In this MAKERS interview, Katherine G. Johnson talks about her early affinity for mathematics, a college professor who noticed her gift and pushed her to pursue advanced math courses and how she eventually became a NASA mathematician who calculated, among many other computations, the trajectory for the space flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space; John Glenn, the first American to orbit earth; and Apollo 11, the first human mission to the moon.

Charlotte E. Ray, the first African American woman to practice law in the United States, was born on January 13, 1850 in New York City, New York. Ray spent her first years in New York City but by 1850 her parents had moved to Washington, D.C. where she entered the Institution for the Education of Colored Youth, the only school in the Washington, D.C. area that allowed African American girls to become pupils. Her ambition instead was to attend the Howard University's law school. Howard University's Law School, however, discouraged women from enrolling and Ray was forced to apply under the name “C.E. Ray” to disguise her gender. University officials reluctantly accepted her application. Ray matriculated at the law school for three years, from 1869 to 1872 where she concentrated on commercial law. Upon completion of the program in 1872 Ray became the first black woman to graduate from an American law school and receive a law degree. In fact she was only the third American woman of any race to complete law school. 

Vilma S. Martínez was the first woman to serve as U.S. ambassador to Argentina. She has a long history of straddling the worlds of corporate boardrooms and legal defense of minorities.  One of the leading voices in Hispanic civil rights since the 1970s, Martínez has run the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and been a part of legal fights on behalf of both documented and undocumented immigrants from Latin America.

Jennifer Finney Boylan is an American author and political activist. Her 2003 memoir, She’s Not There: a Life in Two Genders (Broadway/Doubleday/Random House) was the first bestselling work by a transgender American. A novelist, memoirist, and short story writer, she is also a nationally known advocate for civil rights. Jenny has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show on four occasions; Live with Larry King twice; the Today Show,the Barbara Walters Special, NPR’s Marketplace and Talk of the Nation; she has also been the subject of documentaries on CBS News’ 48 Hours and The History Channel.