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Dr. Mae Jemison
The first African American woman to travel in space... |
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 When there is a way ...the will helps you walk towards it......
The often used idiom "where there is a will there is a way" can be slightly modified to suit Dr. Mae Jemison.
Mae Jemison, a doctor, was the first African American woman to be selected for the National Aeronautic and Space Administration's (NASA's) astronaut training program and was the first African American woman to travel in space.
Mae Jemison grew up with big dreams in a world where little black girls were discouraged to dream. Mae Jemison has faced many obstacles in her life and these obstacles have brought out who she truly is.
Early Beginnings....
Throughout her early school years, Jemison spent many hours in her school library reading about all subjects related to science, especially astronomy. From a young age she was interested in space travel. During her time at Morgan Park High School, however, she became interested in pursuing a career in engineering. When she graduated in 1973 as an honor student, she entered Stanford University on a National Achievement Scholarship.
Upon graduation she entered Cornell University Medical College to work toward a medical degree. When she obtained her degree in medicine in 1981, she received her on-the job training at Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center and later established a general practice. 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.
After her return to the United States in 1985, Jemison made a career change and decided to follow a dream she had had for a long time. In October of that year she applied for admission to NASA's astronaut training program. The selection process was delayed after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986, but when she reapplied a year later, Jemison was one of fifteen candidates chosen from a field of about two thousand. She became the first African American woman ever admitted into the astronaut training program.
After more than a year of training, Jemison became an astronaut with the title of science-mission specialist, a job that would make her responsible for conducting crew-related scientific experiments on the space shuttle. On September 12, 1992, with six other astronauts, Jemison flew into space aboard the Endeavour on mission STS-47. During her eight days in space, she conducted weightlessness and motion sickness experiments on the crew and on herself before returning to Earth on September 20. 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.
Outstanding Milestones....
In recognition of her accomplishments, Jemison received the 1988 Essence Science and Technology Award, was named Gamma Sigma Gamma Woman of the Year in 1990, received the Ebony Black Achievement Award in 1992, and received a Montgomery Fellowship from Dartmouth College in 1993. Dr. Jemison left NASA in March 1993.
Also in 1992 a public school in Detroit, Michigan—the Mae C. Jemison Academy—was named after her. Jemison is a member of the American Medical Association, the American Chemical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and she served on the Board of Directors of the World Sickle Cell Foundation from 1990 to 1992. She is also a committee member of the American Express Geography Competition and a board member of the Center for the Prevention of Childhood Malnutrition.
She is also a professor at Dartmouth College, where she started the Jemison Institute for Advancing Technology in Developing Countries. Jemison also created The Earth We Share, a science camp for twelve-to sixteen-year-olds that helps improve students' problem-solving skills. She remains a popular public speaker, and in 2001 her autobiography, Find Where the Wind Goes: 'Moments from My Life', was published.
Her determination to prove to the world that being a woman and being an African American one at that there was no obstacle big enough to hamper her progress in her chosen field.
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