Mary Winston Jackson
Mary Winston Jackson was a pioneering African American mathematician and engineer, born on April 9, 1921, in Hampton, Virginia. After earning a dual degree in physical science and mathematics from Hampton Institute in 1942, she held various positions before joining the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1951, which later became NASA. Jackson was part of the West Area Computing unit, where she contributed to early space programs alongside other African American women mathematicians. She made significant strides in her career, overcoming racial and gender discrimination to become NASA's first female African American engineer in 1958.
Throughout her career, Jackson was involved in wind tunnel research that aided in the development of rockets and spacecraft. After resigning from her engineering role in 1979, she became the Federal Women's Program Manager at NASA, focusing on promoting women's opportunities in engineering and science. Although her contributions were underrecognized during her lifetime, her legacy gained prominence following the publication of the book "Hidden Figures" in 2016, which highlighted her achievements alongside other key figures in the space race. Posthumously, Jackson has been honored with various accolades, including the renaming of NASA headquarters in her honor and the awarding of a Congressional Gold Medal. She passed away on February 11, 2005, leaving behind a legacy of breaking barriers for women and African Americans in STEM fields.
Mary Winston Jackson
Engineer
- Born: April 9, 1921
- Birthplace: Hampton, Virginia
- Died: February 11, 2005
- Place of death: Hampton, Virginia
Significance: Mary Winston Jackson was a mathematician and engineer who became the first female African American engineer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She also worked in human resources at NASA, where she advocated for increased hiring of women in science positions.
Background
Mary Winston Jackson was born Mary Winston on April 9, 1921, in Hampton, Virginia. She was raised in Hampton, where she attended local schools and graduated from high school with high honors. She then enrolled in the historically Black college Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) and earned a dual bachelor of science degree in physical science and mathematics in 1942.
After graduating from college, Jackson worked a series of jobs. She taught math at a high school in Calvert County, Maryland, for one year and then worked as a receptionist at the King Street USO Club, a community center providing services for the Black community in Hampton. Her next job was as a bookkeeper for Hampton Institute’s Health Department. She then took time off before returning to the workforce as a secretary at Fort Monroe, the US headquarters for Army Ground Forces.
Math and Engineering Career
In April 1951, Jackson began working as a research mathematician at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in what later became the Langley Research Center. NACA was racially segregated and Jackson was assigned to the West Area Computing unit, which was made up of African American female mathematicians who worked under the direction of Dorothy Vaughan, a mathematician and NACA’s first African American supervisor. Jackson worked for two years in the unit, where she and the other mathematicians were known as human computers and worked on projects that supported early space programs.
In 1953 Jackson was recruited to work for engineer Kazimierz Czarnecki, conducting experiments in the Supersonic Wind Tunnel, a powerful high-speed wind tunnel at Langley. Czarnecki encouraged Jackson to obtain training to qualify as an engineer, but the classes, offered by the University of Virginia, took place at Hampton High School, which barred African Americans from attending. Jackson petitioned the City of Hampton for permission to attend the segregated classes and received it. Upon completing the course, she was promoted to engineer at the newly created NASA in 1958, becoming its first female African American engineer.
As an engineer, Jackson worked in aerospace, conducting wind tunnel research on the flow of air around airplanes and aircraft. Her work contributed to the development of rockets and spacecraft. She authored and coauthored several technical reports, with the first, “Effects of Nose Angle and Mach Number on Transition on Cones at Supersonic Speeds,” published in 1958. Despite her successes, Jackson and other African American workers at Langley also faced discrimination while working there. While White workers had access to on-site housing at NASA, Black workers had to find their own housing in Hampton. Jackson and her colleagues fought back against the discriminatory policies, such as segregated bathrooms and restricted access to meetings.
Jackson also recognized the glass ceiling that existed for women at NASA. Frustrated by NASA’s failure to promote her into higher management, Jackson resigned from her engineering career in 1979 and moved into a position as Langley’s Federal Women’s Program Manager. There she worked to promote opportunities for women at NASA and to increase the hiring and promotion of women mathematicians, engineers, and scientists.
Jackson resigned from NASA Langley Research Center in 1985. She died on February 11, 2005, in Hampton, Virginia.
Impact
Jackson’s achievements were largely unheralded during her lifetime. She was a recipient of Langley’s Volunteer of the Year in 1976 and also received the Apollo Group Achievement Award, but it was not until Margot Lee Shetterly published the book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race in 2016 that her life story and accomplishments gained attention. Hidden Figures, which also was made into a movie with the same name, told the story of the West Computing Group and the African American women mathematicians—including Jackson, Vaughan, and Katherine Johnson—who helped to make space travel possible.
In 2019 Congress passed the Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act, which awarded each of the women whose stories were told in Shetterly’s book a Congressional Gold Medal. Jackson’s medal was awarded posthumously to her granddaughter.
Others also recognized Jackson’s achievements. In 2018 the Salt Lake City School District in Utah renamed Andrew Jackson Elementary School as Mary Jackson Elementary School. In 2020 NASA renamed its headquarters in Washington, DC, the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters. The building is located on Hidden Figures Way.
Personal Life
Jackson married Levi Jackson. They had two children, Levi and Carolyn. Jackson was active in her church and in many community and professional groups. She was a troop leader in the Girl Scouts of America for more than thirty years.
Bibliography
Cortez, Marjorie. “S. L. School Board Renames Jackson Elementary after NASA Engineer.” Deseret News, 6 Feb. 2018, www.deseret.com/2018/2/6/20639610/s-l-school-board-renames-jackson-elementary-after-nasa-engineer. Accessed 3 Oct. 2020.
“DC NASA Headquarters Renamed in Honor of Mary W. Jackson.” Space Center Houston, 2 July 2020, spacecenter.org/d-c-nasa-headquarters-renamed-in-honor-of-mary-w-jackson/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2020.
Shetterly, Margot Lee. “Mary Jackson Biography.” National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 3 Aug. 2017, www.nasa.gov/content/mary-jackson-biography. Accessed 3 Oct. 2020.
Smith, Yvette, editor. “NASA Names Headquarters after ‘Hidden Figure’ Mary W. Jackson.” National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 26 June 2020, www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-names-headquarters-after-hidden-figure-mary-w-jackson. Accessed 3 Oct. 2020.
Wei-Haas, Maya. “The True Story of ‘Hidden Figures,’ the Forgotten Women Who Helped Win the Space Race.” Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Sept. 2016, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/forgotten-black-women-mathematicians-who-helped-win-wars-and-send-astronauts-space-180960393/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2020.