Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (Book Review & Summary)

Introducing the women who helped men reach the moon. In Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, Margot Lee Shetterly (2016) shares incidents in the lives of the West Computers at Langley Air Field.

The women saw the NACA through the Second World War and the birth of NASA. The author creates a connection to each of the characters through stories not only of their work lives but also personal stories. She grew up in Hampton around many of these courageous African American women. Each of the women came to NACA in a time of racial unrest and segregation to find a home behind the men fighting for the top. The women are amazing Mathematicians in their own right and some would become the first women among engineers. These women were not only making strides for women or African Americans but both into a field that was dominated by white men. America can thank many of the women for their hard work on aerospace computations in helping the first man to land on the moon.

Shetterly tells the story of many of the “hidden figures” of NACA, now known as NASA. In her Acknowledgements Shetterly (2016) states “The title of this book is something of a misnomer. This history that has come together in these pages wasn’t so much hidden as unseen…” (267). Shetterly uses a narrative style to share the lives of the women of West Computing and NASA both in the office and at home in their community. Many of the women had as much or more education than men hired during WWII and after yet still would not see the rank of engineer for many years to come.

The Women

One of the women shared is Dorothy Hoover, a professional engineer during a time when the profession was mostly male and white. She was one of the first to break into the field. 

Dorothy "Dot" Vaughan

Dorothy “Dot” Vaughan was the supervisor of the West Computers for many years and retired from NASA following the moon landing. 

Mary Jackson was another who entered as a temporary computer and rose through the ranks to work with Emma Jean Landrum a prominent white female engineer. The two of them helped to share the field with young women, showing how that African American and white women could both succeed at NASA together. 

Christine Darden, another African American computer, rose through the ranks after speaking with her supervisor over unfair promotions of men. She went on to author the code for “sonic boom minimization programs that aerodynamicists use today” (Shetterly, 2016, 262).

Katherine 1966

The woman who I found to be impressive was Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson. She was well known for her computation and math skills writing the orbital trajectory for John Glenn’s flight (Shetterly, 2016, 264). She was often seen around Langley and was John Glenn actually requested that Katherine (or the girl) work over the numbers from the IBM computer to make sure they were accurate.

Shetterly ends the book shortly after NASA reached the moon and discusses what the women went on to accomplish following their work on the project. Most retired from NASA and Langley after a few more years. Others were just beginning their careers. Each contributed much to the world of aeronautics. But not only this there were many more women both mentioned in the book and unseen that helped women today become engineers and scientists. 

One of these women was Gloria Champine who worked with Mary Jackson in working for equal opportunities for women at Langley, regardless of race. Gloria was there to help Christine Darden push for her promotion that would lead to her writing of the sonic boom code.

Opinion

While not one for science (I do have a love for history), I enjoyed reading Hidden Figures and found myself feeling as if I knew the women in the book. Shetterly did a marvelous job sharing the lives of these women with the world. She helps the reader she just how many people were overlooked in the story of the Space Race. Her style while some have called dry or like a history textbook, was anything but. I felt that I was reading a novel and while there were times when the book was dry or loaded with technical jargon, the author added moments of family life and reality of living during a time of Jim Crow and segregation. Shetterly’s style shows the grim reality alongside the excitement of having a career that you love.

UPDATE: Additional information from Smithsonian.com written by Maya Wei-Haas can be found at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/forgotten-black-women-mathematicians-who-helped-win-wars-and-send-astronauts-space-180960393/ 

References

Shetterly, M. L. (2016). Hidden figures: The American dream and the untold story of the black women mathematicians who helped win the space race. [Kindle Edition]. William Morrow.

Hidden Figures image from goodreads.com

Image of Katherine Johnson 1966 from Wikipedia. Retrieved from  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson 

Image of Dorothy Vaughan from IBM Uncovers. Retrieved from https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/hidden-figures/images/dorothy-vaughan.png