Mary Golda Ross: A Trailblazer for Indigenous Women in STEM – and for Me

In every lab, every codebase, every equation solved and discovery made, there’s a story. It is one that has too often left women of color out of the narrative. For centuries, brilliant minds have been overlooked, their contributions buried beneath bias and systemic barriers. But their contributions are not unfelt nor unseen. There have been countless women who have paved the way so that women can continue to make remarkable discoveries. One of these incredible women is Mary Golda Ross, the first first Native American female engineer. She inspires me as a Cherokee woman to embrace the guiding principles of our culture: education, empathy, and perseverance.

Mary Ross, born in 1908, was the great-granddaughter of Principal Chief John Ross, who led the tribe during the time of the Trail of Tears. The Ross family is a renowned one in our culture, Mary being among one of the most famous outside of the tribe. Our culture is historically matriarchal, and power was always shared evenly between the sexes. There was never a question of women being in spaces: the answer was always yes. Throughout history, education for all people has been a guiding principle for our Nation, and it remains a primary focus of the modern Cherokee government. Despite this, Mary faced challenges gaining the educational opportunities she desired because of her gender. She loved math, and knew it would be a powerful tool. “To function efficiently, you need math,” she said. “The world is so technical; if you plan to work in it, a math background will let you go farther and faster.”

At a time when educational opportunities for women—especially women of color—were limited, she defied expectations and excelled in math and science. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Northeastern State Teachers’ College (formerly Cherokee National Female Seminary, currently Northeastern Oklahoma State University) in 1928, becoming one of the few women in her field at the time. This degree led her to teach math at her local high school, sharing her incredible knowledge with Indigenous youth. Later, she worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs where she could help native people on the federal level. This led her to leading a residential school in New Mexico, bringing an important familiarity to the Indigenous youth. While teaching, she spent her breaks earning her Masters degree in mathematics from Colorado State Teachers College.

When the US entered World War II, Mary was one of many women who joined the national workforce. She secured a position at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in 1942, where she became one of the first female and Native American aerospace engineers in the country. The only woman amongst her colleagues, they would work late into the night on calculations and research using only a pencil. She helped create the P-38 Lightning, the fastest fighter jet of its time. Because of her constant education, she was able to perform intricate calculations, saying in 1994, “[my] state-of-the-art tools were a slide rule and a Frieden computer.” After the war, Mary completed her professional certificate in engineering at UCLA, making her the first Indigenous woman to earn the title.

In 1952, she helped found the secretive Skunk Works division at Lockheed, where she helped develop some of the aerospace technology we still use today. One of 40 employees, and again

the only woman, Mary worked on countless projects, many of which are still classified. She helped develop the preliminary concepts for space travel, created the flight paths to both Venus and Mars, and contributed heavily to the NASA Planetary Flight Handbook Vol. 3, which is still used in modern space travel. She was also instrumental in the Agena rocket project, likely her most well-known legacy. The rocket was a main component of the Gemini mission, the second successful human spaceflight program in the US.

Despite working in an era when women and Indigenous people faced significant barriers in STEM fields, Mary used her success to advocate for others. She actively mentored young women and Indigenous students, encouraging them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. She was a strong supporter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), which provides resources and opportunities for Indigenous students in STEM disciplines. She also worked with organizations such as the Society of Women Engineers and the Cherokee Nation, emphasizing the importance of education and representation. Mary believed that the key to breaking barriers was fostering a love of learning in young minds and providing them with the tools they needed to succeed. She was a long-time member of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and gave over $400,000 in an endowment to the museum after her passing.

Mary G. Ross’s impact extends far beyond her groundbreaking work in aerospace engineering. As a trailblazer for Indigenous women in STEM, she paved the way for future generations of scientists and engineers. In 2022, the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City revealed a statue of Mary, an homage to her and her fierce dedication to breaking barriers for Indigenous women in STEM.

Cherokee artist America Meredith commemorated Mary’s work in the painting “Ad Astra Per Astra”, a play on the Latin “Ad Astra Per Aspera”. It depicts Mary with the Agena rocket she helped develop, with the Cherokee seven-pointed star and the title of the painting in Cherokee syllabary, ᎺᎵ ᎠᎦᎳ ᏓᎶᏂᎨ ᎶᏏ me-li a-ga-la da-lo-ni-ge lo-si. This painting not only memorializes one of the most influential Cherokee women in history, but it also serves as a permanent reminder of the resilience and power of the Cherokee people. Throughout it all, our language and our culture is alive. We have made countless impacts on American culture, while still being able to maintain a piece of our identity.

She is not just an inspiration to me, but to millions of women who aspire to become trailblazers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Because of Mary G. Ross, I can say I am a ᏣᎳᎩ woman and I am a technologist.

ᏩᏙ wa-do – Thank you