Dr. Tracy A. Thomas

First African American female to be admitted into the astronaut training program and fly into space in 1987. Dr. Mae C. Jemison was born October 17, 1956 to Charlie & Dorothy Jemison, in Decatur, Alabama, but considers Chicago, Illinois, to be her hometown. Graduated from Morgan Park High School, Chicago, Illinois, in 1973; received a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering (and fulfilled the requirements for a B.A. in African and Afro-American Studies) from Stanford University in 1977, and a doctorate degree in medicine from Cornell University in 1981. Member, American Chemical Society, Association for the Advancement of Science, Association of Space Explorers. Honorary Member, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Board Member, World Sickle Cell Foundation, American Express Geography Competition. Honorary Board Member, Center for the Prevention of Childhood Malnutrition. Clinical Teaching Associate, University of Texas Medical Center. National Achievement Scholarship (1973-1977); Stanford representative to Carifesta '76 in Jamaica; 1979 CIBA Award for Student Involvement; American Medical Student Association (AMSA) study group to Cuba; grant from International Travelers Institute for health studies in rural Kenya (1979); organized New York city-wide health and law fair for National Student Medical Association (1979); worked refugee camp in Thailand (1980). Recipient of Essence Award (1988), and Gamma Sigma Gamma Woman of the Year (1989). Honorary Doctorate of Sciences, Lincoln College, Pennsylvania (1991). Honorary Doctorate of Letters, Winston Salem College, North Carolina (1991). DuSable Museum Award (1992). The Mae C. Jemison Academy, an alternate public school established in 1992 in Detroit, Michigan. Montgomery Fellow 1993 Dartmouth College. Dr. Jemison has a background in both engineering and medical research. She has worked in the areas of computer programming, printed wiring board materials, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, computer magnetic disc production, and reproductive biology. Dr. Jemison completed her internship at Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center in July 1982 and worked as a General Practitioner with INA/Ross Loos Medical Group in Los Angeles until December 1982. Dr. Jemison was selected for the astronaut program in June 1987. Her technical assignments since then have included: launch support activities at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; verification of Shuttle computer software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL); Science Support Group activities. Dr. Jemison was the science mission specialist on STS-47 Spacelab-J (September 12-20, 1992). STS-47 was a cooperative mission between the United States and Japan. The eight-day mission was accomplished in 127 orbits of the Earth, and included 44 Japanese and U.S. life science and materials processing experiments. Dr. Jemison was a co-investigator on the bone cell research experiment flown on the mission. The Endeavour and her crew launched from and returned to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In completing her first space flight, Dr. Jemison logged 190 hours, 30 minutes, 23 seconds in space. Dr. Jemison left NASA in March 1993. Jemison also developed and participated in research projects on the Hepatitis B vaccine and rabies. References Administration, N. A. (1993, March). National Aeronautics and Space Administration: MAE C. JEMISON (M.D.). Retrieved February 25, 2019, from National Aeronautics and Space Administration: https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/jemison-mc.html

From talk show host and business entrepreneur to actor and philanthropist, there is little the "Queen of All Media" hasn't done and dominated throughout her career. Oprah Winfrey has broken several records throughout her career. Oprah Winfrey is a media mogul who helmed one of the most popular TV shows in U.S. history. She used her platform to do everything from launching her own production company, Harpo (her name spelled backwards), to starting a school for girls in Africa. Winfrey is the first black woman billionaire, with deep attention paid to strategic financial partnerships and enterprises. Her immense monetary wealth aside, Winfrey has spent her career fostering creative projects that have elevated her standing as an American icon among fans. In the mid-1970s, Winfrey became the first black woman to anchor a nightly news program in Nashville at the age of 19 while in college. A decade later, she became the host of A.M. Chicago , directly competing with the popular Phil Donahue Show. In 1999, Winfrey began to withhold her name for consideration after receiving a lifetime achievement award. Winfrey created her own foundation in 1997 and started a school in South Africa, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. The idea for the boarding school, which housed girls from grades 8-12, was inspired by Winfrey's rough childhood. She has openly discussed being a survivor of sexual abuse when she was a child and lobbied for the creation of the National Child Protection Act, which was signed into law by President  Bill Clinton in December 1993.  In 1996, Oprah launched Oprah’s Book Club, which selected a literary title for viewers to read and discuss each month. Two years later, in 1998, Winfrey invested in the Oxygen network, a cable channel geared toward women. And in 2000, Oprah debuted O, The Oprah Magazine, featuring a celebration of life, lifestyle, spirituality, arts and culture. Winfrey has appeared on the cover more than 200 times. On January 1, 2011, Winfrey launched the Oprah Winfrey Network, a cable TV platform that featured reality TV shows, dramas and classic series. In 2018, Oprah became the first black woman to win the Golden Globes’ Cecil B. DeMille Award. Her wildly popular Golden Globes speech honored women who had shared their stories of sexual harassment and declared that “a new day is on the horizon.”

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is a lawyer, writer, and the wife of the 44th President, Barack Obama. She was the first African-American First Lady of the United States. Through her four main initiatives, she has become a role model for women and an advocate for healthy families, service members and their families, higher education, and international adolescent girls education. A product of Chicago public schools, Michelle Robinson studied sociology and African-American studies at Princeton University. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1988, she joined the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where she later met Barack Obama, the man who would become the love of her life. After a few years, Mrs. Obama decided her true calling was working with people to serve their communities and their neighbors. She served as assistant commissioner of planning and development in Chicago’s City Hall before becoming the founding executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program that prepares youth for public service. In 1996, Mrs. Obama joined the University of Chicago with a vision of bringing campus and community together. As Associate Dean of Student Services, she developed the university’s first community service program, and under her leadership as Vice President of Community and External Affairs for the University of Chicago Medical Center, volunteerism skyrocketed. In 2010, she launched Let’s Move! , bringing together community leaders, educators, medical professionals, parents, and others in a nationwide effort to address the challenge of childhood obesity. Let’s Move! had an ambitious goal: to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation. In 2011, Mrs. Obama and Dr. Jill Biden came together to launch Joining Forces, a nationwide initiative calling all Americans to rally around service members, veterans, and their families and support them through wellness, education, and employment opportunities In 2014, Mrs. Obama launched the Reach Higher Initiative, an effort to inspire young people across America to take charge of their future by completing their education past high school, whether at a professional training program, a community college, or a four-year college or university. Reach Higher aimed to ensure that all students understood what they need to complete their education by working to expose students to college and career opportunities; helping them understand financial aid eligibility; encouraging academic planning and summer learning opportunities; and supporting high school counselors who do essential work to help students get into college. In 2015, Mrs. Obama joined President Obama to launch Let Girls Learn, a U.S. government-wide initiative to help girls around the world go to school and stay in school. As part of this effort, Mrs. Obama called on countries across the globe to help educate and empower young women, and she shared the stories and struggles of these young women with young people here at home to inspire them to commit to their own education.