Apr 9
The Female Engineer Who Broke The Color Boundaries of NASA — Mary Winston Jackson
NASA’s very own Mary Winston Jackson and her contributions in numbers and aerospace.
Mary Winston Jackson
Mathematician and Aerospace Engineer
April 9, 1921 — February 11, 2005
Birthplace: Hampton, VA
Mary Winston Jackson used her love of science and her desire to make the lives of those around her better to change history.
After graduating high school with the highest honors, Mary obtained dual Bachelor of Science degrees, one in Mathematics and one in Physical Science, from Hampton Institute in 1942. She taught math in Maryland and then worked as a receptionist, bookkeeper, and military secretary. Eventually, around World War II, she got a job as one of a small group of African American women who worked as aeronautical engineers, called “human computers.”
During NASA’s “Space Age,” NASA was racing to successfully launch a rocket into space. Mary Jackson worked under Dorothy Vaughan, another trailblazer at NASA during that time. She worked at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for most of her career at NASA, beginning in 1951, like a computer at the segregated West Area Computing division.
Mary Jackson won the chance to work with engineer Kazimierz Czarnecki in the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, which was 4’ by 4’ but strong enough to produce winds twice the speed of the sound. She conducted experiments and earned opportunities almost unheard of for females, especially Black ones. She was likely the only African American female aeronautical engineer in her field at that time.
Mary also was feisty and never backed down from her dreams or reached her full potential. Everyone was required to take graduate-level math and physics in after-work courses managed by the University of Virginia in her department. Due to segregation, Mary needed special permission from the City of Hampton to take classes with her white peers in the classroom where the classes were. She fought in court, got the court’s permission, successfully completed the courses, and earned the promotion. In 1958, Mary became NASA’s first black female engineer. That same year, she co-authored her first major scientific report.
Even though her accomplishments were significant, and she overcame racism, she also overcame gender inequalities. She made sure to burst barriers that limited her, as well as other females. So in 1979, the realization that the glass ceiling seemed like the rule and unbreakable for female professionals, Mrs. Jackson strategically changed the trajectory of her career as an engineer. She took a demotion and accepted the open position of Langley’s Federal Women’s Program Manager. The personal sacrifice was part of her mission to improve the hiring and promotion processes to positively impact all of NASA’s potential and future female mathematicians, engineers, and scientists.
Mary Jackson worked for NASA for 34 years and loved what she did. More importantly, her tenacity and excellence paved the way for future female engineers and girls interested in science, technology, math, engineering, and aerospace careers. She helped youths in the community explore science and conduct experiments throughout her life.
If you’ve been inspired by this article, I encourage you to purchase the book Real Queens Like Me: Stories of Great Black Women Who Changed the World. It’s available on Amazon.
If you know a black woman who has made significant contributions in history or in your community that you think the world should know about, we want to hear from you.
Share their story with us so we can share it with the world! She may just be added to our next article or book on Real Queens and Black Women Who Changed The World. Go here to submit:
Related Stories:
The Legendary Story Cathay Williams, The Only Female Buffalo Soldier
Amelia Boynton Robinson — The Woman Who Marched Alongside Dr.
