Charles Barkley Pledges $1M To School Where Black Students Presented New Pythagoras Proof

NBA legend Charles Barkley has pledged a $1 million donation to St. Mary’s Academy, where two high school students, Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Johnson, claimed to have solved a mathematical mystery.

The duo’s work, unveiled at the American Mathematical Society’s Annual Southeastern Conference, presented a new proof of Pythagoras’ theorem that many mathematicians thought impossible.

Jackson and Johnson have submitted their discoveries for final peer review and publication.

NBA Legend Charles Barkley’s Donation

After learning about their achievement during a segment on CBS’ “60 Minutes” featuring St. Mary’s Academy, Barkley was deeply moved and pledged a $1 million donation to the school. 

“These beautiful Black women, man, they’re just the high achievers,” Barkley said, per AL.com.  “A lot is demanded of everybody at the school – high excellence. And these two young Black women did something in mathematics that was incredible. It just inspired me.”

Jackson and Johnson – who graduated from St Mary’s as its valedictorian – are now college freshmen.

Jackson is enrolled New Orleans’ Xavier University’s pharmacy department and Johnson is studying environmental engineering at Louisiana State University.

St. Mary’s Academy

St. Mary’s Academy is a 157-year-old Catholic school for young Black women in New Orleans.

Founded in 1867 by the Sisters of the Holy Family, a Black Catholic sisterhood established by Henriette Delille, the school has long been a place of opportunity and education for Black women. 

Delille, the daughter of a free Black woman and a white Frenchman, was dedicated to teaching enslaved and free Blacks, defying the laws of Louisiana at the time.

Image credits: Lisa O’Connor/ AFP and Brett Duke / The Times-Picayune