1. Mae Jemison: First Black American Female To Travel To Space
Mae Jemison is a doctor, engineer, and NASA astronaut. 1992 was Jemison’s maiden space flight. She’s written books and appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Jemison is a National Women’s Hall of Fame and International Space Hall of Fame inductee.
Mae Carol Jemison was born in Alabama in 1956. Her mother taught elementary school and her father oversaw maintenance. Jemison’s family moved to Chicago when she was young. Jemison grew up loving dance and science. Jemison grew up watching Apollo on TV, but there were no female astronauts. Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek, influenced Jemison. Jemison dreamed of space exploration. 16-year-old Morgan Park High School graduate. Jemison departed Chicago for Stanford after graduation.
Jemison faced racial discrimination in school as the lone black kid. She later led the Black Student Union and choreographed Out of the Shadows about the black experience. Jemison earned a BS in chemical engineering and a BA in African-American studies in 1977. Jemison attended Cornell Medical School after Stanford. She led an AMSA research in Cuba while in medical school. She worked in a Thai Cambodian refugee camp. Jemison’s medical degree is from Cornell. After graduation, she interned at LA County Medical Center and then practiced general medicine. Jemison joined the Peace Corps in 1983 as a medical officer in Africa.
After the Peace Corps, Jemison became a doctor. Jemison applied to NASA’s astronaut program after Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983. NASA stopped accepting new applicants after the 1986 Challenger explosion. Jemison reapplied in 1987 and was one of 15 chosen out of 2,000. She was in NASA’s Group 12 after the Challenger explosion. After being selected, Jemison trained with NASA and worked on projects at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory. She received her first mission on September 28, 1989, when she was selected to join the STS-47 crew as a Mission Specialist. On September 12, 1992, Jemison and six other astronauts went into space on the space shuttle Endeavor. This voyage made Jemison the first African American woman in space.
“I just wanted to travel into space,” the speaker said, “whether there had been thousands of individuals that had gone up or whether there had never been a single human.” The former astronaut claims that after completing the historic mission, she felt there was more work for her to do. “I was supposed to be responsible, right? Therefore, my first obligation is to do very well in my profession. And the second was to ensure that once I have a seat at the table, I make full use of the authority that I have.” Jemison founded a worldwide science and technology camp for middle school students called “The Earth We Share” when she retired from her position at NASA. Jemison is currently employed by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on the project known as the 100-Year Starship, which has the objective of transporting humanity outside of our solar system within the next century.
2. Oprah Winfrey: Classy Entrepreneur and Media Personality
Oprah began her broadcasting career at WVOL radio in Nashville while still in high school. At the age of 19, she became the youngest person and the first African American woman to anchor the news at Nashville’s WTVF-TV. She then relocated to Baltimore’s WJZ-TV to co-anchor the Six O’Clock News and later went on to become co-host of its local talk show, People Are Talking.
In 1984, Oprah moved to Chicago to host WLS-TV’s morning talk show, AM Chicago, which became the number one local talk show, surpassing ratings for Donahue, just one month after she began. In less than a year, the show expanded to one hour and was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. It entered national syndication in 1986, becoming the highest-rated talk show in television history. In 1988, she established Harpo Studios, making her the third woman in the American entertainment industry (after Mary Pickford and Lucille Ball) to own her studio.
The Oprah Winfrey Show remained the number-one talk show for 24 consecutive seasons. Produced by her own production company, the show reached more than 40 million viewers a week in the United States and was licensed to 150 countries internationally.
In 2008, Oprah and Discovery Communications announced intentions to develop OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, a multi-platform media company. OWN premiered in 67% of U.S. homes and 80% of cable homes on January 1, 2011. Oprah became CEO and CCO in the fall of 2011.
Oprah and Hearst Magazines created O, The Oprah Magazine in April 2000. It’s the most successful magazine debut in recent history, with 2.35 million monthly readers. Oprah released the first overseas edition of O, The Oprah Magazine in South Africa in April 2002.
Through Harpo Films, she’s produced films based on classic and current literature that have won acting and production awards. “Oprah Winfrey Presents” telefilms include Tuesdays With Morrie, based on Mitch Albom’s best-selling novel and starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria; Their Eyes Were Watching God, based on a Zora Neale Hurston novel and starring Halle Berry; and Mitch Albom’s For One More Day, starring Emmy Award-winner Michael Imperioli and Academia Award-winner Harpo Films signed an exclusive production partnership with HBO in December 2008.
Harpo Films produced Jonathan Demme’s 1998 Touchstone Pictures film Beloved, based on Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. It staprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. The Great Debanumber-connected by Denzel Washington and starring Forest Whitaker was released on Christmas Day 2007 by Harpo Films and The Weinstein Company. Best Motion Picture nominee The Great Debaters. Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry supported Lionsgate’s distribution of Precious in the fall of 2009.
Oprah made her acting debut in 1985 as “Sofia” in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple. Before Women Had Wings (1997), There Are No Children Here (1993), and The Women oBreatheehe water of Place praised (1989). Charlotte’s Web (2006), Bee Movie (2007), and The Princess and the Frog feature animated films with her voice (2009).
Oprah.com offers mind, body, spirit, food, home, and love guidance. It provides materials for OWN, The Oprah Winfrey Show, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Oprah Radio. Oprah’s Book Club offers free reading guides, online discussion groups, and Q&A sessions with literary experts. Oprah’s Book Club has almost 2 million members.
Oprah.com launched the first international interactive webinar series with A New Earth in March 2008. More than 35 million people have downloaded or viewed Oprah and Eckhart Tolle’s live multimedia sessions. Oprah.com customers could keep a personal online workbook for each chapter.
3. Iman Vellani: First Muslim Hero Of Modern Times
Iman Vellani made her debut as the title character in the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel this past summer, and in doing so, she made history by becoming the first Muslim superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Pakistani-born actress, who is now 20 years old, was raised in a family with Muslim roots, and she notes that a significant number of the show’s cast and staff members also originate from Muslim backgrounds. She expresses the hope that this trend will control nue in the years to come. “I truly do hope that we are normalizing and giving a sense of humanity to the sight of Muslims and South Asians performing these kinds of roles and taking on really powerful characters.
4. Alena Analeigh McCartney: Carting The Field Of Medicine
What is age?” said Alena, who lives just outside Fort Worth and is completing most of her courses online. “You’re not too young to do anything. I feel like I have proven to myself that I can do anything that I put my heart and mind to.”
When Alena was 3 years old, her mother started noticing that she was far from a typical toddler.
“Alena was gifted,” said her mother, Daphne McCarter. “It was just how she did things and how advanced she was. She was reading chapter books.
Alena claimed that she was naturally good at picking up new abilities and that after she started school, people would occasionally make fun of her academic prowess.
Alena remembered, “There was a small boy who bullied me, and he would mock me and call me smarty pants,’” adding that her mother decided to home-school her for several years after the bullying began.
Although she continued to take advanced high school-level classes at home using a curriculum her mother designed, she returned to formal schooling in the fifth grade. Alena decided to increase her course load during the pandemic.
Alena found algebra to be simple. Geometry made sense. Biology was simple.
Alena, who just lately began using her middle name, Analeigh, as her last name, stated, “I was bored.” I found the high school work to be so simple that I was able to complete it at the age of 12.
Alena claimed that taking more classes was more enjoyable than painful. She breezed right through John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” In terms of schoolwork, nothing was difficult.
Alena declared, “I love school, I love learning, and I love reading,” adding that she has always been particularly interested in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math).
Alena Analeigh McCarter, who was only 13 years old when she made history this summer, became the youngest Black person in history to be accepted to medical school. As a college junior who is already working on earning two degrees in biological science at Arizona State University and Oakwood University in Alabama, the most important thing is to keep one’s attention on the things that truly count. “Well, there are plenty of instances in which insignificant things have the potential to bother me. But I’ve learned not to allow obstacles like that to stop me since I’m focused on my future. I’m spending my time engaging in activities that offer me joy while also inviting others to participate alongside me. McCarter helps other young Black girls who are interested in pursuing careers in STEM-related fields by offering them scholarships and chances through the organization she founded called Brown STEM Girl.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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