We Could Not Fail: The First African Americans in the Space Program

Paul (documentary producer) and Moss (English, Texas State Technical Coll.) offer a complementary narrative to our national story about the civil rights movement, providing a nuanced look at how integration and civil rights ideals shaped and were shaped by federal employers. Focusing on the first African American men the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) employed as scientists and professionals, the authors describe the particular challenges of integrating flight centers in Cape Canaveral, FL; Huntsville, AL; and Houston. In ways that will resonate in today's ongoing post-Ferguson struggles, each locality in the South created its own insidious and particular Jim Crow system; causing moving among communities to be dangerous for African Americans. Where knowing local racial structures was crucial to survival, applying federal equal opportunity employment mandates was challenging but especially important. Paul and Moss contextualize the stories of ten black scientists and engineers within the larger histories of World War II, federal equal employment regulations, NASA, segregation, and the Jim Crow South. Their compelling narrative's only shortcoming is that the larger historical thread often overtakes the men's stories (women didn't become part of the flight center until later). It is to be hoped that the radio documentary from which this grew will fill that gap.