Born: 26 July 1926, United States
Died: 21 December 2016
Country most active: United States
Also known as:
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women founder Allison Tyra’s book The View from the Hill: Women Who Made Their Mark After 40.
Born in 1926, Harriett Jenkins did her part to diversify NASA as the assistant administrator for equal opportunity programs from 1974 to 1992. Previously, she’d been the first African American woman to be vice-principal in the Berkeley, California school system, going on to become a school principal, director of elementary education, and assistant superintendent of schools before moving to the Washington, D.C. area in 1974.
In her 22 years at NASA, she implemented a variety of programs to support women and under-represented minorities. In addition to recruiting some of the first African American astronauts, she worked to open up opportunities in procurement contracts and research efforts, including starting and supporting research centers at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). She also earned her law degree in 1984, and after leaving NASA in 1992, worked for Congress as the director of the Office of Senate Fair Employment Practices from 1992 to 1996. There, she worked to ensure laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 were properly implemented for Senate and Capitol Police employees. In 2000, NASA created the Harriett G. Jenkins Graduate Fellowship Program, which provides support for underserved and underrepresented STEM students, including women, ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities.