NASA has renamed its Washington headquarters after “hidden characters” Mary Jackson, the government’s first female African American engineer.
In a ceremony on Friday, NASA named the agency’s headquarters in Washington in honor of Jackson.
Jackson began working with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) – NASA’s predecessor – in April 1951.
Jackson worked at NASA for 34 years, first as a research mathematician, and eventually became the company’s first female black engineer. Jackson’s pioneering work and commitment to helping others have inspired generations – both at NASA and beyond, NASA said in a statement.
The work of Jackson and others at Langley’s West Area Computing Unit attracted national attention in the 2016 Margot Lee Shetterly book, “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race”.
In 2019, Jackson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the country’s highest civilian award under the Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medals Act.
“With today’s official naming of the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters, we ensure that she is no longer a hidden figure,” said Steve Jurczyk, acting NASA administrator.
“Jackson’s story is incredibly determined. It embodied the spirit of NASA to stand up against all odds, provide inspiration, and advance science and exploration, ”added Jurczyk.
In addition to the unveiling of an architectural sign bearing Jackson’s name, Friday’s event included video attributes reflecting Jackson’s career and legacy of various people including family and friends, current and former NASA employees and astronauts, celebrities, elected officials and others.
The event also included a video of poet Nikki Giovanni reading an excerpt from her poem “Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea”, which is about space and civil rights.
Jackson was born and raised in Hampton, Virginia. She first worked as a math teacher in Calvert County, Maryland, and also served as an accountant and secretary to the U.S. Army before embarking on her aerospace career.
In 1942 she received a Bachelor of Science degree in math and science from the Hampton Institute (now Hampton University).
To be promoted from mathematician to engineer, Jackson had to graduate from a high school that was later divorced in math and physics. Jackson completed courses, received a promotion, and became NASA’s first African American engineer in 1958.
During her engineering career, she authored or co-authored numerous research papers for nearly two decades, most of which focused on the behavior of the air boundary layer around aircraft.
In 1979 she joined the Federal Langley Women’s Program where she worked hard to promote the recruitment and advancement of the next generation of women mathematicians, engineers and scientists.
She retired from Langley in 1985 and died in Hampton on February 11, 2005 at the age of 83. Her husband Levi Jackson Sr. preceded her death and was survived by her son Levi Jackson Jr. and daughter Carolyn Marie Lewis.
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