Mae C. Jemison, a chemical engineering graduate, has soared across the heavens as an astronaut, but she speaks in a down-to-earth way about pursuing careers in science and technology.
Jemison, the first African-American woman astronaut, addressed a mostly female audience of hundreds recently at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Starr Symposium, which brings nationally known experts to town to examine ways to eliminate barriers women face. Jemison credits her parents for helping her maintain her self-confidence.
A child in Chicago during the 1960s, she witnessed tumultuous change in the United States and the world. The civil rights movement grew at the same time America put a man on the moon.
Each event inspired her. “I wanted to be part of it,” Jemison said, even though neither the country nor the world at that time put much value in African Americans like her.
Still, she imagined herself in space long before she actually made the journey. As a girl, she would stare at the stars and knew she would someday get closer to them.
