Hidden Figures : The American Dream And The Untold Story Of The Black Women Mathematicians

In the movie “Hidden Figures” many points were made about the early 1960s in the United States and African Americans, hence during the Jim Crow Era. One of these points was the advancement of technology in the race to space between The US and Russia. Another point that is made during the film is the racial barriers in the 1960s but how much people were beginning to become accepting of more than race but personality and intelligence.

Depending on the perspective of the writer, the reader can be lead to understand history or events very differently. It is such an important thing to consider because one point of view includes only the people that the person that is telling the story has surrounded themselves with. In the case of the book, the reader got a very different perspective of the time, NASA, and the Space Race. United States History does not teach about the women who helped in such an influential way. No one would have ever known about this story if it was not because of the book. The author did not even know about until a very late period in her life and even when she did, she had to do a lot of research before the story even made sense. Hidden Figures gives a more complete story as to the time and allows the reader to explore the issues of race and being a woman in the field of

Hidden Figures follows the story of three very talented African-American women. Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine G. Johnson represent a group of women that weren’t accurately represented in history. Many people believed that a woman couldn’t be part of such an important part of history. Margot Lee Shetterly describes a discovery she happened upon. There she describes how in 1990 Virginia Biggins who worked at Langley beat for the Daily Press newspaper stated that “‘Everyone said, ‘this is a scientist, this is an engineer’ and it was always a man’” (xvi). Virginia Biggins according to Margot Lee Shetterly then continues to say, “‘I just assumed they were all secretaries’”, when talking about the women during the Space Race (xvi). Furthermore, the idea that women can’t be mathematicians, engineers, or scientist seems to still exist today. According to David W. Stinson, “Nonetheless, in the United States, and

As I walked into the University Student Center after my Issues in Public Policy class one August day, a disturbing sight immediately struck me. For a moment I thought I needed to pinch myself because I felt as though I was having a horrible nightmare. Then, I thought that maybe I needed to check my calendar to make sure that I had not traveled back in time to the sixties when segregation was still an accepted practice in the United States. Much to my dismay, I was not dreaming, and it was still in the year 2000. As I continued to look around at my fellow students, my stomach churned, and it was not because I was hungry. The sight that lay before my eyes was not only very disturbing but also

To a historian studying African-American women in the United States in the 1960’s, Hidden figures is a one-way ticket to the ways and views of people during this period of time. Coloured women in the 60’s who worked at NASA were usually made to be “human computers” (the likes of which dated back decades before space exploration) While they did the same work as their white counterparts, African-American computers were paid less and relegated to the segregated west section of the Langley campus, where they were made to use separate bathrooms and dining rooms. They became known as the "West Computers." Despite having the same education, they were often never considered for promotions or other jobs within NACA. Hidden Figures depicts this in a

ill experience the public spheres and the workplace discrimination at the same level, because they have both conditions. Another example is the fact that African American women are often forgotten in history textbooks (Strickland & Weems, 2000, p. 72). In addition, even in todays’ news we talk more about the killing of African American men but not the ones of African American women (Ted Woman). From this perspective, other myths will derive such as the Strong Black Women myth (Black & Peacock, 2011). This myth is about a “gender-critical approach” in which African-American women are seen as stronger and responsible for their “health experiences” (Black & Peacock, 2011, 144). A research named Scott with his study sees the myth as forcing African American women to feel like they are self-reliant which will lead them to believe that they need to take care of their family, community, etc. Scott will refer to this idea as the management “warrior mode” (1991).

In Hidden Figures the theme of the book is the theme of the time period in the United States at that time, which is the suppression of people do to their race and gender. This was still relevant during the beginning of the war. Even though Langley and NACA were hiring African women they still were segregating them and giving them unequal treatment and pay. Mary Jackson is extremely talented but however because of her race and gender she is constantly looked over. This injustice to women shown in the book just represents how unequal the world once was. No matter how smart a women was “Most of the country’s top engineering schools didn’t accept women.... Being an engineer, Mary Jackson would eventually learn, meant being the only black person, or the only woman, or both, at industry conferences for years.” (Shetterly 144). Even with the lack of opportunity that was presented for the main characters they were able

Hidden Figures is a story of beauty, wonder, and determination. Facing discrimination in many ways, let the stories of three virtuosos disclose to you how a lady, regardless of many major obstacles, can, even back in the 1960s, cross the end goal. Placed in the world-famous NASA, the women present a grand amount of resistance, demonstrating just how powerful they really are. While it might be hard to find her in the crowd, we know she is there, running and jumping over the bars, demolishing walls as they emerge.

On this day our guest speakers were a group of community activist, mental health workers, and a few professors. For the hour we discussed intersectional systems of oppression that affect black women (and people of color), ways as activist that we may combat these inequalities, and the psychological impact of unbalanced power structures create for the individual.The discussion was thought-provoking; as always, however I found myself in a conundrum.

Every human has a passion in life. This passion is apart of the structure of our individuality. It leads our decisions in life and helps us overcome the largest of obstacles. In Hidden Figures, we see the theme of passion and its effect in our lives. In addition to Hidden Figures, Callings shows the same theme of passion. Ultimately, Hidden Figures and Callings show us passion is a force that drives our lives, effects our choices, and allows us to overcome the challenges we face.

This movie is about Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson who are three African American women who work for NASA. These three women broke racial and gender barriers in this movies with their accomplishments. They helped build the spaceship that sent the first man to orbit the Earth. This movie took place during the time that the Soviet Union and the United States were in a space race. This movie shows the struggles that the three women and also other women had to face while working at NASA and in the community. Hidden Figures shows specific roles that women and women of color play in movies and

Hidden Figures, a book about 3 African American women who overcame adversity, takes place in the mid 1960s. A time where racism was at its worst and poverty was in effect. The names were Katherine Goble, Dorothy Vaughn, and Mary Jackson, who were all 3 geniuses in their fields of study. Katherine was a math expert, Dorothy was a supervisor, and Mary was an engineer. During a time of racism, nobody would’ve imagined that 3 African American women, along with many more women, that they would work for N.A.S.A. These 3 women went through so many obstacles in their life. These 3 women are perfect examples of overcoming anything that stands in your way.

Progression in technology comes with progression of education. The movie “Hidden Figures” highlights the opportunities involved when intelligent, courageous women take strides to create the math to send astronauts to the moon. This movie is about three historical African American women who worked as “human computers” at the NASA Research Center in Langley, VA in the early 1960’s. Katherine Johnson (fellow mathematician), Dorothy Vaughn (programmer) and Mary Jackson (engineer), contributed to NASA space program to successfully send John Glenn, the first man to orbit around the earth, Project Mercury and later Apollo II mission. The film is a powerful reminder of the destructive consequences of discrimination. It holds important career lessons about how to manage and excel at work even under challenging circumstances.

The 2016 historical film, Hidden Figures directed by Theodore Melfi which explores the themes of racism and sexism in America during the 1960’s. Melfi uses visual and verbal features of dialogue, costume and symbolism to display that sexism and racism is hard to abolish. The messages that Melfi conveys to the audience is that unequal pay and expected sexist uniforms are still present, but if we do something about it, it can be removed.

1961 was an exciting time for Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Katherine Johnson. These women were Black and they worked at NASA Langley. The movie Hidden Figures opens with a young Katherine being tested and sent to a school where her education and skills of being a mathematician could be of better use to her. It then moves to a scene where the three women are stuck on the side of the road late for work and Dorothy Vaughan is under the care trying to fix what appeared to be a problem with the starter of her car. A white officer stops, asks a few questions and upon learning that these women were a part of the teams that were crucial in the great space race, he escorts them to work. Each of these women played leading roles in this movie and they each faced a different set of racial challenges.