by Gabriella Kiernan
Women’s History Month: A series celebrating women from all walks of life. It is The Helix’s tribute to Women’s History Month.
During Women’s History Month, it is important that we recognize unnoticed, neglected women and their achievements, especially those in male-dominated science fields. One of these women is Mae C. Jemison, who in 1987 became the first African American female astronaut and the first black woman to travel to space. Her efforts were a huge step for African Americans and women in astronomy. She is still alive today at only 64 years old.
Early Life
Mae C. Jemison was born the youngest of three children in Decatur, Alabama on October 17, 1956. Her father was a carpenter and her mother was a teacher, and when Jemison was three, they moved their family to Chicago, Illinois. It was here that her interest in science began to develop, as she had more resources and family around her to influence her. Her parents were supportive and said that Jemison was an intelligent kid, with many interests outside of science, such as sewing, skiing, African art, and dancing. Even in elementary school, she would spend her days in the library reading about anthropology, archaeology, evolution, and astronomy. Her parents say that she would even perform experiments on herself when she was ill, showing her driven personality and love for science from a very young age.
Education
Jemison was an honors student at Morgan Park High School, and it was there that she decided she wanted to become a biomedical engineer. She graduated in 1973, at the age of 16, and earned a National Achievement Scholarship for Stanford University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree. Just like in elementary school, she involved herself in many extracurriculars in college. She was the head of the Black Student Union and participated in dance and theater. After Stanford, she attended medical school at Cornell University, where she studied internationally in Cuba and Kenya and worked in Thailand at a Cambodian refugee camp. She earned her medical doctorate in 1981.
Career as a Doctor
Before working for NASA, Jemison entered a career as a physician. Right after graduating medical school, she interned at USC Medical Center in California to become a general practitioner. According to Biography.com, “For the next two and a half years, she was the area Peace Corps medical officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia where she also taught and did medical research." It was here where she was involved in working with the CDC and other organizations on many projects, including the hepatitis B vaccine.
Working for NASA
When she returned home from Liberia, Jemison decided to apply to NASA’s astronaut training program, something she had been dreaming of since she was a young kid. The Challenger disaster, a tragic space shuttle accident that killed all crew members aboard, in 1986 delayed NASA’s selection, but she applied again, and on June 4, 1987, she was one of the 15 people chosen out of a field of 2,000 to undergo a year of training under NASA. She eventually earned the title of science mission specialist, which made her responsible for performing experiments on the space shuttle.
On September 12, 1992, Jemison flew into space aboard the Endeavour with six other astronauts. This historic takeoff officially made her the first African American woman to fly into space, and aboard with her was the first Japanese astronaut to go to space, Mohri Mamoru. Dartmouth University says, “While in space, Jemison was charged with conducting experiments on weightlessness and motion sickness.” On the Endeavour, their purpose was to perform about 44 experiments on materials and life sciences, which mostly involved human health and physiology. “Materials science investigations covered such fields as biotechnology, electronic materials, fluid dynamics and transport phenomena, glasses and ceramics, metals and alloys, and acceleration measurements.” The crew spent eight days testing these experiments on fish, bacteria, and each other, before returning home on September 20, 1992.
After NASA & Jemison’s Impact
During and after working for NASA, Jemison was involved with many organizations for science. She was a part of the American Medical Association, the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was also a part of the World Sickle Cell Foundation, American Express Geography Competition and the Center for the Prevention of Childhood Malnutrition, all three of which she held prominent roles in. In 1993, she retired from NASA to accept a teaching fellowship at Dartmouth and establish the Jemison Group. This group, according to the Dorothy Jemison Foundation, was “...a technology consulting firm integrating critical socio-cultural issues into the design of engineering and science projects, such as satellite technology for health care delivery and solar dish Stirling engine electricity in developing countries.”
Jemison made history and took huge strides for women, African Americans, and other minority groups. Women, especially black women, are severely underrepresented in STEM careers. Often, they don’t get the credit they deserve, and are steered away from the sciences at an early age. All of this discourages young women and African Americans from following their actual goals. It is unfortunate that representation for African American women is so late and long in coming, but it is undeniably amazing that Jemison gave so many young girls who want to be astronauts an idol to aspire to. Even though Women’s History Month is almost over, there is always time to acknowledge incredible women like Mae C. Jemison who make up women’s history. This is a list of just some of the awards and honors she earned for her achievements:
1988: Essence Science and Technology Award
1990: Gamma Sigma Gamma Woman of the Year
1992: Ebony Black Achievement
1992: Alternative school in Detroit named Mae C. Jemison Academy after her
1993: Montgomery Fellowship from Dartmouth College
Sources
Biographical Data. (1993, March). Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/jemison_mae.pdf
Dr. Mae Jemison. (2017). Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://jemisonfoundation.org/about/mae-jemison/
Dunbar, B. (2010, April 2). STS-47 (1279290182 943963333 R. Jeanne, Ed.). Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-47.html
Mae C. Jemison. (1993). Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://montgomery.dartmouth.edu/mae-c-jemison
Mae C. JEMISON. (2017, April 27). Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://www.biography.com/astronaut/mae-c-jemison
Mae Jemison. (2021, February 11). Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mae-Jemison
Redd, N. T. (2018, October 04). Mae Jemison: Astronaut Biography. Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://www.space.com/17169-mae-jemison-biography.html