Clyde Foster
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Clyde Foster (November 21, 1931 – March 6, 2017) was an American scientist and mathematician. He worked for the
Army Ballistic Missile Agency The Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) was formed to develop the U.S. Army's first large ballistic missile. The agency was established at Redstone Arsenal on 1 February 1956, and commanded by Major General John B. Medaris with Wernher v ...
and then for
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
, and from 1975 to 1986 was the head of Equal Employment Opportunity at
Marshall Space Flight Center Marshall Space Flight Center (officially the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center; MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville postal address), is the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government's ...
in
Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...
. He is credited with setting up training programs that allowed hundreds of African Americans to get the training necessary for positions and promotions at NASA in Huntsville, when Alabama was segregated and African Americans were denied those opportunities. To that purpose he also helped found a
Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
program at his alma mater,
Alabama A&M University Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M or AAMU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Normal, Huntsville, Alabama. Founded in 1875, it took its present name in 1969. It was one of about 180 " normal s ...
, a
historically black university Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African Americans. Most are in the Southern U ...
, where he headed the Computer Science program while on loan from NASA. In 1981 he was awarded the Philip A. Hart Award for his "significant contribution toward improving urban and working environments". Foster was also a community activist, and helped revive
Triana, Alabama Triana () is a municipality in Madison County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur, AL Combined Statistical Area. The population was 2,890 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 4,936 in 2024. History Trian ...
, a small majority-African American community near Huntsville; he was instrumental in the community regaining its
charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
, was a plaintiff in lawsuits filed over DDT pollution in Triana, and for two decades served as its mayor.


Biography

Clyde Foster was born in
Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
, on November 21, 1931, as the sixth child of twelve. He attended A. H. Parker High School, and the experience of living as an African American in segregated Birmingham made him realize he needed to get away; for that reason he attended
Alabama A&M University Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M or AAMU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Normal, Huntsville, Alabama. Founded in 1875, it took its present name in 1969. It was one of about 180 " normal s ...
(a historically black university in the north of the state), where he received his BS degree in Mathematics and Chemistry in 1954. After serving two years in the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
, he moved to
Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. Abou ...
, and worked as a science teacher in
Dallas County, Alabama Dallas County is a County (United States), county located in the Central Alabama, central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 38,462. The county seat is Selma, Alabama, Selma. ...
, from 1956 to 1957. Foster left Selma and became a mathematician technician at the
Army Ballistic Missile Agency The Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) was formed to develop the U.S. Army's first large ballistic missile. The agency was established at Redstone Arsenal on 1 February 1956, and commanded by Major General John B. Medaris with Wernher v ...
, at
Redstone Arsenal Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army base adjacent to Huntsville, Alabama in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. A census-designated place in Madison County, Alabama, United States, it is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistica ...
in
Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...
, as part of a team that did calculations for rockets. ABMA became part of NASA in 1958, and in 1960, he and a group of colleagues were transferred to
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
's
Marshall Space Flight Center Marshall Space Flight Center (officially the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center; MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville postal address), is the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government's ...
, which had just been founded. He was assigned a position as a mathematician and instructor in the Computation Laboratory. Around that time Foster was considering leaving, but President
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...
's
announcement Announcement may refer to: * "Announcement" (song), a 2008 song by Common * Announcement (computing), a message about a new software version * ''The Announcement'' (film), a 2018 comedy-drama film * Campaign announcement, a type of political spee ...
that the new administration would charge NASA to go to the Moon made him stay. Foster worked regularly as a recruiter, trying to attract black workers to Marshall. The problem, both for hiring new workers and promoting current workers at NASA, was that training was required, and while NASA itself, as a federal entity, did not segregate, its location in a segregated state meant that employees and future employees who were African-American could not attend the kinds of training programs they needed in order to be hired or promoted, since those were held in public facilities, which were segregated (such as ballrooms of hotels that allowed whites only). Soon after he joined NASA he was asked to train a white colleague to become his boss, at a time when the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama was demanding change. Foster complained to his boss and refused the assignment, and then demanded that NASA start a program to train black workers. In the end, NASA agreed and started a training program in collaboration with
Alabama A&M University Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M or AAMU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Normal, Huntsville, Alabama. Founded in 1875, it took its present name in 1969. It was one of about 180 " normal s ...
. That the program in a way continued segregation was of secondary concern to Foster. At the end of the 1960s he persuaded
Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( ; ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German–American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and '' Allgemeine SS'', the leading figure in the development of ...
, who had worked in
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
's rocket development program and later headed the Marshall Center, to support him in setting up a Computer Science program at Alabama A&M. The university initially was not interested, being more focused on more traditional training in nursing, education, and farming, besides civil engineering. Foster persisted, and in 1968 he became the director of Alabama A&M's Computer Science Department (until 1970), and established the program's undergraduate degree; NASA paid his salary for those two years. In 1972, Foster joined the Equal Opportunity Office at Marshall, as a staff officer, and in 1975 he became the office's director. His job was to ensure that all the Center's operations and its contractors provided equal opportunity. He retired in 1986. In this capacity, and through the establishment of training programs, he helped hundreds of African-Americans become employed by NASA. Foster died on March 6, 2017.


Other activities

Foster was mayor of
Triana, Alabama Triana () is a municipality in Madison County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur, AL Combined Statistical Area. The population was 2,890 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 4,936 in 2024. History Trian ...
, a settlement of less than a hundred African-American families near Huntsville. The town had collapsed after the re-routing of a railroad to bypass it. Foster came to know the community after he met his future wife Dorothy in college; she lived in Triana, and he moved there after coming to work for NASA. Eight years after moving there, he managed to sway a probate judge to revive the municipality, having discovered that its
municipal charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally, the granting of a charter ...
had never actually been dissolved and that Alabama law allowed such still-chartered municipalities to be revived. The judge subsequently named Foster mayor, and appointed a city council. A feature article in ''
Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...
'' credited Foster with reviving the town, which he hoped would share in the development book prompted in part by NASA. He was mayor for twenty years, from 1964 until September 1984. He also served on the state's Commission on Higher Education, on an appointment made in 1974 by Alabama Governor
George C. Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the longest-serving governor from the Democra ...
. With his to-be life-long friends Alonzo Toney and George Malone, in 1972 he co-founded Triana Industries, an electronics manufacturer with himself as president and 28 employees. Toney was the company vice-president and also the operations manager of the Alabama A&M Computer Services Center, and in 1984 later succeeded Foster as mayor of Triana. Malone was the general manager of Triana Industries. In 1981 Foster was awarded the Philip A. Hart Award for his "significant contribution toward improving urban and working environments". He was one of the plaintiffs in the 1980s lawsuits filed against
Olin Corporation Olin Corporation is an American manufacturer of ammunition, chlorine, and sodium hydroxide. The company traces its roots to two companies, both founded in 1892: Franklin W. Olin's Equitable Powder Company and the Mathieson Alkali Works. Acciden ...
over DDT pollution in Triana.


References


Reference bibliography

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Further reading

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External links


"Race and the Space Race"
including interview with Clyde Foster * {{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Clyde 1931 births 2017 deaths 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics 20th-century mayors of places in Alabama African-American mathematicians African-American mayors in Alabama African-American United States Army personnel Alabama A&M University alumni Alabama A&M University faculty Mathematicians from Alabama Mayors of places in Alabama Military personnel from Birmingham, Alabama NASA people People from Huntsville, Alabama Politicians from Birmingham, Alabama 21st-century African-American people