“I’ve been teaching the GED course for 21 years. I’ve helped over 300 students get their certificates. I had one student recently—he was 50 years old and only had a 6th grade education. He sat in the back of the class and didn’t say anything. He just watched. But then one day there was a tough algebra problem that nobody could figure out. He volunteered to come up and tried it on the board, and he got it. In front of everybody. The next day when I arrived, he was sitting in the front. After class I handed him a huge study guide, and told him: ‘If you’ll give 25 percent, I’ll give you 75 percent.’ I told him he could interrupt me at any time to ask me questions. And he did. It seemed like he was coming up to me every few hours– in the cafeteria, while I was playing cards, while I was watching movies. After nine months he took the test and passed. He was so proud. He said he couldn’t wait to tell his daughter. A few months later I was sitting here in the visiting room, and this young woman kept looking at me. So much so that my girlfriend was starting to get upset. Eventually she walked over to me, and said: ‘Thank you so much for helping my father get his GED.’ It was the best feeling in the world.”

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Ronald Erwin McNair was born in 1950 in Lake City, South Carolina. He was an American physicist and NASA astronaut and a man of many accomplishments. His favorite activities were running, boxing, football, playing cards, and cooking. When he was a 9-year-old boy he refused to leave the segregated Lake City Public Library without being allowed to check out his books. When the police knew about the incident, they let him keep those books and 26 years later, after his death, Lake City Public library was named after him. 

McNair had a bachelor degree of Science in Engineering Physics and a Ph.D. degree from MIT, in Physics. He gained national notoriety for his work in the field of laser physics. Above that, he was a 5th-degree black Karate instructor and jazz saxophonist.

Dr. Ronald E. McNair memorial in his hometown, Lake City, South Carolina.

Ronald McNair was killed on January 28, 1986, when the space shuttle Challenger exploded.

Don’t let people forget about such dedicated and notable Black men like Ronald Erwin McNair. His name deserves to be in all History books.

Antelope Canyon