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Jacob Mitchell
Hatteberg's People
Reporter: Larry Hatteberg
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May 22, 2005--Jacob Mitchell, is one of those individuals who lives quietly among us, yet is part of
something very special. When we think of space and the pioneers who helped conquer it,
Mitchell’s name should be on that plaque. |
It is where man had dreamed of going since the dawn of time. The moon. Poets could write
about it….but only dreamers and folks like Jacob Mitchell thought it might be possible.
“I knew that I had a great part in this becoming a reality.”
He did. Wichitian Jacob Mitchell was part of history in two ways. He was an engineer on the
Apollo moon project in the sixties and he was in the first group of black engineers ever hired
by NASA.
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| “The group that I worked in was called a ‘systems integration group’, which meant we had the
privilege of seeing everything that was being done. But I couldn’t say anything about it
because of all the secret work.” |
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He was a telemetry expert and focused all his attention on the project; working in secret so
not even his wife knew what his job was.
“And I never heard one complaint from her, because she knew whatever I was doing it had to have
been important. So I owe a lot of my success to her.” |
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But in the early days of NASA racism and the ‘60’s went hand in hand. Even on this
history-making project he felt the sting of occasional discrimination.
“Because at that time it was felt that a black person really didn’t have the intellect to work
side by side with such a technical endeavor.” |
Now, that part of history is just pictures in a scrapbook…but back then, Mitchell had to be the
best he could be. Armed with education, degrees, and intellect, Mitchell endured.
“It didn’t overwhelm me, because everything we were doing was so new and technical.”
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There was simply too much at stake, both in the Apollo program and to him as an
African-American. But he had a plan. Anytime an act of racism occurred, he just remembered
the words of his grandmother.
“She said hear what you want to hear, see what you want to see. It does work.”
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But on his Wichita front porch with his family, most would never know this quiet spoken man
helped boost a man to the moon, but in a smaller way made cultural inroads that helped pave the
road to integration, in a time when change was written in man walking on the moon, and man
walking as a equal partner in the workplace. Common now, but then, it was like reaching for
the stars.
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Jacob Mitchell, continued to work for many of Wichita’s aircraft plants and is currently an
aviation consultant.
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