Ronald McNair

Day 199 / 365

Even after slavery was abolished in America in the 1800s, life wasn’t so easy for African Americans. Black people were not allowed to sit on certain seats in buses, to enter certain hotels or join certain schools and colleges.

Back in 1959, In one such segregated library, A 9-year-old black boy wanted to check out some books but wasn’t allowed to do it. He protested and refused to leave without the books. The librarian called the police, and the boy’s mother was called as well. His mom came praying all the way that they don’t put her son in jail.

Fortunately, the policeman was a little forward-thinking. And he didn’t see any reason why the boy could not be allowed to borrow the books. The librarian agreed reluctantly.

This boy graduated from high school with the highest ranks and even went to MIT. But that’s not all. This boy was Ronald Mcnair, who was later selected into the NASA Astronaut program and became the second African American to go into space.

This story, however, does not have a happy ending. Ronald’s second mission was to be part of the crew aboard the Challenger spaceship, which disintegrated within 2 minutes of taking off, killing everyone on board.

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog —The 21 Gun Salute