"Don't let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It's your place in the world; it's your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live." Mae Jemison
In the 1960s, every little boy’s dream, including mine, was to become an astronaut. For most of us, it was more like a pipe dream, but not for Mae Jemison. Mae was born in 1954, just a year before me, and the same year that Brown v. Board of Education ended legal segregation. Of course, illegal segregation continued for many years thereafter, but Mae grew up in an era technically, “post-segregation.”
Mae dreamed of going into space and one of the reasons she was inspired to do so was the 1960s television series, Star Trek. Actor Nichelle Nicholas who appeared on Star Trek inspired Mae Jemison to become an astronaut. Nicholas showed young people that space wasn’t just for boys.
On September 12, 1992, Mae Jemison flew into space on the Space Shuttle Endeavour with six other astronauts. The mission was labeled STS47, and she became the first Black woman in space fulfilling that life-long dream.
During her eight days in space, Jemison conducted experiments on weightlessness and motion sickness on the crew and herself. She was the mission’s “science specialist.” In all, she spent more than 190 hours in space before returning to Earth on September 20, 1992. Following her historic flight, Jemison noted that society should recognize how much both women and members of other minority groups can contribute if given the opportunity.
Just as interesting as her historic flight is the journey she made to get to that point. Mae Carol Jemison was born on October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama. She is the youngest child of Charlie Jemison, a roofer and carpenter, and Dorothy Jemison, an elementary school teacher. When Mae was 3 years old, the Jemison family moved to Chicago to take advantage of better educational opportunities. Her parents were supportive and encouraging of Mae’s talents and abilities throughout her early school years. She spent a considerable amount of time in her school library reading about all aspects of science, especially astronomy.
During her high school years, Mae determined that she wanted to pursue a career in biomedical engineering. She was attending Morgan Park High School in Chicago. Mae graduated in 1973 as a consistent honor student and then entered Stanford University on a National Achievement Scholarship.
Mae was a high achiever and interested in many activities including dance and theater, and she headed the Black Student Union at Stanford. There were very few other African American students in Jemison's classes at Stanford and she continued to experience discrimination from her teachers but this did not deter her. She received a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the university in 1977.
From there she went on to Cornell University Medical College. During her years there, she found time to expand her horizons by studying in Cuba and Kenya and working at a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand. She became a Doctor of Medicine in 1981.
Jemison interned at Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center and then worked as a general practitioner. Beginning in January 1983, she was the area Peace Corps medical officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia. She served in that position for two and a half years while also teaching and conducting medical research on projects related to rabies; schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease; and a Hepatitis B vaccine.
In 1985, Mae returned to the United States with her childhood dream still burning inside her. She made a career change at that point and determined to enter the NASA training program. Her tenacity and persistence paid off when she was selected as one of 15 candidates chosen from a field of 2000 applicants. Even though the Challenger disaster in 1986 delayed the selection process she continued to work toward her goal. She began training for her eventual historic trip into space.
On June 4, 1987, Jemison became the first Black woman to be admitted into the NASA astronaut training program. After more than a year of training, she became the first Black female astronaut, earning the title of science mission specialist. The job made her responsible for conducting crew-related scientific experiments on the space shuttle.
Then in 1992, she was selected for mission STS47 slated to go into space that September. Throughout the eight-day mission, she began communications on her shift with the salute "Hailing frequencies open", a quote from Star Trek’s Nichelle Nicholas’ character, Lt. Uhura. She also took a West African statuette and a photo of pioneering aviator Bessie Coleman, the first African American with an international pilot license.
Then another opportunity arose for Mae Jemison. In 1993, Jemison appeared as Lieutenant Palmer in "Second Chances", an episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, becoming the first real-life astronaut to appear on Star Trek. She had been invited to appear in the episode by none other than LeVar Burton who learned of her admiration for the series.
Jemison left NASA not long after her historic flight, but she was only getting started with her lifetime achievements. In 1993, she founded The Jemison Group Inc., a consulting firm that considers the sociocultural impact of technological advancements and design. Jemison also founded the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence and named the foundation in honor of her mother. One of the projects of the foundation is The Earth We Share, a science camp for students aged 12 to 16. The first camp began at Dartmouth in 1994.
Jemison was a professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth College from 1995 to 2002 where she directed the Jemison Institute for Advancing Technology in Developing Countries. Jemison continues to this day to advocate strongly in favor of science education and getting minority students interested in science. She is a member of various scientific organizations, such as the American Medical Association, the American Chemical Society, the Association of Space Explorers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Even with all this work, Jemison also became a writer. Jemison's first book, Find Where the Wind Goes (2001), is a memoir of her life written for children. She describes her childhood, her time at Stanford, in the Peace Corps, and as an astronaut. Her A True Book series of four children's books published in 2013 is co-authored with Dana Meachen Rau. Each book in the series has a "Find the Truth" challenge, true or false questions answers to which are revealed at the end of the story.
Here is a short timeline of Jemison’s accomplishments just in the 21st century:
1999 to 2005 - Jemison was appointed an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University
2006 - Jemison participated in African American Lives, a PBS television miniseries hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr., (she discovered she was 13% East Asian in origin and was a descendant of slaves in Alabama)
2008 - Jemison was the featured speaker for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first sorority established by African American college women.
2009 - participated with First Lady Michelle Obama in a forum for promising girls in the Washington, D.C. public schools
2014 - Jemison also appeared at Wayne State University for their annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute Luncheon
2017 - She took part in the Michigan State University's lecture series, "Slavery to Freedom: An American Odyssey" and, she discussed the 100-Year Plan for Science and Education and other topics at Western Michigan University
2017 - LEGO released the "Women of NASA" set, with mini-figures of Jemison, Margaret Hamilton, Sally Ride, and Nancy Grace Roman
Mae Jemison has been awarded 15 honorary doctorate degrees, the most recent from the University College Dublin for “Doctor of Engineering” in 2023. Few people can claim the achievements of this remarkable woman. Her achievements and honors are only summarized here. She stands as a giant of both scientific endeavor, a model of greatness for Black women, and provides hope to all who share her vision of a great future for humanity.
"Don't let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It's your place in the world; it's your life. Go on and do all you can with it and make it the life you want to live."
"I think one of the things that we have to think about it is, we are all a part of this universe."
"Pay attention to the world around you and then find the places where you think you’re skilled. Follow your bliss — and bliss doesn’t mean it’s easy!"