First Black Woman Astronaut (Mae Jemison)
Mae Carol Jemison was born in Decatur, Alabama on October 17, 1956. She was the youngest of three children of Charlie and Dorothy Jemison. As a young girl her family relocated to Chicago where her father was a maintenance supervisor for a charity organization, and her mother worked as an elementary school teacher at Ludwig van Beethoven Elementary School. Jemison was a fan of Star Trek and seeing African American actress Nichelle Nichols portray a Lieutenant spiked her interest in space. This is why representation matters!
Jamieson was interested in science and her parents encouraged her talents and abilities in her early school years. Jemison spent a lot of time in the school library reading all sorts of books about science, but she took a real liking to astronomy. Jemison attended Morgan Park High School at the ripe age of 12, there she joined the cheerleading team and the Modern Dance Club. As Jemison loved dance and aspired of becoming a professional dancer. She learned serval dance styles from, ballet, jazz, African, Japanese, and modern dance. Jemison graduated from Morgan Park in 1973 and earned a National Achievement Scholarship. She left Chicago for the West Coast, where she attended Stanford University, at just 16 years old.
While at Stanford she studied chemical engineering (B.S) and African and African American studies (B.A). Jemison served as the head of the Black Student Union and choreographed the musical and dance production, “Out of the Shadows.” Jemison, still aspired to become an astronaut, during her last year at Stanford NASA encouraged civilians to apply for the space program, especially women and minorities. Jemison decided she wanted to build her resume before applying and so she did.
Jemison continued to study medicine and attended Cornell University Medical College. During her years at Cornell, she studied in Cuba to conduct a study funded by the American Medical Student Association. She also traveled to Thailand where she worked at a Cambodian refugee camp. She then traveled to Kenya while working for Flying Doctors. Although she was busy with medical school, Jemison didn’t lose her passion for dance. She continued studying dance by enrolling in classes at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She graduated with her M.D in 1981 and interned at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. In ’82 she worked as a general practitioner for Ross-Loos Medical Group. The following year Jemison joined the staff of the Peace Corps in 1983 and served as medical officer for two years. Jemison oversaw the health of Peace Corps volunteers serving in Liberia and Sierra Leone. She also supervised the pharmacy, laboratory, and medical staff. Jemison developed and implemented guidelines for health and safety issues, along with working for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), helping with research for various vaccines.
Following her return to the States, she settled in Los Angeles entering private practice, while taking graduate level engineering courses. In 1985, Jemison applied to the astronaut program but NASA postponed selection of new candidates. Jemison didn’t allow that to discourage her, she reapplied in 1987 and was one of 15 chosen out of approximately 2,000 candidates. On September 28, 1989, she was selected to join the STS-47 crew as a mission specialist. This was a new role introduced by NASA to focus on scientific experiments. Jemison flew on her only mission from September 12-20th, in 1992. She was one of seven members on board Space Shuttle Endeavour. While on her mission, she brought some inspiration; a poster from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, a West African statuette, and a photo of pioneering aviator Bessie Coleman (the first African American with an international pilot license). Thank You Mae Jemison for doing it first and showing little black girls, they too can be an astronaut.
Thank you, Mae Jemison for your contributions to the culture!