''Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race'' is a 2016 nonfiction book written by

Margot Lee Shetterly Margot Lee Shetterly (born June 30, 1969) is an American nonfiction writer who has also worked in investment banking and media startups. Her first book, '' Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win ...

. Shetterly started working on the book in 2010. The book takes place from the 1930s through the 1960s, depicting the particular barriers for Black women in science during this time, thereby providing a lesser-known history of NASA. The biographical text follows the lives of

Katherine Johnson Katherine Johnson ( née Coleman; August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020) was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights ...

Dorothy Vaughan Dorothy Jean Johnson Vaughan (September 20, 1910 – November 10, 2008) was an American mathematician and human computer who worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and NASA, at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virg ...

, and Mary Jackson, three mathematicians who worked as

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These prog ...

(then a job description) at NACA and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

, during the

space race The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the t ...

. They overcame discrimination there, as women and as African Americans. Also featured is

Christine Darden Christine Darden (born September 10, 1942, as Christine Mann) is an American mathematician, data analyst, and aeronautical engineer who devoted much of her 40-year career in aerodynamics at NASA to researching supersonic flight and sonic booms. ...

, who was the first African-American woman to be promoted into the

Senior Executive Service The Senior Executive Service (SES) is a position classification in the civil service of the United States federal government equivalent to general officer or flag officer rank in the U.S. Armed Forces. It was created in 1979 when the Civil Service ...

for her work in researching

supersonic flight A supersonic aircraft is an aircraft capable of supersonic flight, that is, flying faster than the speed of sound (Mach number 1). Supersonic aircraft were developed in the second half of the twentieth century. Supersonic aircraft have been use ...

and sonic booms. The book reached number one on ''The New York Times'' Non-Fiction Best Sellers list and got the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Nonfiction in 2017. The book was adapted as a film by the same name, released in 2016, that was nominated for three Oscars. It received numerous other awards.

Topic

''Hidden Figures'' explores the biographies of three

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

who worked as

to solve problems for

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the li ...

and others at

. For the first years of their careers, the workplace was segregated and women were kept in the background as human computers. Author Margot Lee Shetterly's father was a research scientist at NASA who worked with many of the book's main characters. Shetterly explains how these women overcame discrimination and racial segregation to become vital parts of mathematics, scientific, and engineering history. One of them, Katherine Johnson, calculated rocket trajectories for the Mercury and Apollo missions. Johnson successfully "took matters into her own hands" by being assertive with her supervisor. When her mathematical abilities were recognized, Johnson was allowed into what had previously been all-male meetings at

Film

The book was adapted as a film of the same name, written by

Theodore Melfi Theodore Melfi is an American filmmaker. His second film, '' St. Vincent'' starring Bill Murray, was released in 2014. In 2016, Melfi co-wrote, directed, and produced ''Hidden Figures'' with Allison Schroeder, for which he received Oscar nomina ...

and

Allison Schroeder Allison Schroeder is an American screenwriter. She co-wrote the film ''Hidden Figures'' with Theodore Melfi, earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Early and personal life Schroeder graduated from Melbourne High S ...

, and directed by Melfi. It was released on December 25, 2016 to positive reviews from critics, and received a nomination for Best Picture at the 89th Academy Awards. It received numerous other nominations and awards.

Taraji P. Henson Taraji Penda Henson ( ; born September 11, 1970) is an American actress. She studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in '' Baby Boy'' (2001). Sh ...

starred as mathematician

, Octavia Spencer played

, an African-American mathematician who worked for NASA in 1949, and Janelle Monáe played Mary Jackson, the first female African-American engineer to work for NASA. The movie made $231.3 million USD. The budget of the film was $25 million USD. While the film is based on the book, author Margot Lee Shetterly agrees that there are differences between the two, and she finds that to be understandable.

For better or for worse, there is history, there is the book and then there's the movie. Timelines had to be conflated and here werecomposite characters, and for most people ho have seen the moviehave already taken that as the literal fact. You might get the indication in the movie that these were the only people doing those jobs, when in reality we know they worked in teams, and those teams had other teams. There were sections, branches, divisions, and they all went up to a director. There were so many people required to make this happen. It would be great for people to understand that there were so many more people. Even though Katherine Johnson, in this role, was a hero, there were so many others that were required to do other kinds of tests and checks to make lenn'smission come to fruition. But I understand you can't make a movie with 300 characters. It is simply not possible.

Other adaptations

In 2016 a Young Reader's Edition was released for readers ages 8–12. A '' Hidden Figures'' picture book was released in January 2018. The book was co-written by

for children from four to eight years of age.

References

External links

Presentation by Shetterly on ''Hidden Figures'' at the Hampton History Museum, September 8, 2016

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

Discussion with Shetterly on ''Hidden Figures'' at the National Book Festival, September 2, 2017

{{Authority control 2016 non-fiction books American non-fiction books Books about African-American history Books about the Cold War Books about women Non-fiction books adapted into films NASA mass media Women in mathematics Biographies and autobiographies of mathematicians Literature by African-American women William Morrow and Company books

Topic

Film

Other adaptations

See also

References

External links