The True Story Behind These Hidden Figures

By Aanya Sharma 

Have you ever seen the movie Hidden Figures? Well, if you haven’t this movie covers the topics of women in STEM working at NASA in the 1950’s. Hidden Figures reveals the true struggles of these African-American women working in a field dominated by white men and how they had to overcome many struggles. They were doubted, pushed away, and had to fight extra hard to attain those rights that the other working there had. The names of these women are Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. Today, we are going to take a deeper dive into the true stories of these women.

Image courtesy of 20th Century FOX

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Image courtesy of NASA

To begin, Taraji P. Henson plays the role of Katherine Johnson (1918-2020). She truly lived a remarkable life with many breakthroughs that challenged the social norms at the time. Katherine Johnson was always a brilliant student and this gave her an edge in school. She was one of three black students to get picked into one of West Virginia’s graduate schools, which is remarkable. However, her legacy continued as in 1952 she was told about an open position at the all-black West Area computing sections at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ (NACA), which was led by Dorothy Vaughan, another remarkable woman that we will talk about later. Katherine was able to make her temporary position permanent through hard work and dedication. She had to fight her way to the top and she was able to make it. The movie itself represents Katherine Johnson’s contributions to the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and the launch of John Glenn in 1962. The movie illustrated how she was able to make breakthroughs in math while having the limitations of social hierarchies around her. 

Next up, we have Dorothy Vaughan (1910-2008) played by Octavia Spencer. Dorothy Vaughan was able to make a diverse workforce by using her outstanding leadership skills. She, as Katherine Johnson, was one of the firsts in terms of pushing to make NASA a more diversified place. Not only was she an esteemed mathematician, she would soon become NASA’s first African-American manager. However, due to Jim Crow laws, she was forced to work in the segregated West Area Computing unit, which gave her another obstacle in the way of success. Vaughan was promoted to lead the group in 1949 making her one of NACA’s first few female supervisors but also making her the first african-american supervisor. That is a huge step for the diversity that she always advocated for! She remained supervisor until 1958, where the segregated groups were finally abolished and the women that worked in NACA could transition to NASA. This new mix of races and genders in the workforce at NASA, all working together, proved that Vaughan’s ideas of equality were finally coming into play. Along with these extraordinary achievements, Vaughan helped with the launching of the Scout Launch Vehicle program. Her extraordinary contributions to NASA were able to make her story one that is meant to be told.

Image courtesy of NASA

Image courtesy of NASA

​Lastly, we have the driven Mary Jackson (1921-2005), played by Janelle Monáe. She got an education at the Hampton Institute, graduating in 1942. Her degrees in mathematics and physical science led her to many jobs, yet she worked her way to the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory’s segregated West Computing Group in 1951, which was led by another successful woman, Dorothy Vaughan. After two years of extraordinary work, she was offered a job in the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel by Kazimierz Czarnecki and soon it was suggested that she go through a training program to move up from the position of a mathematician to engineer. However, this became one of her biggest obstacles because the degree needed was from the University of Virginia which was located in a segregated high school. She fought for special permission and to go get her degree and soon in 1958, she became the first ever african-american female engineer to work at NASA. Jackson worked in the field for almost 2 decades where seeing another female engineer was a rare sight. She was constantly brought down and was never able to get a management level grade, therefore her determination to make a more inclusive environment led her to leave this engineering job and return to Langley, where it all had started. Mary Jackson always worked extremely hard to create a safer and more diversified environment for all women, and her legacy at NASA is shown by that. 

All three of these brave women started out as teachers, working their way up to the Langley Research Center at NASA. They started in the West Computing Group which was segregated as they all were looked down upon due to their gender. These women’s legacies will always be remembered as the ones who paved the way for many others in the entire institute. 

Overall, I would give this movie 5 stars because of the portrayal of the struggles in these women’s lives. It showed how they were treated differently and how much harder they had to work to make a difference in their environment. The movie was so much more than just showing these women’s careers, it was about their families, personal lives, and relationships. It shows so much emotion and I can say that I truly enjoyed watching this movie. If anyone gets the chance to watch this movie, I would definitely recommend it!

Sources

Loff, S. (2016, November 22). Dorothy Vaughan Biography. NASA. Retrieved February 19, 2022, from https://www.nasa.gov/content/dorothy-vaughan-biography 
Loff, S. (2016, November 22). Katherine Johnson Biography. NASA. Retrieved February 19, 2022, from https://www.nasa.gov/content/katherine-johnson-biography 
Loff, S. (2016, November 22). Mary W. Jackson Biography. NASA. Retrieved February 19, 2022, from https://www.nasa.gov/content/mary-w-jackson-biography