In this series for CNN and AT&T called Forces of Change, brilliance doesn’t have a color—it illuminates all things. Yet too often some of the brightest people have been denied opportunity because of systemic racism and structural barriers. In the 1970s, compelled in part by the Civil Rights Movement, AT&T developed a pipeline of technical talent from underrepresented groups that fed into the Bell Labs system. Now referred to as the “Black Scientific Renaissance,” these pioneers made tremendous advances that altered the course of history.