Jemison, Mae Carol

By: Monique M. Chism

Source:

 Black Women in America, Second Edition

Jemison, Mae Carol

Sex:  Female

Born:  Decatur, Alabama, United States
17 October 1956

Activity/Profession:  Physician, Astronaut

(b. 17 October 1956)
has accomplished many remarkable feats as a physician, astronaut, teacher, humanitarian, activist, and self-proclaimed womanist.

One such feat occurred on 12 September 1992, when she soared to new heights on the space shuttle Endeavor and became the first African American woman to venture into outer space.

The youngest of three children, Jemison was born in Decatur, Alabama, to Charlie and Dorothy Jemison, a maintenance supervisor at United Charities of Chicago and an elementary schoolteacher, respectively. From a young age Jemison dreamed of traveling into outer space, despite the fact that the astronaut corps did not accept American women until 1970. Determined to provide Jemison and her older sister and brother, Ada and Charles, with opportunities not afforded in the South, her family moved to Chicago, Illinois, in search of a better quality of life. At Morgan Park High School she was given the opportunity to explore a variety of areas that captivated her attention. Jemison was academically intrigued and stimulated by the sciences and also took an interest in dance, art, anthropology, and archaeology. Jemison was a well-rounded student, excelling in her academics while still finding time for extracurricular activities such as the modern dance club and the pompom squad. At sixteen she graduated from high school and left Chicago for California to attend Stanford University on a National Achievement Scholarship.

While at Stanford, Jemison was involved in a number of activities, including intramural football, the fine arts, and the Black Student Union, where she served as the first female president. In 1977 she earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering and a bachelor of arts degree in African/Afro-American studies. She then enrolled at Cornell University Medical College in New York City. During the summers at Cornell she traveled as a medical volunteer to Cuba, Kenya, and a refugee camp in Thailand, where she helped people suffering from starvation, tuberculosis, and dysentery. In 1981, she earned her MD and went to Los Angeles, where she interned at the Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center until 1982, when she took a job as a general practitioner. At the age of twenty-six, longing to return to Africa, Jemison joined the Peace Corps for two and a half years. This exploration took her to the West African countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia. During her service, she was a medical officer, which involved not only being a doctor to the volunteers and the embassy staff but also teaching courses, supervising laboratories, writing health manuals, and overseeing general public health and safety in the area.

Mae C. Jemison (right) and colleagues at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Jemison was NASA's first black female astronaut and on 12 September 1992 became the first black woman in space, aboard the shuttle Endeavor.

NASA; Austin/Thompson Collection

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Jemison's medical career gave her the opportunity to help thousands of people around the world. Although she enjoyed her work, her greatest desire was still set on exploring space. Upon her return to the United States in 1985, she began to take the necessary steps to make her dream a reality. She took a job as a general practitioner at GIGNA Health Plans of California, in Los Angeles, enrolled in engineering courses at UCLA in the evenings, and applied for admission into the NASA space program. However, after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger on 28 January 1986, NASA suspended its shuttle program in order to conduct a full investigation into the tragedy that had taken the lives of all of the astronauts aboard. Later that year, NASA reopened the program, and Jemison renewed her application. Of the two thousand applicants, she was one of fifteen people—and the first African American woman—admitted into NASA's astronaut training program. In August 1988, Jemison became a mission specialist astronaut, the fifth black astronaut and the first black female astronaut in NASA history.

Five years later, she embarked on her first mission: the STS-47 SPACELAB J flight, a cooperative mission between the United States and Japan. On 12 September 1992 Jemison and six other astronauts blasted off for an eight-day voyage on the space shuttle Endeavor, making her the first African American woman to explore space. While aboard the Endeavor, she conducted experiments in materials processing and life sciences, associated with weightlessness, tissue growth, and the development of semiconductor materials.

In recognition of her many accomplishments, Jemison received a number of distinguished awards, including induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame and several honorary doctorates. She served on several corporate boards of directors, as well as on the Texas Governor's State Council for Science and BioTechnology Development. In addition, the Mae C. Jemison Academy, an alternative public school in Detroit, Michigan, was dedicated in her honor in 1992.

After leaving NASA in 1993, Jemison taught courses on space-age technology and developing countries for five years at Dartmouth College, and later established the Jemison Group Inc., a company devoted to technology advancement. One operation, ALAFIYA, is a satellite-based telecommunications system intended to improve health care delivery in developing nations. In addition, she served as a consultant to the Discovery Channel's World of Wonders program and appeared on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She published her auto-biography, Find Where the Wind Goes, in 2001.

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