“Speaking of Hidden Figures,” during a 30-minute exchange between Port of Harlem publisher Wayne Young and historian CR Gibbs, a part of the informative discussion went like this on Port of Harlem Podcasts:

Host Wayne Young: Is this the making of another movie? 

Guest CR Gibbs: Oh, I would think so.

The film "Oppenheimer" raked in $80.5 million in the United States on its opening weekend. In the international market, it took in about $93 million for a total of more than $174 million, according to BoxOfficeMojo.

The movie purports to show a critical time in the life of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. In one of the greatest scientific efforts during WW II, the Manhattan Project marshalled the efforts of over 200,000 scientists, technicians, and workers and helped win the war by dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan.

The cast list for the $100 million "Oppenheimer" mentions only one Black scientist.

Was the only Black in the movie the only one in real life involved with the project? Who was he and what did he do? To answer these and other questions about Blacks and the bomb, we have as our guest, author, lecturer, popular Port of Harlem contributor, and historian of the African diaspora, C.R. Gibbs on Port of Harlem Podcasts.

Additionally, Gibbs added that WEB Dubois and Langston Hughes questioned the connection between nuclear weapons and racism. DuBois asked why the bomb was dropped on the Japanese and not the Germans, though it was German Jews who told the US about the German research in the development of nuclear weapons.

 “There would not have been a bomb without Africa,” explains Gibbs. Here are few other hidden scientist Gibbs mentioned:

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Here are a few of the people CR Gibbs spoke of during the podcast:

J. Ernest Wilkens

Samuel P. Massie Jr.

Carolyn Beatrice Parker

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Listener Comment
I just finished listening to your podcast on Oppenheimer, the missing Blacks and Africa's contribution. What a fascinating account of the contribution and the roles of African Americans in the world. (The film) Oppenheimer is another example of figures being hidden and white America then and now still telling half truths, which is a whole lie!

- Ron Moses Elevation Enrichment & Empowerment Ministries