Read more of The Root's coverage of Mae Jemison here.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
Suggested Reading
Video will return here when scrolled back into view
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.