A Harvard Professor Mocked a Black Janitor With an “Impossible” Equation — Then She Solved It in Minutes
She'll never understand a single line of this. Harvard Professor Jeffrey Ashford said, pointing his marker straight at the black janitor in the back of the auditorium. He looked her up and down, slowly, deliberately, then smirked at the crowd.
In fact, I'll make a bet. Anyone in this hall who solves my equation in 2 minutes, I marry them on the spot. He laughed and threw the marker at her feet.
Even her. Pick that up while you're down there. Three students in the front did not. A reporter in row three set down her pen, and on the panel, Eleanor Vance, visiting from Princeton, narrowed her eyes without a word.
The black woman bent down. She picked up the marker. She didn't look at Ashford. She looked at the equation glowing on the screen. And she went very still.