Mary W. Jackson

 Black Women That Have Made an Impact in Technology

Mary W. Jackson became NASA's first black female engineer in 1958. The 2016 nonfiction book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race written by Margot Lee Shetterly was based off her story. It depicts the struggle Black women in science had. Jackson graduated from Hampton Institute in 1942 with a dual degree in Math and Physical Sciences. In 1953, she had received an offer to work for engineer Kazimierz Czarnecki. He suggested she enter a training program that would allow her to earn a promotion from mathematician to engineer. Courses were managed by the University of Virginia, although classes were held in Hampton High School. Since the school's segregation policy at the time, Jackson needed special permission from the City of Hampton to join the white students. She earned the promotion and in 1958 became NASA's first black female engineer. The same year she co-authored her first report Effects of Nose Angle and Mach Number of Transition on Cones at Supersonic Speeds. She worked there for around 2 decades, authoring and co-authoring more research reports. As years went by, promotions had slowed, and she was denied management-level positions. She left engineering in 1979 and began working as the manager of the women's program at NASA. In this position she worked to impact the hiring and promotion of the next generation of all of NASA’s female mathematicians, engineers and scientists, improving the opportunities for all women at the organization. She then retired in 1985. Advocating for policies and regulations are important to combat technological racial bias. Also using data that's more representative to train algorithms to ensure diversity.