Chapter 1 88 88 88 Mae Jemison grew up in Chicago Illinois r PUS AND STAR TREK ae Jemison loved everything about science and it all started with pus When she was a little girl in Chicago she got a splinter in her thumb It got infected Pus oozed out of the wound She thought it was one of the neatest
est things ever Mae s mother told her to go look it up and learn more about it Mae read about pus and got even more excited She decided to become a scientist when she grew up Mae's parents believed that a good education was very important They thought it was great that Mae liked science They took her to the library and let her check out as many science books as she wanted STAR DREAMS FROM STAR TREK show was Star Trek One of the crew members on that show When Mae was in elementary school her favorite television Lieutenant Uhura was a black woman Lieutenant Uhura was On Star Trek Lieutenant Uhura second from right was communications officer for the starship Enterprise 3 5
a talented scientist and officer Mae imagined traveling to the stars just like Lieutenant Uhura At that time there were very few women or black Americans in science All the astronauts in the 1960s were white men Seeing a black woman on a spaceship on television made Mae believe that black women could become astronauts Because of Star Trek Mae knew she was going to be in space one day M The astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission prepare for a countdown S demonstration test This mission aimed to put humans on the surface of the
TECH TALK As a little girl growing up on the south side of Chicago in the 1960s I always knew I was going to be in space Mae Jemison ALWAYS ASKING QUESTIONS In school Mae loved asking and answering questions One of Mae's teachers asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up She said she wanted to be a scientist Her teacher didn't think a black girl could be a scientist She asked if Mae meant she wanted to be a nurse Mae insisted that no she meant a scientist Mae spent hours in her school library reading about science and astronomy On the weekends her parents took her to Chicago museums including the Museum of Science and Industry Mae wandered around the exhibits and learned that science was part of the whole world Mae loved high school She got to study chemistry biology and physics Mae made a good friend who shared her love of 8 7
