i dont think there has ever been a black Astronaut before correct me if i am wrong.
Your not being sure is a good thing actually!
In my opinion it makes perfect sense for people to remember "the first" of big achievements. For instance, if you ask me "Who was the first person to fly?" I know the answer by heart (well..., I know it was the Wright brothers, no clue whether Orville or Wilbur was the
very first). Same with first person in space, first person to orbit, first person to step on the moon. And, once it happens, I'll definitely remember the name of whoever sets foot on Mars first.
Those are the
real "firsts". But for some reason, we've made a habit of also remembering "the first women to ..." and in some cases even "the first black to ...". The intention behind it might be good (white males are ridiculously over-represented otherwise), but it causes this stupid, subconscious notion of "okay, now that a man has done it, let's see if a woman can do it too".
If I were to ask "Who was the first president with size 15 shoes?" everybody is going to look at me like I'm stupid and why on Earth would anybody ask such a ridiculous question... and it is entirely possible the question
cannot be answered as the information (especially for the really old presidents) might have been lost to history. Yet asking "Who was the first black president of the USA?" will get me instant (and flawless) answers no matter whom I ask. Same thing with "Has there ever been a female president of the USA?"... And I'm not just talking about right now; let's be honest, a hundred years from now, that'll still work the exact same way.
The sign we've finally beaten racism (and, for that matter, sexism) is not when there
is a black president, it's when there is a black president
and during the entire campaign it hasn't been mentioned once, because nobody is consciously aware of it.
Oh, and for all the narrow-minded people out there:
"We choose to have a female, black, lesbian president! ... We choose to elect her in this century and abolish prejudice, not because she's a woman, but because she's the better candidate; because an end to prejudice will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone
even further, and one we intend to win."
(Also, with a lesbian president... what do we call her wife; "Second Lady" sounds pretty darn lame!?)