Mae Jemison was born in Decatur, Alabama and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Aggressive in her studies, she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University, while also fulfilling the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies. She went on to receive a Doctor of Medicine degree from Cornell University in 1981.

After medical school Dr. Jemison served as a medical officer in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone and Liberia, West Africa. After the Peace Corps she joined CIGNA Health Plans of California. It was during this time that she applied to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for admission to the astronaut program. On her first try she was not accepted.

Dr. Jemison's second application was accepted, and she became 1 of 15 persons selected in a field of 2,000. She was the fifth Black to be accepted and became the first Black woman in space.