USA TODAY International Edition
NASA building to honor first Black female engineer
WASHINGTON – NASA's headquarters in Washington, D. C., will be named after Mary W. Jackson, the first Black woman to work as an engineer in the agency.
Jackson, who joined NASA, then known as NACA, in 1951 and spent more than 30 yearsin the agency in various roles, first worked as a mathematician and “human computer” at Langley Research Center's then- segregated West Area Computing Unit under fellow “Hidden Figure” Dorothy Vaughan.
“Mary never accepted the status quo, she helped break barriers and open opportunities for African Americans and women in the field of engineering and technology,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement.
Jackson became an engineer in 1958 after completing a program at a segregated school. She published an assortment of research mainly on the boundary layer of air around airplanes before stepping back and joining Langley's Federal Women's Program, working to ensure gender equity in the field. She retired in 1985 and died in 2005 at age 83.
A book and movie released in 2016 titled “Hidden Figures,” in which she was portrayed by actress and singer Janelle Monáe, drew Jackson's life's work in the national spotlight.
The dedication of the NASA building comes after a street outside the agency headquarters was renamed Hidden Figures Way in 2019. The same year, Jackson, along with Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Christine Darden, was bestowed a Congressional Gold Medal by President Donald Trump.