A group of involved physicists met at Fisk University in 1972 to honor three well known African-American physicists: Dr. Donald Edwards, Dr. John McNeile Hunter, and Dr. Halson V. Eagleson. On April 28, 1977, the Society was established at Morgan State University, with its founding co-chairs being Walter E. Massey and James Davenport. As of 2023, the NSBP relocated its headquarters from Arlington, Virginia to the Optica headquarters in Washington, DC.