The #1 New York Times bestseller
The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner.
Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of … 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.
Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. 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. 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.
Even 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.
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. 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.
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Happy to see these women get the credit that has been over-due for years! Shows some real absurdity of the craziness of prejudice. Great read, written well.
I love things about history
So disappointing. Such a great premise, but reads like an engineering textbook.
Fabulous book about the Women who helped make space travel a reality! Inspiring story!
Wonderful book! Very inspirational and informative.
Interesting to learn the true facts of the American man space program
A story everyone should read
This book was a well written, interesting, and educational. However it is not an easy read. There is a lot of technical information that can be difficult to get through. I was the only one in my book club to make it through the whole book.
Love to read the book and then see the movie.
This is a rendering of being black, female, and incredibly talented intellectually during the Cold War in the USA. This group of ordinary wives, mothers, and often teachers , by their superior innate mathematical and scientific thinking , worked for NASA ; initially they were called “ computers” , as in “ one who computes.” As one person described them later :” We thought they were all secretaries.” Thus the title: Hidden Figures.
Just because they were so necessary and exalted in their ranks did not translate to equality however ; indeed segregated lunch counters and bathrooms were the rule, not the exception, until quietly the women took matters into their own hands and took down the signs that so offended them.
By the authors estimate, there might have been as many as a thousand of such women over the many years of the Cold War. They just went unrecognized for their talents , yet kept on working on projects such as John Glenn ‘s voyage and the race with Sputnik . As one “ computer” noticed as she worked on the Space Race : If Russia was the enemy, how could we ever get ahead as a nation so severely divided by racial inequality?”
This book is so much more than normal people overcoming huge obstacle yet quietly, spectacularly, succeeding without recognition. It is a reminder for us many years later not to forget that to be a leading nation , we must overcome racism in American to become , truly, “ one nation, under God, indivisible “ .
Hidden figures by Margot Lee Shetterly: I first heard of this story when the movie came out. The characters were so real, the times and place vivid, and the discrimination practiced by those around the main characters makes one livid. The book is interesting in its simplicity in the telling of a complicated story of real people, black women, who suffered bigotry on two levels.
Much of what was emphasized in the movie was either absent or more low key in the book. Shetterly stresses the plight of blacks in the early days of the U.S. space program, and whose work was instrumental in making that program successful. At times delightful, others frustrating, this story of the past, not ancient but more modern, is fascinating. We once had come a long way from the pettiness of those days, and it can be hoped we will again.
Absolutely loved reading about the unsung heros of the space program.
More stories like this need to be told.
It’s a dry read. I kept waiting for it to get better. If you’ve seen the movie, you need not bother with this book.
Great feel-good book! I cheered for these ladies! After reading the book, I watched the movie. As usual, the book is better.
Fantastic and well written story
This book gave a lot of insight into both the times and conditions . It was a bit technical with too many characters.
Some times the real heroes are the unseen and uncredited people behind the scenes!
This book gives us a chance to look back into the space race and appreciate the courage and tenacity of these ladies who made up the computing power of nasa.
Thoroughly enjoyed the book. Better than the movie…much more information and story…good read!
This is an extraordinary book about extraordinary women.