Mary Jackson (1921-2005) broke race and gender barriers to revolutionize the field of aerospace engineering.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know -- but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Leading Ladies, Activists, STEMinists, Hometown Heroes, and many more. Encyclopedia Womannica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
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Hello, from Wonder Media Network I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
This month we’re highlighting STEMinists: women who did incredible things in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Our STEMinist of the day broke race and gender barriers to revolutionize the field of aerospace engineering. Let’s talk about Mary Jackson.
Mary Winston was born on April 9, 1921 in Hampton, Virginia to Ella and Frank Winston. Growing up in the Jim Crow South, Mary was forced to attend segregated schools. She graduated top of her class from the all-Black George P. Phenix Training School and her performance earned her a spot at Hampton University. During her time in college, she was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first sorority founded by African-American women. Our Vice President Elect, Kamala Harris, is also a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Mary graduated in 1942 with a bachelor's degree in both mathematics and physical sciences.
Two years after graduating, Mary married Levi Jackson Sr., a sailor in the U.S. Navy. They had two children, a boy, Levi Jackson Jr. and a girl, Carolyn Marie Lewis.
Despite her impressive STEM degrees, Mary’s professional trajectory was a winding one. She first worked as a teacher, then later a receptionist and bookkeeper while raising her two children at home. It wasn’t until 1951, that she accepted a position with the NASA Langley Aeronautical Labratory’s segregated West Area Computer.
As a reminder, at that time, computers were not commonplace items. Mary herself was the computer. She ran all the calculations for NASA’s booming space race. After two years on the job, Mary was offered an opportunity to work alongside engineers on the 4-by-4 Supersonic Pressure Tunnel. The tunnel was designed to blast air -- up to two times the speed of sound -- on various NASA models to prepare them for space travel.
The tunnel’s lead engineer, Kazimierz Czarnecki, gave Mary hands-on access to conduct experiments on the tunnel and eventually encouraged her to enroll in a training program that would allow her to formally be promoted from mathematician to engineer.
But there was a small hiccup. The class Mary needed was run out of the then-segregated Hampton High School. To attend, Mary would need special permission from the City of Hampton. In the end, Mary successfully petitioned the city and was allowed to attend classes alongside her white peers.
Upon completion of the course, Mary became NASA’s first Black female engineer in 1958.
Mary was an engineer in a time when female engineers -- let alone Black female engineers -- were few and far between. Over the subsequent two decades, she authored dozens of research reports and conducted experiments. She specialized in the behavior of the boundary area of air around airplanes. But Mary grew increasingly frustrated. She was passed up for promotions and began to understand that despite her accomplishments and qualifications, due to her race and gender, she was unlikely to break into management-level positions.
So in 1979, she concluded that her efforts would be best spent making sure that was not the case for future generations. Mary formally left engineering and technically took a demotion, filling an open manager position with the Langley Federal Women’s Program. There, she spent the remaining years of her career improving the hiring and promotion process for NASA’s female mathematicians, engineers and scientists. Mary and her husband even opened their home to new Langley recruits making the transition to a new place.
In 1985, Mary retired from NASA. Before her retirement she was awarded the Apollo Group Achievement Award and was named Langley’s Volunteer of the Year.
Mary passed away on February 11, 2005 at the age of 83.
In 2016, Margot Shetterly’s best-selling book, “Hidden Figures” chronicled Mary’s pivotal role in NASA’s space race alongside her colleagues Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan. The book was later turned into the award-winning film by the same name, in which Mary’s is depicted by Janelle Monae.
In June of this year, NASA announced that it would rename its Washington D.C. headquarters, “The Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building” which sits, appropriately, on ‘Hidden Figures Way’.
Mary is remembered for both her contributions to aerospace engineering and for her work to create a more equitable system -- ensuring that more women could one day follow in her footsteps.
All month, we’re talking about STEMinists. For more on why we’re doing what we’re doing, check out our newsletter, Womannica Weekly.
You can also follow the show on Facebook and Instagram @encyclopediawomannica, and you can find me on Twitter @JennyMKaplan.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!