Feb 1966 (Richard Stacks, Baltimore Sun file photo):
Mary J. Wilson, the first African American senior zookeeper at what is now the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore whose expertise was caring for gorillas and elephants, died Thursday at Northwest Hospital in Randallstown of the coronavirus. The former Ashburton resident was 83.
Mike J. McClure, who is general curator of the animal department at the zoo, was a young novice zookeeper when he met Ms. Wilson.
“I was very lucky being able to work with Mary. It was an invaluable experience and she put me on the right track,” the Forest Hill resident said. “She was a very interesting lady, very sweet and kind, but very structured and firm. She was respectful and treated you fairly and had compassion, and that’s how she treated the animals and they responded to it. She treated them like equals.”
Said Carol M. Barth, of Parkville, who worked with Ms. Wilson at the then-Baltimore Zoo from 1973 to 1991: “Mary brought love, skill and passion to her work with the animals at the zoo. She was also like everyone’s mentor. She was a mother, friend and supervisor. What a great woman.”
...
“She started working at the zoo in 1961,” said her daughter, Sharron Wilson Jackson, an Ashburton resident who is a retired Platinum Hill Records executive and former owner of Sound Sages Entertainment. “She was an animal lover and had always loved them, and her love of them rubbed off on me. Gorillas and elephants were her favorites.”
Arthur R. Watson, who headed the zoo from 1948 to 1980, hired Ms. Wilson, whose only qualifications, The Sun reported in 1996, were a “willingness to work hard and a love of animals. In these days of specialized training, she probably wouldn’t get past the front door.”
At the time of her hire, most women started out working with birds or nursery-type animals, but Ms. Wilson went right into caring for mammals. She spent her entire career working with gorillas, cats and elephants in the Mammal House.
...
He said Ms. Wilson was “fearless” when working with elephants but was “terrified by mice.”
In the mid-1960s, a baby gorilla named Sylvia, who was less than a year old, came to the zoo from the Congo, and because she had no mother, it fell to Ms. Wilson to assume that role. Sylvia was then about 10 months old, weighed 18 pounds, 8 ounces, and was about 23 inches tall.
“Sylvia was like a baby to me. She was this cute little reddish-colored gorilla,” she explained to The Sun in 1996. “We had to care for her just like we’d care for a human baby. The first thing when I came in the morning, I used to give her a bath. Then I’d feed her breakfast. I’d cook three-minute eggs for her. She just became like my little daughter.”
Ms. Wilson eventually taught Sylvia how to use a spoon with which she could feed herself.
As Sylvia grew, it became apparent that Ms. Wilson could no longer hold her, and by 1981, the zoo decided it lacked the proper facilities for gorillas, so Sylvia and Hercules, the other gorilla at the zoo, were sent to the National Zoo in Washington.
...
One time when Ms. Wilson went on vacation, she asked zoo officials whether she could take home and care for a baby baboon, because it was used to her and she feared an unfamiliar handler might upset the infant.
Another time, zoo officials had to ask Ms. Wilson to stop scuffling with a 2-year-old jaguar because the animal had grown large enough to be considered dangerous.
Mary J. Wilson, the first African American senior zookeeper at what is now the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore whose expertise was caring for gorillas and elephants, died Thursday at Northwest Hospital in Randallstown of the coronavirus. The former Ashburton resident was 83.
Mike J. McClure, who is general curator of the animal department at the zoo, was a young novice zookeeper when he met Ms. Wilson.
“I was very lucky being able to work with Mary. It was an invaluable experience and she put me on the right track,” the Forest Hill resident said. “She was a very interesting lady, very sweet and kind, but very structured and firm. She was respectful and treated you fairly and had compassion, and that’s how she treated the animals and they responded to it. She treated them like equals.”
Said Carol M. Barth, of Parkville, who worked with Ms. Wilson at the then-Baltimore Zoo from 1973 to 1991: “Mary brought love, skill and passion to her work with the animals at the zoo. She was also like everyone’s mentor. She was a mother, friend and supervisor. What a great woman.”
...
“She started working at the zoo in 1961,” said her daughter, Sharron Wilson Jackson, an Ashburton resident who is a retired Platinum Hill Records executive and former owner of Sound Sages Entertainment. “She was an animal lover and had always loved them, and her love of them rubbed off on me. Gorillas and elephants were her favorites.”
Arthur R. Watson, who headed the zoo from 1948 to 1980, hired Ms. Wilson, whose only qualifications, The Sun reported in 1996, were a “willingness to work hard and a love of animals. In these days of specialized training, she probably wouldn’t get past the front door.”
At the time of her hire, most women started out working with birds or nursery-type animals, but Ms. Wilson went right into caring for mammals. She spent her entire career working with gorillas, cats and elephants in the Mammal House.
...
He said Ms. Wilson was “fearless” when working with elephants but was “terrified by mice.”
In the mid-1960s, a baby gorilla named Sylvia, who was less than a year old, came to the zoo from the Congo, and because she had no mother, it fell to Ms. Wilson to assume that role. Sylvia was then about 10 months old, weighed 18 pounds, 8 ounces, and was about 23 inches tall.
“Sylvia was like a baby to me. She was this cute little reddish-colored gorilla,” she explained to The Sun in 1996. “We had to care for her just like we’d care for a human baby. The first thing when I came in the morning, I used to give her a bath. Then I’d feed her breakfast. I’d cook three-minute eggs for her. She just became like my little daughter.”
Ms. Wilson eventually taught Sylvia how to use a spoon with which she could feed herself.
As Sylvia grew, it became apparent that Ms. Wilson could no longer hold her, and by 1981, the zoo decided it lacked the proper facilities for gorillas, so Sylvia and Hercules, the other gorilla at the zoo, were sent to the National Zoo in Washington.
...
One time when Ms. Wilson went on vacation, she asked zoo officials whether she could take home and care for a baby baboon, because it was used to her and she feared an unfamiliar handler might upset the infant.
Another time, zoo officials had to ask Ms. Wilson to stop scuffling with a 2-year-old jaguar because the animal had grown large enough to be considered dangerous.
Mary J. Wilson, the first African American senior zookeeper at what is now the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore whose expertise was caring for gorillas and elephants, died Thursday at Northwest Hospital in Randallstown of the coronavirus. The former Ashburton resident was 83.
Mike J. McClure, who is general curator of the animal department at the zoo, was a young novice zookeeper when he met Ms. Wilson.
“I was very lucky being able to work with Mary. It was an invaluable experience and she put me on the right track,” the Forest Hill resident said. “She was a very interesting lady, very sweet and kind, but very structured and firm. She was respectful and treated you fairly and had compassion, and that’s how she treated the animals and they responded to it. She treated them like equals.”
Said Carol M. Barth, of Parkville, who worked with Ms. Wilson at the then-Baltimore Zoo from 1973 to 1991: “Mary brought love, skill and passion to her work with the animals at the zoo. She was also like everyone’s mentor. She was a mother, friend and supervisor. What a great woman.”
...
“She started working at the zoo in 1961,” said her daughter, Sharron Wilson Jackson, an Ashburton resident who is a retired Platinum Hill Records executive and former owner of Sound Sages Entertainment. “She was an animal lover and had always loved them, and her love of them rubbed off on me. Gorillas and elephants were her favorites.”
Arthur R. Watson, who headed the zoo from 1948 to 1980, hired Ms. Wilson, whose only qualifications, The Sun reported in 1996, were a “willingness to work hard and a love of animals. In these days of specialized training, she probably wouldn’t get past the front door.”
At the time of her hire, most women started out working with birds or nursery-type animals, but Ms. Wilson went right into caring for mammals. She spent her entire career working with gorillas, cats and elephants in the Mammal House.
...
He said Ms. Wilson was “fearless” when working with elephants but was “terrified by mice.”
In the mid-1960s, a baby gorilla named Sylvia, who was less than a year old, came to the zoo from the Congo, and because she had no mother, it fell to Ms. Wilson to assume that role. Sylvia was then about 10 months old, weighed 18 pounds, 8 ounces, and was about 23 inches tall.
“Sylvia was like a baby to me. She was this cute little reddish-colored gorilla,” she explained to The Sun in 1996. “We had to care for her just like we’d care for a human baby. The first thing when I came in the morning, I used to give her a bath. Then I’d feed her breakfast. I’d cook three-minute eggs for her. She just became like my little daughter.”
Ms. Wilson eventually taught Sylvia how to use a spoon with which she could feed herself.
As Sylvia grew, it became apparent that Ms. Wilson could no longer hold her, and by 1981, the zoo decided it lacked the proper facilities for gorillas, so Sylvia and Hercules, the other gorilla at the zoo, were sent to the National Zoo in Washington.
...
One time when Ms. Wilson went on vacation, she asked zoo officials whether she could take home and care for a baby baboon, because it was used to her and she feared an unfamiliar handler might upset the infant.
Another time, zoo officials had to ask Ms. Wilson to stop scuffling with a 2-year-old jaguar because the animal had grown large enough to be considered dangerous.
Amazing article really, just goes to show how she paved way for people of color like myself and I'm sure many others here, especially for women. Even when the odds are against both groups...
Amazing article really, just goes to show how she paved way for people of color like myself and I'm sure many others here, especially for women. Even when the odds are against both groups...
I know that this is an old thread, and I want to thank everyone on here for their interest and appreciation for Mary J. Wilson. I want to share another relevant article about her, this time showing a photograph of the gorillas at Baltimore Zoo when they had them.
I just read the article and she is indeed a trailblazer for many especially people of color and women working in the zoo field! And to think about the time she had just started working was close or at the cusp of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The adversity she must’ve faced would’ve been staggering but the sheer will power to persevere shows by how many remember her so fondly and rightfully so.
It truly brings joy to me when I see people of all walks of life working together in zoos and aquariums, sharing the common goal of loving animals and wanting to preserve the natural world for generations to come
It is good to see that the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore establish a scholarship program for college interns named in her honor. Mary Wilson definitely deserves such honor!
"2023 Mary Wilson Scholar Program
The Maryland Zoo strives to identify equitable ways to engage diverse communities. In honor of Mary Wilson, the first African American Zoo Keeper, we are hosting a 5-week internship program for a for local black, indigenous, or person of color (BIPOC) college student with a passion for animals and an interest in zoo keeping. The chosen intern will also have the opportunity to participate in immersive experiences in the Animal, Hospital, or Commissary Departments, providing a unique insight into the Zoo world."
