How Is Mary Jackson Treated In The 1940's Virginia

Through all the obstacles life gave Mary Jackson, she still stood out and achieved things that were only a fantasy for some colored women at the time. In the 1940’s Virginia was a segregated place, Black people were stereotyped, mistreated, and treated as if they were a whole different species of people, and to be a woman was even harder. Until recently women were still treated as if they were a rank under men and had very little expectation from the people around them. When WWII took place and all the men were off at war, women were needed to take the place of the men who had left in jobs no one would have imagined a woman could do. Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (LMAL) started recruiting women to take jobs as mathematicians. Women

Shettely, the author of the book remarks on Mary Jackson's struggle in the following line from the text “The majority of langley’s female professionals black and white, were still classified as computers or mathematicians; there simply weren’t many female engineers” (p.116). At Langley majority of the women were computers, because being an engineer was considered to be a man’s job, but Mary Jackson didn’t care and fought so she could become an engineer. Jackson’s victory is illustrated in the following lines from the text “She reminded herself that she had a long-term goal, and she didn’t want to get sidetracked so she swallowed her pride and asked for permission, which the city of Hampton granted.” (p.117.) In order for Mary Jackson to become an engineer she had to attend an only white school and ask for permission from the City Of Hampton, the City agreed, so they allowed three talented black Americans to enter the school. One of them being Mary Jackson. A little after, Mary Jackson became the first African American woman to become an engineer, even through all the obstacles that were presented to her on the

Mary Jackson’s struggle at work is shown in the following quotation, “She needed a break and asked her coworkers, “can you direct me to the bathroom?” They giggled. How would they know where to find her bathroom?” (p.87.) This shows Jackson’s daily struggle at work with her coworkers, it was clear her coworkers saw her as if she was below them, to the point where a simple thing like her asking where she could find a bathroom was odd, so their response was to humiliate her and remind her of her place. Mary Jackson was angry, and at the first opportunity, she had she released all of her anger to an engineer who had asked her how her day was. This led Jackson to an unseen victory that is demonstrated in the text through the following quotation, “Why don’t you come work for me?” he asked, he respected her as a person and admired her work as a mathematician.” (p.88.) Mary Jackson had picked the right person to fulminate to. The engineer didn’t think that her feelings were absurd or senseless. He respected her work and offered her a position to work with him. Though Langley started integrating their workers it didn’t mean that they treated each other the same, and many black computers faced mistreatment from their fellow white coworkers including Mary Jackson, but even so, she stood straight and continued as if it was nothing. Which brought her an