First African American woman in space speaks at Pitt

[Blue_Tires]

Mae Jemison could hear the National Guard march past her house as she lay in the backyard. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated. There were riots.

Jemison looked at the stars. She always assumed she was going to be an astronaut.

Last night, as part of a series of free events honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Jemison told Pitt students how it felt to live her dream at “Dr. King’s Legacy: A Call to Action.”

She spoke in front of an auditorium of students and families at the event organized by the Black Action Society and the National Society of Black Engineers.

She told students what it took to become the first African-American woman in space — as well as a lesson her audience could take from it.

“Time, possibilities and responsibility,” she said.

Very simply, she said, we have time. There are 86,400 seconds in a day.

That time is filled with possibilities, and we are responsible to take those possibilities and make of them something positive, she said.

“If you wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes,” Jemison said. “If you don’t wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes.”

http://www.pittnews.com/article/2010/01/19/first-african-american-woman-space-speaks-pitt