NASA and the Long Civil Rights Movement

American AstronauticalSociety Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Award

AsNASA prepared for the launch of Apollo 11 in July 1969, many African Americanleaders protested the billions of dollars used to fund "space joyrides" ratherthan help tackle poverty, inequality, and discrimination at home. This volumeexamines such tensions as well as the ways in which NASA's goal of spaceexploration aligned with the cause of racial equality. It provides new insightsinto the complex relationship between the space program and the civil rightsmovement in the Jim Crow South and abroad.



Essaysexplore how thousands of jobs created during the space race offered newopportunities for minorities in places like Huntsville, Alabama, while at thesame time segregation at NASA's satellite tracking station in South Africa ledto that facility's closure. Other topics include black skepticism toward NASA'sframing of space exploration as "for the benefit of all mankind," NASA's trackrecord in hiring women and minorities, and the efforts of black activists toincrease minority access to education that would lead to greater participationin the space program. The volume also addresses how to best find and preservearchival evidence of African American contributions that are missing fromnarratives of space exploration.



NASA and the Long Civil Rights Movement offersimportant lessons from history as today's activists grapple with the distancebetween social movements like Black Lives Matter and scientific ambitions suchas NASA's mission to Mars.  

Contributors: P.J. Blount | Jonathan Coopersmith | MatthewL. Downs | Eric Fenrich | Cathleen Lewis | Cyrus Mody | David S. Molina | BrianC. Odom | Brenda Plummer | Christina K. Roberts | Keith Snedegar | Stephen P.Waring | Margaret A. Weitekamp 



Publication of the paperback edition made possible by a Sustainingthe Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the NationalEndowment for the Humanities.