![]() Shetterly, founder of the Human Computer Project, passionately brings to light the important and little-known story of the black women mathematicians hired to work as computers at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, Va., part of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NASA's precursor). With a major movie due out in January, this book-club natural will be in demand.-Mondor, Colleen Copyright 2016 Booklist Publisher's Weekly Review The breadth of her well-documented research is immense, and her narrative compels on every level. ![]() This is an incredibly powerful and complex story, and Shetterly has it down cold. Shetterly does an outstanding job of weaving the nearly unbelievable stories of these women into the saga of NASA's history (as well as its WWII-era precursor) while simultaneously keeping an eye on the battle for civil rights that swirled around them. What she did not know was that many of the women, particularly African American women, were employed not as secretaries but as computers: individuals capable of making accurate mathematical calculations at staggering speed who ultimately contributed to the agency's aerodynamic and space projects on an impressive scale. As the daughter of an engineer who became a highly respected scientist, she was aware of the town's close ties to NASA's nearby Langley Research Center and also of the high number of African Americans, like him, who worked there. *Starred Review* On a trip home to Hampton, Virginia, Shetterly stumbled upon an overlooked aspect of American history that is almost mythic in scope. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliances and used their intellect to change their own lives, and their country's future. Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA's greatest successes. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam's call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.Įven as Virginia's Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley's all-black "West Computing" group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South's segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America's aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner.īefore John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.Īmong these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. A major motion picture starring Taraji P. ![]() The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA at the leading edge of the feminist and civil rights movement, whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space-a powerful, revelatory contribution that is as essential to our understanding of race, discrimination, and achievement in modern America as Between the World and Me and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Please call your local branch to reserve this title for your club.īag Contents: 10 copies + 1 large print + 1 audiobookĪvailable on Hoopla: eBook, audiobook, & summaries Summary
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