Mae Carol Jemison was born in Decatur, Alabama, on October 17, 1956,^[1] the youngest child of Charlie Jemison and Dorothy Green. Her father was a maintenance supervisor for a charity organization, and her mother worked most of her career as an elementary school teacher of English and math at the Beethoven School in Chicago.^[2][3]

The family moved to Chicago, Illinois, when Jemison was three years old, to take advantage of the better educational and employment opportunities there. Jemison says that as a young girl growing up in Chicago she always assumed she would get into space. “I thought, by now, we’d be going into space like you were going to work.”^[4] She said it was easier to apply to be a shuttle astronaut, “rather than waiting around in a cornfield, waiting for ET to pick me up or something.”^[4]

In her childhood, Jemison learned to make connections to science by studying nature. Once when a splinter infected her thumb as a little girl, Jemison’s mother turned it into a learning experience. She ended up doing a whole project about pus.^[5] Jemison’s parents were very supportive of her interest in science, while her teachers were not.^[1] “In kindergarten, my teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I told her a scientist,” Jemison says.

“She said, ‘Don’t you mean a nurse?’ Now, there’s nothing wrong with being a nurse, but that’s not what I wanted to be.”^[6] In an interview with Makers, she further explains how her sheer interest in science was not accepted. “Growing up…I was just like every other kid. I loved space, stars and dinosaurs. I always knew I wanted to explore. At the time of the Apollo airing, everybody was thrilled about space, but I remember being irritated that there were no women astronauts. People tried to explain that to me, and I did not buy it.”^[7]

Jemison says she was inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.; to her King’s dream was not an elusive fantasy but a call to action. “Too often people paint him like Santa — smiley and inoffensive,” says Jemison. “But when I think of Martin Luther King, I think of attitude, audacity, and bravery.”^[8] Jemison thinks the civil rights movement was all about breaking down the barriers to human potential. “The best way to make dreams come true is to wake up.”^[8]

Jemison began dancing at the age of 11.^[9] “I love dancing! I took all kinds of dance — African dancing, ballet, jazz, modern — even Japanese dancing. I wanted to become a professional dancer,” said Jemison.^[10] At the age of 14, she auditioned for the leading role of “Maria” in West Side Story.^[11]

She did not get the part but Jemison’s dancing skills did get her into the line up as a background dancer.^[11] “I had a problem with the singing but I danced and acted pretty well enough for them to choose me. I think that people sometimes limit themselves and so rob themselves of the opportunity to realise their dreams. For me, I love the sciences and I also love the arts,” says Jemison.^[11]

“I saw the theatre as an outlet for this passion and so I decided to pursue this dream.”^[11] Later during her senior year in college, she was trying to decide whether to go to New York to medical school or become a professional dancer. Her mother told her, “You can always dance if you’re a doctor, but you can’t doctor if you’re a dancer.”^[12]