On October 17, 1956 a remarkable woman was born. Her name is Mae Jemison. As a young woman she used to watch
Star Trek (The Original Series) on television. She was particularly impressed and inspired by the character Uhura. "Since I was a little girl I had always assumed I would go into space," she said. She entered Stanford University at age 16 and graduated with a B.S. in chemical engineering. She then went on to get her Medical Degree from Cornell Medical College. She later entered the astronaut training program at NASA, and became the first African American woman to become an astronaut. She became the first African American woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992.
Not long after her space flight, she got a small part in an episode of
Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 6, "Second Chances"), which was directed by Levar Burton.
Of her experience at Stanford, she said, "Some professors would just pretend I wasn't there. I would ask a question and a professor would act as if it was just so dumb, the dumbest question he had ever heard. Then, when a white guy would ask the same question, the professor would say, 'that's a very astute observation.'" According to Dr. Jameson, "Race is always an issue in the United States."
During her years at Cornell Medical College, she took lessons in modern dance at the Alvin Ailey school. Jemison later bui;lt a dance studio in her home and has choreographed and produced several shows of modern jazz and African dance. (I found this particularly interesting because the fictional doctor on
Star Trek: TNG won several dance contests and awards and was teased by being called "The Dancing Doctor" by her fellow medical students when she was in med school. In one episode she teaches the android Data how to dance (in preparation for his attendance at a wedding).)
In 1996 Jameson apparently experienced police brutality at the hands of a white police officer. She was arrested and jailed for allegedly having an unpaid speeding ticket. During the course of the arrest she was handcuffed.
"In the process of arresting her, the officer twisted her wrist and forced her to the ground. In her complaint, Jemison said the officer physically and emotionally mistreated her. Jemison's attorney said she believed she'd already paid the speeding ticket years ago.She spent several hours in jail and was treated at an area hospital after release for deep bruises and a head injury."
Mae Jemison - Wikipedia
At the time of her space flight, Jemison was quite beautiful. She was listed in
People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" article in 1993.