Annie Easley’s Story
One of the Early Scientists to Break NASA’s Barriers
Imagine being a key figure in your company, working on some of its major and most ambitious projects. However, when the company releases promotional photos featuring you and your colleagues, you discover that you have been systematically removed from them.
This is just one of the challenging experiences that Annie Jean Easley had to face during the three decades she worked at NASA, starting in the 1950s. The reason is readily apparent: Easley was a black scientist in an era when segregation still prevailed in the United States. Discrimination against Annie Easley went beyond just the photographs. For example, she was inexplicably denied the financial assistance that other individuals working at NASA received to continue their university and postgraduate education.
Despite all of this and without denying the difficulties and discrimination she faced, Annie Easley always stated that her long experience at NASA left her with “more positive memories than negative.” These positive memories were mainly associated with the crucial contributions she made to significant projects, including the Centaur rocket, which facilitated the landing of the Surveyor 1 probe on the Moon in 1966.
