 Massie gained a master's degree in chemistry from Fisk University in Tennessee in 1940 on a scholarship, then taught for a year at Arkansas AM&N before going on to study for his PhD at Iowa State University.His supervisor was Henry Gilman, who was working on the Manhattan Project.Racial segregation at the university prevented him from living on campus, so he had to travel miles to university, where he was also not allowed to work in the same laboratories as white students.