BHS Day 23: Mary Winston-Jackson

Hi! For our final MTS Spotlight in this year's series, I wanted to bring this category to a close by showcasing someone who finally got her moment in the sun when her accomplishments were reenacted in the 2016 film Hidden Figures. I knew what the gist of the film was but I'd never seen it nor had I heard of the women the film was made to showcase. This is one of the more difficult but fun categories to complete every year, so it's bittersweet for me to bring it to a close. Let's learn about today's entrant!

Name: Mary Winston-Jackson, 1921-2005 Profession: Aeronautical engineer, mathematician  Why is the Spotlight on her today? For her invaluable contributions to NASA as the US space program was in its infantry Notables:
--was NASA's first Black female engineer and worked for the organization's original iteration of NACA, or National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics
--was part of the team that helped calculate flight trajectories for project Mercury ahead of the Apollo launch
--despite her success with NASA, still found herself dealing with the glass ceiling and eventually changed job positions due to frustration
--demoted herself by going to Langley after the bulk of her computer career was over with NASA and becoming an administrator for the Equal Opportunity Specialist field
--served as the Federal Women’s Program Manager in the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs and as the Affirmative Action Program Manager in order to help influence and highlight women in science, engineering and math careers
--during her career as a computer with NASA, was offered a job with a supervisor, Kazimierz Czarnecki, to work on the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, during which time he encouraged her to take more classes in order to become an engineer
--graduated from Hampton Institute with a double major in Math and Physical Sciences
--was a member of the National Technical Association
--was named Langley's Volunteer of the Year
--was awarded the Apollo Group Achievement Award
--has ownership or co-ownership credits for 12 technical writings for both NACA and NASA, mostly about the the behavior of the boundary layer of airplanes
--successfully petitioned her hometown of Hampton, VA to let her take the graduate level math and physics classes she needed to become an engineer, which were only being offered at a local all-white high school
--was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority
--was a troop leader for Girl Scouts for over 20 years
--was posthumously honored by having an elementary school renamed after her

Further reading links:  1 | 2 | 3


Quote of the Day: 
"Every time we have a chance to get ahead, they move the finish line. Every time."
--Janelle Monae's Mary Jackson in Hidden Figures (2016)