N.C. A&T Alumni Times

This February, shortly before the death of legendary NASA mathematician and “Hidden Figures” author Katherine Johnson, and just after the 34th Annual Commemoration of Dr. Ronald McNair, the F. D. Bluford Library Archives was re-examining the story of Rita J. Southall ‘66. Known as “Southall,” she was the first female alumna to work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In the 1960s and 1970s, she was nationally profiled as an outstanding example of women of color in STEM.

Rita Jean Southall was a native of Portsmouth, Virginia, who first attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (known as A&T College) in 1962. As a student, she attended a regional women’s science meet, was a representative for her sophomore class, and pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. She was also one of the first women to join the new A&T chapter of the American Institute of Physics (AIP). She served as the chapter president in her senior year.

In the summer of 1965, Southall was one of seven physics junior majors appointed to an out-of-state summer position. Throughout the 1960s, NASA recruiters would come to the A&T College and her internship was at the NASA Langley Research Center. When she returned to campus that fall to complete her senior year, it was not the end of her career at Langley. As she told the “A&T Today” newsletter, “when they offered me the position after graduation I really wanted to go back.”

From 1968 to 1970, Southall worked in the Protective Structures Section of the Structures Research Division, and in 1971 the Concepts Development Section of their Structures division, similar to Katherine Johnson, who worked in the Flight Research Division. She also told “A&T Today” that she was the only female physicist, and the only female worker other than a secretary in her division when she first started.

As a woman of color in NASA, Southall was lauded by the black press. Photo articles of her were published in the “Pittsburgh Courier”, “Carolina Times”, and the “Chicago Defender.” All publications highlighted the fact that she was an Aggie. A proud Aggie, she was also president of the Tidewater Chapter of the National Alumni Association, and the corresponding secretary for the Mid-Eastern Region of the National Alumni Association.

While working full-time at Langely, Southall took graduate coursework in physics at William and Mary College, Howard University, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D. C. She later joined the staff of Howard University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. A few works of her poetry were published in the 1970s. In 1976, she co-authored one article for the journal of the International Astronomical Union Colloquium.

Sadly, Rita J. Southall Spencer passed away in a hospital in 1980 at the age of 36. Her legacy as a pioneering woman in STEM and an outstanding Aggie will live on.

The F. D. Bluford Library Archives is promoting more of our resources on Women in STEM, including our growing School of Nursing collections, the Drs. Cecile and Gerald Edwards Collection, and women in visual and performing arts like Susan B. Dudley and Mattye Reed.

If you have any information or recollections about Rita J. Southall, or want to know more about any topic in A&T history please contact us at libraryarchives@ncat.edu.

Special thanks to NASA’s History Division and the Langley Research Center for providing information for this story.