C OMPARATIVELY little has been reported concerning the reasons for the scarcity of Black female scientists, mathematicians and engineers (Clewell & Anderson 1991). White male domination of these fields may be one critical reason for the dearth of Black female career scientists. Historically, women, regardless of race or qualifications, have been unwelcomed and actively discouraged from pursuing careers in these disciplines (Rossiter 1982). For Blacks, many of the obstacles to their pursuit of careers in science, mathematics and engineering (the quantitative disciplines) are rooted in the history of Blacks in America. During slavery (1641-1863), it was illegal to educate Blacks in the United States (Franklin 1976). People of African descent were considered to be innately inferior and uneducable. After the Civil War, during the short period of the Reconstruction governments, Black children were able to receive formal education. When the Reconstruction governments were overthrown, the schools were segregated by race, and those assigned to Blacks were not only separate, but decidedly unequal. The stigma of inequality remained. Since the end of slavery, Blacks have had to overcome both the stigma and the self-image of inferior intelligence and capability. This stigma, still perpetuated in many subtle (and not so subtle) ways, does little to inspire young Black children to pursue the quantitative disciplines. Rather, they are steered to traditional areas of study, those considered "open" to Blacks. Science has never been and still is not one of these fields. As a result, there are comparatively few professional Black scientists. For example, in 1993, African-Americans received only 6.3% of the bachelor's degrees, 3.1% of the masters degrees, and only 1.9% of the doctoral degrees awarded in the quantitative sciences (National Science Foundation 1995). Therefore, for the majority of Black children, Black scientists as role models are practically nonexistent. Now, however, as school curricula are revised, the contributions of Black scientists are beginning to be recognized (Hacker 1992).