NASA renames headquarters after its first black female engineer Mary Jackson

NASA’s first Black female engineer Mary Jackson who subjected to racial segregation and prejudice in 1950s now has headquarters named after her in honour of her service to the Black community. A photograph shared by a page named Goodable on Twitter shows Jackson who served on many organizations’ boards and committees, including NASA, and was honoured by numerous charitable organizations for her leadership and service. The tweet was captioned, saying, that in the 1950s, Jackson had two advanced degrees but was still told she couldn't eat in the same cafeteria as white folk. While Mary is known for being on the team that calculated flight trajectories for Project Mercury and the Apollo program in the 1960s, the internet also knew her through the movie Hidden Figures where her role was featured on the big screen by Janelle Monáe. In Salt Lake City, Utah, the Jackson Elementary school named after President Andrew Jackson was renamed as Mary W. Jackson Elementary School in honour of the NASA’s Black engineer. Jackson's story on Twitter has captivated many as they lauded and saluted the Black woman for fighting the racial discrimination and for her continued service in the Space research programs. According to NASA, “Mary’s own path to an engineering career at the NASA Langley Research Centre was far from direct.” Mary Jackson began her engineering career in an era in which female engineers of any background were a rarity, in the 1950s, she very well may have been the only black female aeronautical engineer in the field, NASA added. Among her many honours were an Apollo Group Achievement Award, and being named Langley’s Volunteer of the Year in 1976. She served as the chair of one of the center's annual United Way campaigns, as per NASA’s release on the website. This is Mary Jackson. When she first joined NASA in the 1950's, she had two advanced degrees but was still told she couldn't eat in the same cafeteria as white folk. She went on to become their first Black female engineer. Today, NASA named their entire headquarters after her. pic.twitter.com/gYEZ1QgxxU — Goodable (@Goodable) June 24, 2020 Read: New Exoplanet Discovered By NASA: What Does This Planet Reveal About Our Solar System? Read: NASA Scientists Show How Sunsets Would Look From Other Planets | Watch Female engineers a rarity in 1950s “When NASA got their first electronic computer, she was the only one that could figure out how to code for it, salute,” wrote a commenter.” A true pioneer in so many ways. For women, Black women, and Black people,” wrote another. “I'm going to watch the movie again right now. It's been a while,” wrote another, referring to Hidden Figures. “All homage is little, congratulations on the initiative,” said the fourth. 👏👏👏 Should have happened years go! — Kathi Stanley (@kstanley1970) June 24, 2020 Hidden Figures - great film — Louise Boyle (@LouiseB09141005) June 24, 2020 ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ — Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) June 24, 2020 Had to walk to another building to use the lavatory! These are the people you should be building statues of. — Niki (@Niki08101678) June 25, 2020 I’m sorry Mrs Jackson — harrison (@HarrisonRice7) June 24, 2020 Thank God for people like this in the world. Thank you Mary and may God Bless your family! — nick (@Nick6439) June 25, 2020 But no one stood up for her at the time. NASA, the educated ones... — 🌎🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🏴☠️ Crypto Harvester🌹☮🌱 (@HarvesterCrypto) June 25, 2020 Awesome! 👏 Got to know about her from Hidden Figures movie 😊 — Vandy (@tweetVandytweet) June 25, 2020 Read: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Captures Breathtaking Images Of Butterfly Nebula Read: NASA Observes Huge Saharan Dust Plume Over Atlantic Ocean Heading To US

Advertisement

NASA renames headquarters after its first black female engineer Mary Jackson

Mary is known for being the first Black woman on the team that calculated flight trajectories for Project Mercury and the Apollo program in the 1960s for NASA.

Advertisement