil-rights-era/
Fermilab
Fermilab
I then found a more recent interview with 3 men who were recruited out of high school in 1969/1970 and each worked at @Fermilab for 50(!) years.
https://news.fnal.gov/2020/02/coiley-danner-green-150-years-of-fermilab-history/
From left: Johnny Green, Keith Coiley & Curtis Danner
by Reidar Hahn, Fermilab
https://news.fnal.gov/2020/02/coiley-danner-green-150-years-of-fermilab-history/
From left: Johnny Green, Keith Coiley & Curtis Danner
by Reidar Hahn, Fermilab
Here's an excerpt from the interview with Green, Coiley, and Danner.
But, what's even more important to read is Green, Coiley, and Danner's response to what it has been like to work at the lab in MODERN TIMES.
(Screenshotted text, but you can read it in full here: https://news.fnal.gov/2020/02/coiley-danner-green-150-years-of-fermilab-history/)
(Screenshotted text, but you can read it in full here: https://news.fnal.gov/2020/02/coiley-danner-green-150-years-of-fermilab-history/)
Highlighting from that excerpt:
"They felt like we were getting extra opportunity over them w/out realizing that this is the 1st time we were getting an opportunity. You saw a buddy system being formed over the years, or you saw opps were given more readily to some over others."
"They felt like we were getting extra opportunity over them w/out realizing that this is the 1st time we were getting an opportunity. You saw a buddy system being formed over the years, or you saw opps were given more readily to some over others."
"I felt that whenever we started to really stand out, the opportunity was taken away. Many of us weren’t allowed to grow. It stagnated our professional growth. Given the position I hold, I really should have been invited to more “inner circle” meetings. I’ve never been invited."
"I think people in general seem blind to the contribution made by my generation. My generation of minority colleagues is done, and I feel like the lab is moving on, not looking back."
So, I don't have some grand finalizing point, except to say that what made Fermilab significant was who they hired as their early employees and contractors, and that people like Kennard Williams (who deserves a Wikipedia page) put in the actual time-consuming/necessary work...
...but this also shows how that work needs to be equally SHARED/carried by all coworkers and future hires & how there needs to be a culture of ever-lasting vigilance against everyday racism handed between generations at institutions, otherwise you end up with stories like these.
An additional awesome find as a result of this thread.
Kennard Williams recalling that the founding director didn’t want him to be “nice and quiet”, he wanted him to do the work of hiring those who’d been minoritized.
“The name of the game is power.”
https://twitter.com/mrbeamjockey/status/1273396690364571649?s=21 https://twitter.com/mrbeamjockey/status/1273396690364571649
Kennard Williams recalling that the founding director didn’t want him to be “nice and quiet”, he wanted him to do the work of hiring those who’d been minoritized.
“The name of the game is power.”
https://twitter.com/mrbeamjockey/status/1273396690364571649?s=21 https://twitter.com/mrbeamjockey/status/1273396690364571649
