According to Shirley Chisholm (2005), “Of my two ‘handicaps,’ being female put more obstacles in my path than being black” (p. 929). Mary Jackson faced similar challenges to that of Shirley Chisholm. She was not only a female, but a black female. Mary Jackson was a pioneer, developer, and made a great contribution to science. On April 9, 1921, the world was first introduced to Mary Jackson, who was born Mary Winston to Frank C. and Ella Scott Winston. She was born in Hampton, Virginia, where most of her work took place. She married Levi Jackson and became Mary Jackson, and together they had two kids. Their son was named Levi Jackson Jr., and their daughter was named Carolyn Marie Lewis (“Jackson, Mary Winston”, n.d.). Mary graduated from George …show more content…
She also contributed greatly in other ways that are often overlooked by too many. In 1979, Jackson left the engineering department and accepted a demotion in the Langleys federal women's program manager. Jackson made this decision because of her inability to have a management-level position in the engineering department (“MARY JACKSON”, 2018). Sadly, Jackson had reached the highest promotion possible for her at that time in the engineering department. In this wing of NASA, she was able to influence the hiring and promotion of many other females. She helped other female scientists, engineers, and mathematicians to succeed and gain promotions in their careers (“Jackson, Mary Winston”, n.d.). Mary Jackson had to go to court against the University of Virginia to fight for her right to attend classes at that college. The University of Virginia offered the classes that Mary needed to take to become an engineer, but the University of Virginia was segregated. She had to legally fight for her right to join the all-white institute (“MARY JACKSON”, 2018). Through this fight, Mary Jackson pioneered the way for many future generations. While still working at NASA, Jackson served as the Federal Women's Program manager in the Office of Equal Opportunity. She did both until her retirement in 1958 (“Jackson, Mary Winston”,