Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race

by Margot Lee Shetterly

Other authorsLaura Freeman (Illustrator)
Hardcover, 2018

Status

Check shelf

Call number

E 92 ALL

Publication

HarperCollins (2018), 40 pages

Description

Explores the previously uncelebrated but pivotal contributions of NASA's African American women mathematicians to America's space program, describing how Jim Crow laws segregated them despite their groundbreaking successes.

Local notes

1907-018

User reviews

LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin
This picture book version of the best-selling Hidden Figures profiles four African-American women whose mathematical and engineering skills were put to work at NASA in helping win the space race. A brief background on civil rights is given, then each woman's major contribution to aeronautics and
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space research is explained within the context of WWII and NASA history. A brief but effective refrain about being really good at math provides a nice throughline as the narrative progresses.

Back matter includes an illustrated timeline, more biographical information about each woman, a glossary, and an author's note. Throughout the book, the illustrations do a great job of complementing the text and adding mathematical and astronomical symbols into the background of most page spreads. All in all, a very helpful and informative text for young readers. I wish I read this primer before delving into the full-length book myself.
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LibraryThing member melodyreads
great story ...
LibraryThing member darianskie
This is a picture book story of the four black women who helped in the space race, Dorothy Johnson, Mary Winston Jackson, Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson, and Dr. Christine Mann Darden.
LibraryThing member nbmars
Thanks to the book by the same name for adults, as well as the successful movie based on that book, many people know the story of the four African-American women who helped NASA send men into space. Now the author and an illustrator have teamed up to bring the story to children.

Dorothy Vaughan,
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Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden were “really good" at math, and they loved it enough to want to make a career out of it. Dorothy Vaughan got interested during WWII, out of a desire to serve the country by working for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics [NACA], the government agency that designed airplanes. This was in the 1940’s, when “computers” were actually persons who did math by hand. But the government agency was in the state of Virginia, where “Jim Crow” laws were in effect.

[Jim Crow is a term adapted from the song “Jump Jim Crow” performed by a white minstrel in blackface. It came to mean the social customs, policies, and laws put in place to maintain the hierarchy of whites over blacks. The Jim Crow Era lasted from the end of Reconstruction after the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.]

Thus, in Virginia, blacks and whites could not eat in the same restaurants, drink from the same water fountains, use the same restrooms, attend the same schools, sit by each other in theaters, and so on.

But Dorothy had confidence that she was so good at math, the NACA would overlook her color. She was indeed offered a job at NACA’s Langley Laboratory in Hampton, Virginia, in 1943, although she had to work in a separate building with other black “computers.” She stayed on after the war, as the Americans were trying to build faster and safer planes.

In 1951, Mary Jackson got a job as a computer at Langley, helping test model airplanes in wind tunnels. Mary was also a computer but wanted to be an engineer. The obstacles were great: she was not only a woman, she was a black woman. But she refused to give up, and eventually became the first African-American female engineer at Langley.

Katherine Johnson applied to the lab in 1953, doing math that analyzed the effects of turbulence on airplanes. Being so good at what she did also helped her, like the others, overcome the barriers put in her way on account of being both black and female.

In the 1950’s, Langley bought a machine computer, and Dorothy helped program the machines. She also taught other black computer women to program.

In 1957, Russia launched Sputnik into space, and now the “space race” was on. NACA changed its name to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, and the people at Langley were tasked with figuring out how to send astronaut John Glenn into space and back to earth safely. Katherine helped calculate the trajectories for the rocket. Even though NASA was now using machine computers, Glenn wanted Katherine to double-check the machine computer’s calculations before he would get into the rocket. Only when she confirmed them did he blast off into space.

Christine Darden came to Langley in 1967. As the author reports, Christine wanted to become an engineer, and thanks to Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine, she knew it was possible.

NASA meanwhile, was now working on getting a man to the moon:

“The next adventure wouldn’t be easy and would require lots of tests and lots more numbers. But Dorothy, Mary, Katherine, and Christine knew one thing: with hard work, perseverance, and a love of math, anything was possible.”

The book concludes with a timeline that goes from 1903 (the first powered flight) to 1969 (the first humans landing on the moon). The career spans of Dorothy, Mary, Katherine, and Christine are also shown on the timeline. Short biographies follow for each woman - “Meet the Computers.” Finally, there is a glossary, and an Author’s Note. In the Note, Shetterly writes:

“It’s my hope that the heroines of Hidden Figures will spark the imaginations of the next generation of readers - and the next generation of scientists, mathematicians, and engineers - and encourage them to ride their dreams as high as their talent and determination will take them.”

The terrific illustrations by Laura Freeman use bold colors to display the well-researched historical events the book describes. Her artwork is simple, and yet attitude is all over the faces of these four determined women! Freeman includes so many clever but subtle touches. She adds patterns to clothes and math symbols to dreams. To depict changes during the Civil Rights movements, she shows a diverse group of people holding hands, presumably inside a bus, while images of Civil Rights icons appear through the windows.

And Freeman realized her own dreams in becoming an artist. I love this reminiscence by the illustrator in an interview:

“. . . .I was about five when, after looking at a beautiful children’s book, I asked my mom about the pictures and she told me that it was someone’s job to create them. I thought: ‘Wow, that’s a job?’”

Evaluation: It’s so gratifying to see more books for kids about women who persisted against huge odds to make a difference in any field, but especially those of science and math. The book isn’t as exciting as the film of course, but it is perfect for the younger audience for whom it is intended.
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LibraryThing member NadineC.Keels
Hidden Figures by author Margot Lee Shetterly, with illustrations by Laura Freeman: the true story of four Black women and the space race.

An awesome portion of American history, which scores of people have become familiar with over the past few years through books and film. Now, why would a
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grown-up reader and writer like me want to up and read the children's picture-book version of the story of these brilliant mathematicians?

It's pretty simple. There are times when you need a refresh, to get (or reinforce) a different...picture of things. So I reached for a picture book full of excellent illustrations.

Frankly, I wanted to read something quick but substantive and true that highlights Black women being amazing. Because Black women are amazing.

If you've yet to learn about Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, or if you already know about them but need a reminder that "unlikely" people who persevere can do what others say or assume is impossible—these four women are great ones to look up.
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LibraryThing member Leamoore
Hidden Figure is a remarkable story about four women who worked with NASA to get a Man into space, Despite the limitations set on them by being black women. These women overcame race and gender bias to be successful at their careers and that is an inspiration. This book can show your students that
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no matter what they can achieve. This book is also important for students to see because it shows representation in Stem. Students can learn about the important calculations to get someone to space, and significant history about the space race.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2018

Physical description

40 p.; 9 inches

ISBN

0062742469 / 9780062742469

Barcode

34747000075370
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