In addition to the occupation-related damage to her eyes, she had financial struggles, and was the sole support for her ill mother until she died.[1] Away from Howard, her options as an African-American woman scientist were limited to teaching positions without access to research facilities and support.[2] In the 1950s, she hospitalized herself for mental health problems.[2] Roger Arliner Young died on November 9, 1964[2] in New Orleans, Louisiana.