1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hi everyone, welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:11,840 Speaker 1: where we uncover the remnants of history every day. Today 4 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:27,800 Speaker 1: is April nine. The day was April nine. Mary Winston 5 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: was born in Hampton, Virginia, to Ella and Frank Winston. 6 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: Mary would grow up to become an accomplished mathematician and 7 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 1: aerospace engineer, and the first black female engineer to work 8 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. Mary 9 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 1: faced the challenges of segregation and discrimination as she progressed 10 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: in her career, as did many of the other black 11 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: women who worked as mathematicians and engineers. But now she's 12 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: recognized for her contributions to the space program and her 13 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: commitment to serve being her community and creating more opportunities 14 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: for women in science. Mary went to the segregated George P. 15 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: Phoenix Training School, and when she graduated from there with 16 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: highest honors, she began attending the Hampton Institute. She graduated 17 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,679 Speaker 1: from Hampton in nineteen two with Bachelor of Science degrees 18 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:23,760 Speaker 1: and math and Physical sciences. Her plan was to become 19 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:26,559 Speaker 1: a teacher, and she did teach math for a year 20 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: at an all black school in Calbert County, Maryland. When 21 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: she went back to Hampton to care for her ailing father, 22 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: she started working as a receptionist at the King Street 23 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: USO Club, an organization that served black military service members 24 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 1: during World War Two. Over the next several years, she 25 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 1: married Levi Jackson and had a son, Levi Jr. She 26 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: took time off work to raise little Levi, and took 27 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 1: a couple more jobs as a bookkeeper and an army secretary. 28 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: But in nineteen fifty one, the National Advisory Committee for 29 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: Aeronautics recruited Mary to be a research mathematician or a 30 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: human computer. She began working in the Langley Memorial Aeronnautical 31 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: Laboratory in the segregated West Area computing section, where all 32 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: the mathematicians were black women, and reported to Dorothy Vaughan, 33 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 1: whom she had met while she was an Army secretary 34 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: at Fort Monroe. At the time, a ton of computing 35 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,840 Speaker 1: jobs were necessary to make up for increased production due 36 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: to World War Two. White women were being hired as computers, 37 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: but after employment discrimination was outlawed by Executive Order A. D. 38 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: A Oh, two black women joined the ranks of mathematicians 39 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: at Langley. Of course, that's not to say discrimination and 40 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 1: hiring and within the jobs ended all of a sudden. 41 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: Computing was often viewed as inferior work by the male engineers, 42 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:54,799 Speaker 1: and segregation, racism, and sexism were still a part of 43 00:02:54,840 --> 00:03:00,359 Speaker 1: the mathematicians experience. Despite this, Mary excelled at her two 44 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,919 Speaker 1: years in the computing pool. Engineer Casimir's star Nicki asked 45 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: her to come work for him and the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, 46 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:13,240 Speaker 1: a sixty horsepower wind tunnel. When Zarniki suggested she trained 47 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: to be promoted to an engineer, she accepted the challenge. 48 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: She petitioned the city of Hampton to be able to 49 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: attend all white graduate level math and physics classes at 50 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:28,119 Speaker 1: the University of Virginia. Her petition was accepted, she took 51 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,519 Speaker 1: the courses, and she was promoted in ninety to become 52 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: the first black female engineer at NASA, which was founded 53 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: in July of that same year. She also co authored 54 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: her first report that year, called effects of nose angle 55 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 1: and mock number on transition on cones at supersonic speeds. 56 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 1: Over the next couple of decades, Mary worked as an 57 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: aeronautical engineer, working on reports that mainly focused on the 58 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: behavior of the boundary layer of air around airplanes, but 59 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: she eventually grew frustrated with not being promoted and not 60 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: being able to break into management positions. She left engineering 61 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:11,880 Speaker 1: and in nineteen seventy nine became Langley's Federal Women's Program Manager. 62 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: In that position, she was able to help hire women 63 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: and people in underrepresented groups, help them advance their careers 64 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: and uplift their accomplishments. In the nineteen seventies, Mary helped 65 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 1: build a wind tunnel for the Science Club at Hampton's 66 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: King Street Community Center. She said the following about that 67 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: act in a local newspaper. We have to do something 68 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: like this to get them interested in science. Sometimes they 69 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 1: are not aware of the number of black scientists and 70 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,560 Speaker 1: don't even know of the career opportunities until it is 71 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:49,039 Speaker 1: too late. Mary retired from Langley in nineteen eighty five, 72 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: by which time she had received some awards for her 73 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:56,039 Speaker 1: leadership and service. She died in February of two thousand five, 74 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,600 Speaker 1: but she has since received more recognition and eoting, being 75 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: featured in a best selling book called Hidden Figures and 76 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: a movie of the same name. I'm Even stepf Cote 77 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: and hopefully you know a little more about history today 78 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you'd like to learn more 79 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 1: about Mary Jackson, you can listen to the episode of 80 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,880 Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class called Mary Winston Jackson, 81 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 1: NASA Engineer. If there are any upcoming days in history 82 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 1: that you'd really like me to cover on the show, 83 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: give us a shower on social media at t d 84 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:36,920 Speaker 1: i h C Podcast. Thank you for joining me today. 85 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 1: See you same place, same time tomorrow.