Mary Winston Jackson

Mary Winston (Jackson) was born in Hampton, VA on April 9, 1921. She attended Hampton’s all-Black schools and graduated with high honors from George P. Phenix Training School in 1937. Mrs. Jackson earned dual bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and physical science from Hampton Institute in 1942. She excelled academically in a time of racial segregation.

Mrs. Jackson was one of a small group of African American women who worked for NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) as “human computers”. In the 1950s, Mrs. Jackson may have been the only black female aeronautical engineer in the field.  She served as a vital role in the development of the space program. 

In the 1970s, she helped the youngsters in the science club at Hampton’s King Street Community center build their own wind tunnel and use it to conduct experiments. Mrs. Jackson was interviewed in a local newspaper and noted: “We have to do something like this to get them interested in science”. "Sometimes they are not aware of the number of black scientists, and don't even know of the career opportunities until it is too late."

Mrs. Jackson enjoyed a productive engineering career, authoring or co-authoring a dozen or so research reports, most focused on the behavior of the boundary layer of air around airplanes for approximately 20 years. As the years progressed, her promotions slowed, and she became frustrated at her inability to break into management-level grades.

In 1979, seeing that the glass ceiling was the rule rather than the exception for the center’s female professionals, Mrs. Jackson made a final, dramatic career change, leaving engineering and taking a demotion to fill Langley’s Federal Women’s open position as Program Manager. At Langley, Mrs. Jackson worked hard to impact the hiring and promotion of the next generation of all of NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s) female mathematicians, engineers and scientists. 

A 1976 Langley Researcher profile captured Mrs. Jackson’s spirit and character, calling her a “gentle lady, wife and mother, humanitarian and scientist.” For Mary W. Jackson, science and service went hand in hand.

Mrs. Jackson passed away at the age of 83 on February 11, 2005, at the Riverside Convalescent Home in Hampton, Virginia.

On June 24th, 2020, NASA announced that its Washington, D.C. headquarters would be renamed after Mrs. Jackson ~ The Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters.

Read more at: Mary W. Jackson [NASA]