Find Where The Wind Goes by Mae C. Jemison

On TV she found inspiration in the sci-fi show Star Trek, where one of the crew was a black woman doing important work as part of a starship crew. Still, Mae didn’t stop thinking and dreaming about space. But Mae wanted to see women a part of these programs, too. She went to the library and read everything she could find about space and science. She enjoyed stargazing and imagining what it would be like to be in space. She followed every detail of the Apollo missions that brought humans to the moon. These years ended with humans landing on the moon for the first time: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969.īut, as Mae watched all of these exciting events unfold, what she didn’t see in the space programs were people like herself or her family: African Americans and women. These years began with the first humans being launched into space! Yuri Gagarin, a Russian astronaut, was first and then Alan Shepherd, an American, was also launched into space. The 1960s were an exciting time for space exploration. Her father was a roofer and carpenter, and her mother was a school teacher. They thought they would be able to find better work for Mae’s mother and give their children a better education there. So, when she was three years old, her parents moved the family to the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. At this time, Alabama still had many laws that were unfair to African Americans like Mae’s family.

And as Mae grew older she didn’t stop dreaming of going to space.

Then, she began to dream about what it would be like to go there. There, outside the city, it was dark enough to see the stars, and like you she wondered about other planets and stars and space. Mae lived in a city, but during the summers as a child she went to camp. What are they made of? How many are there? How far away are they? Why do they seem to move to different parts of the sky? Why do they twinkle?Īs other people have looked up at the stars like you, they have dreamed about visiting these far away places. People have watched the stars and wondered about them for as long as there have been people. Have you ever sat outside on a dark night and stared up at the stars, wondering what’s out there? It’s not always possible in the city, but if you get away from the lights, on a very dark and clear night, you can see thousands of stars.

Find Where The Wind Goes by Mae C. Jemison