January 28

Hidden Figures

This film is a stirring show about the intersection of math and history and how math conquers all (rejoice, my math teacher friends!).  The story portrays the struggles of Dorothy Vaughn, NASA’s first African American supervisor; Katherine Johnson, the math expert on the John Glenn flightImage result for hidden figures review and also instrumental in the moon landing; and Mary Jackson, NASA’s first female African American engineer.  It is startling to see how Jim Crow racism was shoved in the face of these strong women, typified in Katherine’s struggle to maintain her dignity while sprinting across NASA’s campus to visit the only “colored” bathroom nearby.  Furthermore, the women of the West Computing Room have to deal with the intersectionality of both racism and sexism since they are women of color.  With Dorothy’s leadership, they are able to carve out a niche in the very male-dominated computing field.

In some ways, this is a film about progress: Civil Rights progress, gender progress, and also technology’s relentless march forward.  This is shown by the real film clips of Civil Rights protests occurring in 1961 and 1962.  We also see progress as women make strides into the male-dominated fields of computers and engineering. Image result for hidden figures review Almost all of the white male characters at NASA are
figurative clones, wearing white shirts, dark pants, and thin dark ties.  Occasionally, we might see a flash of color on Paul Stafford’s tie (Jim Parsons from The Big Bang Theory), but for the most part, all of the white men have the same uniform and haircuts.  That’s why the women of color stand out, not just in their attire but because of their skin color.  We see technology’s progress, however much it is double-sided, when Katherine temporarily loses her job as a “computer” in the Space Task Group when Dorothy finally gets the IBM Main frame computers online, a machine that can do 24,000 calculations a second.  This machine makes the women of both the East (white) and West (Black) Computing Rooms obsolete.  Only when the computer spits out different landing coordinates for John Glenn’s return to Earth right before launch does Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), NASA’s head of the Space Task Group, bring Katherine back in to confirm the computer’s numbers.

There was an outstanding moment near the end of the film when news of John Glenn’s orbit is released, and all Americans, regardless of skin color or gender, are united in their worries over the fate of Glenn (aImage result for hidden figures reviewnd by extension, America’s space program and maybe even it’s prominence in the Cold War).  Scenes show black and white Americans standing in front of a store front watching the TV reports about the peril Glenn faced as his capsule threatened to burn up on re-entry (an aside: imagine this dramatic scene of a nation gripped by a similar incident today – how would Americans be tuning into the progress of such an incident?  Certainly not standing on a street watching a TV).  Another scene showed Americans parking their cars and listening to their radios, staring up at the sky, looking for a fleeting glimpse of Glenn’s capsule, even though it was going to splash down in the Bahamas.  These scenes showed a united America, hoping and praying for the successful return of one of our golden boys, the Mercury 7 astronauts.  These scenes are also a way of showing how little militancy there is to this story of racial advancement and integration.  The most powerful scenes in the film are ones in which characters stand up for themselves or right the wrongs of our sordid past.  This is not a criticism of this film.  It doesn’t need to be angry about the past. In fact, this film emphasizes the women of the film and to dwell on America’s sad racial history isn’t what this film is about.  It’s about transcending that history.

I think that one of the larger question that everyone should be asking themselves is how did this story not make it into the history books?  It has great human drama, excitement, daring, perseverance, and a thrilling conclusion.  The other question is how many other hidden and forgotten stories are out there, waiting to be told?   If these ladies, who were such an extraordinary part of this story to send Americans into space, can be forgotten and shunted to the side for over 60 years, where are the rest of these stories?  One thing to keep in mind is that by telling these hidden stories of people / women of color, we as historians do not have to pick and choose to eliminate stories of white participants, but to include them all.    History doesn’t have to be like a pie to be carved up into smaller and smaller sections but like a tapestry that continues to be weaved into a more complete picture.

CHOOSE 3 OF THE 5 QUESTIONS BELOW AND ANSWER THEM. 

  1. Explain how the title “Hidden Figures” has different layers of meaning for this film and time period.
  2. Provide at least 2 specific examples of Jim Crow discrimination or racism perpetrated by the white characters and how they affected Katherine, Mary, and / or Dorothy.
  3. This is a story of overcoming challenges that white society put in the way of our main characters.  How did all three women overcame these obstacles.
  4. How did sexism affect Dorothy’s, Mary’s, and Katherine’s careers?  Provide specific examples.
  5. How does the Civil Rights Movement play as the backdrop for the advancing fight against the Cold War’s space race?  Provide examples.

Image result for hidden figures review

 350 words minimum for your total answer.  Due by 11:59 pm Saturday night, March 4. 

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Posted January 28, 2017 by geoffwickersham in category Blogs

46 thoughts on “Hidden Figures

  1. Emily Brown

    1. The title of the movie “Hidden Figures” has many different layers of meaning for the film and also for the period. In this movie and the time period, the African Americans are the “hidden figures”. They are hidden away under the blanket of whiteness that envelops the country. Even more so, African American women are “hidden figures”. They are neglected, not acknowledged, and in general thought to be lesser than anyone in the country. The three main characters, Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine are all hidden figures of the NASA program. In the movie, Dorothy, Mary, Katherine, and the rest of the black women who are computers are hidden away in a separate building basement called the “West Computing Group”. Their work is not acknowledged by the women of the all white “East Computing Group” or by the men in NASA. Katherine for example, is working with all the males in the main computing room for the space flights when sees the underlying problem in the math. As she is checking all men’s work she notices that important information is blacked out. She holds the paper up to the light and finds out the actual hidden information. Then, she climbs up to the huge chalkboard and figures out the problems. This is just one example of many hidden figures in the movie. The three main characters, Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine are all hidden figures of the NASA program.

    2. One example of Jim Crow racism is the separate bathrooms. Katherine, having received the opportunity of a lifetime, being able to work with the smartest minds in NASA finds herself running a mile just to use the bathroom. In the building where she works there is no “colored” bathroom. This forces her to run in her dress and heels (sometimes in the rain) all the way to the West Computing Group and back just to relieve herself. The West Group is very far away and she is gone for up to an hour at a time for one trip to the restroom. Another example of racism takes place one day where Katherine pours herself coffee from a pot in the office room. Everyone in the room takes notice and soon enough there is a small coffee pot just for her labeled “colored”. It is not plugged in or full of coffee either, forcing her to take time out of her work day and make coffee. This really angered me because the white men did not even want to touch a coffee pot that a black woman had touched.

    3. Katherine’s main challenge was proving herself to the all white Space Task Group at NASA. Katherine, obviously one of the smartest in the group, is oppressed by the males and not allowed to put her name on work she did or listen in on important meetings. Despite many disadvantages, she becomes her boss, Harrison’s, right hand woman and even calculates the go/no go for the Glenn orbit flight. She also is leant upon by Glenn before taking off on his flight by proving that the numbers are correct and that he will be safe. Glenn will not fly until Katherine approves the numbers. This breaks the white and black borders. Dorothy desperately wants to be a supervisor and totally deserves it. She is denied the opportunity because of her skin color. One night she sneaks into the new IBM computer room and figures out how to work the machine with help from a computing book. She fixes the machine, something the white men who were hired specifically to do this couldn’t fix. She then gets recognition for her work and soon Dorothy takes the entire West Group to work on the machine. She earns her place as supervisor and at the end of the movie even has white girls wanting to learn from her. Mary has a special talent with engineering but is not allowed to be an engineer because she needs more classes to get this position. This is a problem because the place she needs to take classes at is still segregated. So once again, her dream is curbed by her skin color. Powerfully, Mary goes to court and pleads her case to a judge. She speaks of “firsts”. She shares with the judge how she could be the first female engineer at NASA and how he could be the first to allow her to do this. She persuades the judge in favor of her taking nighttime classes at the school. Eventually, she becomes the first ever African American engineer. All three women overcome racist and sexist challenges and I really respect them for this.

  2. Celia Crompton

    1. Hidden Figures is an awesome double/triple entendre that’s meaning isn’t completely clear until you’ve seen the entire film. There’s the obvious meaning that you might understand from seeing previews of the film, the “hidden” nature of the legacy of these extraordinary black women that are responsible for much of NASA’s early success, even with the racial and sexual boundaries they encountered on the daily, even within their own community. However, it also shows the prominence of mathematics in the film, like at the climax of the movie where Katherine is called in to check the work of the computer, or when she “discovers” the correct method to solve the flight trajectory. Another thing it might represent are the numbers and details that Stafford tries to hide from her throughout the film, but like the other problems and discrimination, she overcomes them and figures it out.
    2. One example of Jim Crow discrimination in the film is when the other employees in the calculations room see Katherine take some of the coffee from the communal pot. The next day when she goes up to get more coffee, she sees that they have set out a separate “colored” pot for her. This humiliation goes further than the separated pots when she finds that the second pot is empty. Another example is a prominent part of the film, the fact that Katherine has to run across the campus to get to an “appropriate” bathroom, AKA the colored one. This is disrespectful and humiliating to her, and it is very satisfying to see her explode about it to her supervisor, who consequently tears down the sign, making the bathrooms desegregated.
    3. Mary has a knack for engineering, and is inspired by her coworker to apply for a job as an engineer for NASA, who has yet to have a female engineer. She is rejected I suspect because she is a black woman, but the façade is that they have new class requirements. It is later revealed that the only way she can take these classes is at night in the local high school that is white only. She appeals to the court, which grants her permission to finally take the classes. She overcame the challenge of segregation and hidden racism, and becomes NASA’s first female engineer. Dorothy, on the other hand, has long been hoping to be promoted to a supervisor position, since she already does the work of a real supervisor. The obstacle she overcomes can either be the disrespectful encounter at the library where she is moved from the white section, or the fact that she learns the computer system better than the men whose job it is to know how to use it, therefore making herself and her team too valuable an asset not to promote. She achieves her dream of becoming supervisor and keeping her girls employed by working hard in order to stay relevant and useful before they could find a reason to fire all of them. Katherine overcomes workplace racism by being so much better at her job than the rest of them that she demands recognition, despite the blacked out numbers and nasty looks from everyone around her. She makes herself the best computer they’ve ever had even in the face of humiliation and discrimination.

  3. Joey Shapero

    2.) One time Jim Crow discrimination gets in the way of Katherine is when she is forced to pour her coffee out of a different pot than the white men at work. This really effects Katherine’s morale as we see in the film. Katherine is also paid much less then her white colleagues which is truly unfair and does effect her considering she is a single mother of 3. Katherine works harder and longer than any other man doing the same job, but because she is black, Katherine is discriminated against and paid less. Another time Jim Crow discrimination gets in the way is when Mary must go to school for her to become a NASA engineer but she must do this in an all-white school in Virginia. She wasn’t allowed to go to this school and these classes were not available at black schools. Mary goes to court to plea her case on being able to go to class at the all-white school, and eventually she is let in.

    3.) The 3 women overcome the obstacles of being African American women working at NASA, in a time of much discrimination by using their smarts to prove everyone wrong. Most all of the white men workers doubt that Katherine can get her job done at the beginning, but as the movie goes on and the men start to realize she is very smart in her field and really can help NASA they accept her. In the beginning Dorothy is completely shut down when she mentions the idea of her becoming a supervisor because she is black, but by the end of the movie she overcomes the obstacles by showing how hard she works and how good she really is at her job. In my opinion Mary has to overcome the most as she is turned away from the school at first. She overcomes this by showing her true passion and going to court and pleading her case in such a smart and passionate way that she is able to go to the school and eventually become an engineer for NASA.

    4.) Sexism affects the 3 women’s careers in many ways. At the beginning of the movie, a police officer comes up to them, and when he realizes they work for NASA he is in disbelief. This shows how much sexism there was in that a woman working at NASA is just crazy back then. Another way sexism affects their careers is when initially they are not chosen for the big jobs because they are women. They also have an office very far away from the men who work at NASA and there is only 1 “Colored Women’s” bathroom in the entire NASA facility. Katherine initially has to walk ½ mile to go to the bathroom which upsets her bosses, but she can do nothing about it. Katherine is also paid much less than the other men because of the simple fact that she is a woman. The three women are also not given the higher up jobs such as supervisor for Dorothy and engineer for Mary because they are women, and it takes some time for the heads of NASA to give them these jobs.

  4. Emma Marszalek

    1. The film’s title “Hidden Figures” has many different meanings to it. It can mean how the African American women were hidden from everyone else. They were in the basement with their own bathroom. Everything was separated. They were hidden because nobody knew their potential. The title could also be interpreted as the hidden figures in the math. There were lots of unsolved questions in math. It was about finding the right equation to use, and putting in the right numbers. The mathematicians needed to find the right math to be able put a spacecraft into space, and bring it back down. Hidden Figures can reference both the racism at the time or the unknowns of math.

    2.The film had many incidents of racism. For example, Katherine wasn’t able to get a book out the library. This was because it wasn’t in her section. She stole the book that was about math. There wasn’t a book like this in her section. If Katherine hadn’t taken that book, she wouldn’t have made the discovery she made. She broke a Jim Crow law to be able to keep her job. Part of Katherine’s job was to check over the math, but she didn’t have the security to see all of it. Katherine did her best to check the work, but wasn’t able to see the full picture. She cheated the system by putting the paper up to a light and seeing what it says. Katherine protested, and was able to see all of the work in the end. It affected her because she wasn’t able to do her full job. The racism in the work environment and in the community directly affected Katherine’s ability to do work.

    3. All three of the main characters had to overcome obstacles. Dorothy wasn’t able to get the supervisor job because of her skin color. She was doing the job, but not getting the pay or the title. Dorothy also knew that her department of computers would be obsolete soon. She had to make herself valuable, and started to learn a new computer system. She was able to learn the system better and faster than the white men on the job. Dorothy had to think logically to overcome her obstacles. Mary wanted to become an engineer, but couldn’t because she was an African American women. She wanted to advance her career, and take some college night classes. Mary had to go court because the class was in all white school. She fought for her way, and got it. She took the classes to become an engineer. Katherine like others faced racism at work. She had to run the long distance between where she worked and the closest black bathroom. Katherine worked in an all white male office except for one white women. After the first day, the men made a separate coffee tin for her because they didn’t want to share the same coffee. Katherine had to prove that she belonged to work alongside of the men. She made some the best discovers for the team. Katherine was a mother of three children and a widow. She remarried, and became happy. All three women, Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine had to overcome obstacles due of their skin color.

  5. Donavin Stoops

    1. I am not very good at math, so I am most likely really off when I make this statement, but when I saw the title Hidden Figures, I immediately thought of some very complicated math problem. While I was watching the movie, I realized that the title Hidden Figures had a different meaning than math. In reality, the title represents how the three women, Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine, were “hidden” heros in the movie. The three women were behind the scene the entire time and they didn’t get any recognition for helping N.A.S.A succeed in some of their missions. The three women are the “Hidden Figures” because of two things: they aren’t men, and they aren’t white. At this time period women still don’t have as much rights compared to men. They can’t vote, they are paid less, looked down upon compared to men etc. Also at the time was the Civil Rights Movement where African Americans were not treated well and they were also still fighting for their rights. All three of those women had the qualities that were looked down upon. That is why they are the hidden figures, because N.A.S.A does not want to give “their kind of people” credit for the amazing things they’ve done for the space race.
    2. In 1961 Virginia, Jim Crow laws, racism, and sexism were still a common thing in the community. In the movie, Katherine seems to be faced with a lot of Jim Crow laws that interfere with her trying to do her job on a daily basis. Kathrine was most likely the first African American women to get a job in the department she did. In that department there was all white men, and only one women secretary. Since no one expected her to be there, they never set up a “black’s only bathroom” for her. When she tried to use the bathroom, she only saw a white restrooms, meaning she had to run a mile to go to the bathroom in her old department building. Afterwards, she needed to run a mile back to the main building in which she worked. This made it so much harder to get her work done because she had to waste about a hour a day just to go to the bathroom. The “boss” should have desegregated the bathrooms as soon as he knew there was going to be a African American female working there. The boss eventually did do this, but she already had to run so many miles just to use the bathroom. Another example of the Jim Crow laws affecting her day to day work is when she gets coffee. The first day she was there, she got coffee from the only coffee maker in the room, which isn’t a problem as she is pouring it in her own cup. However, her white, male co-workers did see this as a problem and the next day they gave her a “blacks only” coffee maker. The worst part is, they didn’t even let the coffee be made, they just left the coffee maker there, empty. So she had to waste more of her time to make coffee because of the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws also affected Mary when she wanted to get a promotion as a engineer. Mary was recommended to be an engineer by one of her co-workers, but when she tried to apply she realized she was under qualified. Mary needed to pass a college level engineering class to have the necessary credits to get the N.A.S.A job she wanted. The only school that offered that specific course near her was a white only night school. Since she was not white, she could not enroll in the class, but that did not stop her. She went to court and demanded to be let into the school by the judge, and the judge permitted her access. Even though the Jim Crow Laws posed a threat to their job and working environment, all 3 women overcame it and did what they needed to do.
    3. Racism was not the only factor that affected their career in a negative way, sexism also affected Dorothy’s, Mary’s, and Katherine’s N.A.S.A’s jobs. In the beginning of the movie, all three of the women were driving to work when their car broke down on the side of the road. They were in a rural area where there was not many people to help them with their broken down car. As Mary was trying to fix the engine, a white, male, cop pulled up behind them. He questioned them as if they were criminals, asking for ID’s and to step back, and he then asked where they were heading. They responded saying they were going to their jobs at N.A.S.A and the cop looked at them in disbelieve. The cop had this expression because it was unheard of for not one, but three African American Women to be working at NASA. Sexism also affected Kathrine because when she got chosen for the big job at the N.A.S.A head building, she was the only women there besides the women secretary. At first the men even treated her as a janitor. When she got to work as being the computer (the person who checks to make sure all the numbers are correct), her male co-workers treated her badly. For example, one of the co-workers asked her to check some of his numbers, however he crossed out half of the numbers because he thought that since she was a female, she could not handle them. Lastly, Dorothy and her other female workers were discriminated against because of their gender. When the machine computer came into the building, she wanted to help set it up, however the male workers did not let her near it because she was female. After days of the machine not working, she snuck in and fixed everything to make it work. When it started working, the lead programmers were very surprised because they did not expect that she could get it to work.

  6. Chloe B

    1.The title “Hidden Figures” has different meanings throughout this movie. The main one I noticed throughout was that a large majority of the workers at NASA were white males. They all lacked distinct personalities, meaning that everyone was basically a mirror reflection of one another. However, when Katherine, Marry, and Dorthey come to play a huge role in an area of work that is mostly (white) male dominated, they clearly don’t blend in. They all receive long stares when they enter rooms full of white men and are being judged. Most of the men seemed highly confused and taken off guard when one of the three ladies come to work. Most of them didn’t believe a woman was capable of doing the work that these men had been doing for years, especially a woman of color. So, because these women were not being recognized, they were being hidden and over shadowed all by men. Once they had the opportunity to show the world what they could do, they were being discovered and it was difficult for a lot of men, especially Paul Stafford, to acknowledge that a woman could be capable of the work a man could do.

    3. In the movie, Dorthey Vaughn struggles to become a supervisor because of the color of her skin. All throughout the beginning of the movie she explains that she is doing the work of a supervisor but isn’t being recognized with the title of one and certainly isn’t being paid the salary of one. In order to overcome this obstacle, Dorthey realized that all of the colored women working in the computer department were going to lose their jobs because the IBM was going to replace what they could do. Because of this, Dorthey got a book from the library and basically taught herself the Fortran language and how to program the IBM. This amazing act of Dorthey is what helped save the job of all those women and made them all very valuable to NASA and to the IBM. However, Katherine dealt with a slightly different issue. There weren’t any women mathematicians, so she had to overcome that obstacle. Also, not only was being a woman her only problem, but she was black which made things even harder for her. She wasn’t seen seriously or as an equal. Many male workers, especially Paul Stafford didn’t treat her with the respect that she most definitely deserved. One thing that really amazed me was the colored bathroom issue that Katherine had to deal with. She was yelled at for taking 40 minutes in the bathroom but the only bathroom she could use was half a mile away in a different building. Once she explained that, Al Harrison took down the colored bathroom sign and said that everyone at NASA would from now on be the same color. That was by far one of my favorite parts in the movie because it was a huge stepping stone for racial equality. Meanwhile, Mary Jackson aspired to be an engineer. However, engineering was mostly male dominated and certain classes need to be taken to be able to classify as an engineer. Mary thought she would be able to take the classes necessary to become an engineer but she soon realized that those specific classes were only taught and an all-white school, which automatically created challenges for her and her dream to become an engineer. To overcome this, Mary was granted permission from a judge to attend these all white male classes in order to fulfil her dreams. Eventually Mary was able to become the first African American female engineer at NASA.

    4. Mary, Katherine, and Dorothy all encountered issues regarding sexism and how it affected their careers. Although they each were faced with different problems in their areas of work, they were all faced with the same issues when it came to sexism. All three were in a male dominated profession. Even white women were not typically working at NASA so for women of color to being doing this, it was quite unusual. They were able to overcome these issues by proving they were just as valuable to NASA as the men were, if not more. The intelligence of these women was no match for any of the males and they showed that the color of your skin or your gender has nothing to do with your ability to perform.

  7. Nico Jones

    1.The term Hidden Figures has many layers of meaning for this film and time period. The three women; Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy were extremely smart and educated black women women for the time period they were in. During this time, women and let alone women of color were not expected to have a high level of education. Men are and were placed on a higher pedestal than women because we do live in a male (especially white) dominated society. However, in the past this fact was even more prominent. The success of women was limited to being the perfect housewife and mother to 2 or 3 children. Therefore, the fact that more than three black women were able to reach very high success in a very discriminatory society is exactly why they were hidden figures. Hidden figures has many layers the first layer being that three very important people that made significant and important accomplishments in NASA were women. Women are almost always left out of history, as history revolves around the important men whose accomplishments seem to be never ending. Women hardly get any recognition. This is because of the sexism in our society. Women are believed to not be capable of creating as great of strides as men in history. Therefore, people hardly question why they are not included in history books. However, women have made so many achievements that have further the world in a positive direction, but many of their successes have been overshadowed by men who claim responsibility of them. The second layer of Hidden figures is the most important, the women who made these monumental successes were black women. Since the successes of women were seldom published, women of color’s success never saw the light of day. This was because society believed that they were above black women and their successes were the product of white’s contributions. While this is not right, white fragility was and is so weak that in order for them to feel dignified they have to put someone else down to feel so. The third level of Hidden Figures is the fact that the scientists and the people who are entirely behind the many successes of NASA (white, black, men, women, etc) are often overshadowed by the actual person or the people who were the faces of the mission such as John Glenn. The media portrays Glenn as a genius, while it is truly the people in the background who created the possibility of John’s belief that going into space was even a possibility.
    2.All three of the woman mainly portrayed in this movie experienced Jim Crow discrimination and racism perpetrated by the white characters. Katherine, individually experienced an abundance of racism and Jim Crow discrimination depicted in this movie. One recurring incident was that Katherine or any other person of color could not use the same restroom as whites. This discrimination made Katherine have to run around a mile to use a restroom that she was permitted to use. This was a sickening display of discrimination that infested all of America. This greatly affected Katherine physically and emotionally. The energy she used to run back and forth from her place of work to an actual restroom she could use, drained Katherine very much. That energy could had been put towards figure out the solutions to put John Glenn in space, but was wasted because NASA forced her to use a segregated bathroom a mile away. Emotionally this discrimination made Katherine feel inferior to her white counterparts and even though she was just as smart and even smarter than them she was still constantly degraded because of the color of skin. This also made her feel upset because she was a human just like every other person in NASA and the country, however despite her intelligence and character she was still treated as an unwanted animal. Another form of Jim Crow discrimination and racism perpetuated by her white co workers, was when Katherine arrived to work one day, she discovered that the white men had given her own coffeepot with the label colored on it. They also did not have the decency to fill the pot with coffee. The men did this to make sure that Katherine knew her place in the office and to reinstate their superiority over her. This saddened and made Katherine angry because she is just as human as all those other men and deserved her place in NASA more than any other white man in her office. This was another reminder to Katherine that despite her intelligence she would never be equal or fully respected as her white counterparts.
    4.Sexism greatly affected all three women’s careers. For instance Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary’s along with the other women of color had to wait until called upon by men to get the same jobs that were easily handed to men. Such as Dorothy when first getting shunned away from the IBM Mainframe computers room by two white men. The men were stunned to see a woman touch the very expensive computer, and they were shocked to discover that Dorothy had actually made the computer work. Since the men were unable to make the computer, it absolutely blew their minds that a woman could make it work. This sexist belief comes from the societal norm that men are smarter and can accomplish more than women. So when Dorothy made this large achievement, her career skyrocketed as she was finally acknowledged and was able to bring her other “computers” in to help make sure the IBM mainframe computer worked. Sexism shaped Mary’s desire to become an engineer for NASA entirely. Mary would have never needed to dream to become anything if she was a male, she would just become one, just as she said in the film. However, because of her gender her dream was constantly put aside by her superiors, the judge who did not want her to attend an all white school, and the teacher of the night school Mary attend who believed that women could not understand curriculum that was not made specifically for women. The struggles that Mary had to faced made the success she achieved in career so much greater, because she eventually became the engineer she had long dreamed of. Sexism affected Katherine’s career, as well, in the fact that the men around her did not believe that she was capable of contributing to the project. For example, when Paul Stafford blacked out almost everything on the papers that Katherine had to understand in order to compute the problems on the sheet. But, the fact that Katherine was able to find a way passed the obstacles placed in front of her shows that the sexism even though it was undeserved, had contributed to making Katherine’s show so much more impressive.

  8. Rania Abbasi

    1. The title “Hidden Figures” refers to many things in this film and time period. It has multiple meanings. The Hidden Figures were all the numbers that went into the math to calculate where, when, and how NASA could get a human into space and orbit the Earth. It’s about every single black woman in the West Computing Group that did calculations for these white men to get to the stars. And most importantly, it’s about Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary—the three black women that were an essential part of NASA’s work; yet were denied credit by the white men and women they worked with.

    2. One example of Jim Crow in this film was the whole situation with the bathrooms. Katherine used to work in the West Computing Room, where there was a colored restroom in the same hallway. When she was promoted to working with the Space Task Group on the other side of NASA’s campus, the building was all-white. There were no colored restrooms in the building, nor were there any in other buildings close to it. So during her work day, she would run all the way to the West building and use the restroom there. It would take her about 40 minutes and she would return to her desk. At one point, Mr. Harrison confronted her about leaving for so long every day and she called him out. She stood up in front of all her white, male coworkers and told them very strictly that there’s no place for her to go nearby. She also mentioned that they wouldn’t even let her use the normal coffee pot because they were too afraid to touch the same one she did. Another instance of Jim Crow was when Mary wanted to take classes at the high school, but it was segregated. All she needed to apply for an engineering job were those classes, yet she had to take the case to court because it was illegal for her to go to that school; simply for the color of her skin. She ended up convincing the judge to let her go because there’s always a “first”. First American man in space, first judge to grant a black woman access to a segregated school, and first black woman to go to that school.

    4. Sexism played a large role in the three women’s careers. It prevented them from gaining access to certain opportunities, and resulted in certain men undermining their capabilities. One example of this sexism is when Mary wanted to apply for an engineering position, yet the white woman and others told her that women didn’t become engineers. Another example is when Jim Johnson, the army officer was talking to Katherine at the picnic about her job and he said something along the lines of “they’re letting women do that?”. He voiced his skepticism about women doing things men usually do. A prominent example of sexism at NASA is when Katherine gets promoted to the Space Task Group and they tell her she can only wear a skirt of a certain length, and the only jewelry allowed is a simple pearl necklace—which she doesn’t even own because she doesn’t get paid enough.

  9. Lexy S.

    The title “Hidden Figures” is multilayered just in the way that this movie is multilayered in its plot and subplots. The definite plot of the movie is physicists at NASA attempted to find numbers (or “figures”) that will bring a man into space, utilizing math that doesn’t exist. The aforementioned “figures” are what the movie’s title is directly referencing; however, there’s much more to the situation than just the math. The protagonist and supporting characters are predominately black and (to add to the plot of finding the data) bring the subplot of struggling as a black women at the time period and as a mathematician. The main protagonist repeatedly adds her name to the reports where all of the calculations involved are hers and repeatedly is told she’s not allowed to take credit or receive recognition, despite doing all of the work. Katherine Johnson herself is a “Hidden Figure,” who had received little to no recognition until this year for the work she did. As Taraji P. Henson (actress who portrayed Johnson) stated in an acceptance speech, “These women…are hidden figures no more!”
    Discrimination is shown in this movie through the struggle of black women who are forced to work in an isolated room at NASA and the bathroom situation that Katherine Johnson must overcome. The first example is demonstrated from the beginning of the movie, where black women are shown to be forced to work in an isolated wing of NASA and chosen as the last choice when calculators are required. Racism is also shown in how Katherine must rush from the building she’s positioned in to the “colored ladies room” everyday, as she isn’t allowed to use the one down the hall that is meant for white women.
    The three figures, Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson, and Mary Jackson, managed to achieve what they were desperately working for, despite obstacles of racism and sexism. For example, Katherine Johnson fought for the right to be allowed into the briefing room and to be recognized for her work. As soon as Johnson was permitted access to the briefings, she proved that she deserved to be there and was an incredibly brilliant mind. Dorothy Vaughan was worried that she and the other black calculators would be fired because of technological advancements, but she didn’t sit idle in her fear. Instead, Vaughan taught herself how to program the machine. She eventually achieved the rank and pay of a supervisor, something she’d been working for. As for Mary Jackson, she wanted to become an engineer and after going to court for the right to take classes, she became one. Jackson was the first black woman engineer to work at NASA.

  10. Tania Miller

    Explain how the title “Hidden Figures” has different layers of meaning for this film and time period.

    “Hidden” because they weren’t credited for their work, because they were women, and because they were African American. Figures is not only a reference to math but a reference to these figures like Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy that were so crucial in the fight towards equality/civil rights. Katherine made all these discoveries in the coordinates for the landing of the space ship as well as how to maintain the heat shield; in the end the credit went to her colleague Paul Stafford because “Computers don’t receive credit”. Dorothy went ahead and applied her understanding of IBM to get the massive machine working. She put in all this work and in the end after a lot of hard work received credit where credit was due. These women including Mary were fighting because it wast an option not to. They fought not only for themselves but for African Americans and Women everywhere. These hidden figures changed so many lives and strengthened to will to fight for Civil Rights.

    This is a story of overcoming challenges that white society put in the way of our main characters. How did all three women overcame these obstacles?

    These women had the following in common, perseverance, determination, self control, self worth, and hope. These women had grown up in a segregated world, so it was all they had ever known. Despite the odds these women fought for what they deserved and though it wasn’t easy, they achieved greatness in the end. Also these women had each other. They supported each other in ways that no one else could. They formed a bond that was unshakeable.

    How did sexism affect Dorothy’s, Mary’s, and Katherine’s careers? Provide specific examples.

    Mary Jackson wanted to become an engineer but never saw that it was possible. Then her coworkers encouraged her to fight for what she desired. The only school offering the courses necessary for her to become an engineer at NASA were offered at segregated high school. So she did not only have to fight for women rights because NASA had never had a female engineer, but she also had to fight for Civil Rights to go to a segregated school. Mary had to go to court and fight for the ability to take classes, and in the end she was given permission, but only at night. Dorothy wanted to be named supervisor of her department. Through out the movie she repeatedly addressed the issue of becoming supervisor but was shot down every time. She decided to take matters into her own hands and learned how to use the IBM. Her being the only one who knew how to use the IBM to its full capacity (programming) she was put in a position where she had to be named supervisor. She was offered the position of supervisor but shot the offer down because she refused to leave her co workers behind. In the end she was recognized for her abilities/talents and was given the roll as supervisor while keeping her co workers employed. Katherine was the only scientist capable of doing analytical geometry. The math was crucial in plotting/graphing the exact entry and exit points as well as the landing coordinates for the space ship. Without her help/aid/smarts it would have taken a very long time to get where we are today. She struggled because she not only was the only African American assisting these men but she also struggles because she was female. The men she worked with were threatened by her intelligence and shut her out. They made a colored only coffee dispenser and made her work ten times harder by covering up crucial information. Despite the odds she persevered and made tremendous strides at NASA for women/African Americans.

  11. Josh Myers

    1. The title “Hidden Figures” has a special meaning in both the film and the time period. One of the more obvious meanings was that the African Americans working for NASA were hidden behind the scenes. All of the African Americans working at NASA (Dorothy, Katherine, and Mary in this case), were not acknowledged for many of their achievements at the time. The public was not aware of their essential roles in the space race. An example of this is when Katherine was writing the reports and put the name of Paul Stafford on the front; when she put her own name on the cover, he tore it off of the report. The white workers at NASA were not acknowledging the African American workers for their work. They were also neglected and not given the same working conditions that were given to the white workers. Dorothy, Katherine, and Mary can be considered “hidden figures” because many of the white workers did not believe in their potential or give them credit for their excellent work.
    3. Dorothy, Katherine, and Mary all overcame obstacles while they were working at NASA. They were all discriminated against because of their race and their genders. Starting off, all three of them were working in the West Computing Group, and they were all eventually promoted to bigger and better jobs in NASA. Mary Jackson wanted to be an engineer, for various reason there were many obstacles that restricted her from doing so. One of which being that she needed to take classes to gain the job. The class was only taught at an all-white school, so Jackson went to court so that she could become an engineer. She was granted permission to take the classes (which were all white men), and she was able to break barriers and become an engineer. Dorothy and all of the others working at the West Computing Group were in threat of losing their job to the IBM mainframe (a very expensive, top of the line computer made to do calculations). Dorothy was determined to learn the code and teach it to all of the other African American women so that they could keep their jobs. She went to the white section of the library to find a book on Fortran (the programming language used by the machine), she took the book and taught everyone how to run the machine. Initially, the IBM was not working correctly. Dorothy was able to fix it and prove that she was capable of running the machine. All of the workers were moved to the IBM, where Dorothy worked as an administrator. Dorothy even taught some white woman how to run the machine. Katherine Johnson was needed to check math calculations outside of the computing group. Katherine was faced with many obstacles that prohibited her from doing her job at many times. She was discriminated against because of both her race and gender. One example of this was when Paul Stafford redacted all of the “confidential” information in the reports that Katherine was supposed to check. This information was essential to figure out the math (as Katherine later proved). Another example of this was when she had to run over a mile just so she could use the bathroom. When she was confronted by her boss for being gone for so long, all of the white workers seemed oblivious that there were no non-white bathrooms nearby. Katherine also played an essential role in finding the coordinates of the re-entry point of one of the shuttles, something that the machine did wrong.
    5. The Civil Rights Movement acted as a backdrop for the space race for many reasons. One of these is the overlooked talents of the African American workers at NASA. Dorothy, Katherine, and Mary all made contributions that were vital to the United States advancement in the space race. They were able to make many of these contributions because of the Civil Rights Movement. Due to some of the common views that were associated with the CRM African Americans were being given larger roles in the workplace. One example of this was when Katherine figured out some information that was essential to sending a person into space. None of the white workers were able to figure this out themselves, and Katherine was able to do it.

  12. Alex Hidalgo

    1: The title “Hidden Figures” has many different meanings behind it and can be interpreted in many different ways. During this time period, NASA engineers and mathematicians such as Mary Jackson and Katherine Johnson had to figure out how to safely land and launch a rocket into space. Katherine Johnson was the only person in the NASA building who could do analytic geometry, so she had a large part in making sure that the takeoff and landing of the rocket went as smooth as possible. Mary Jackson was a part of a large team of African American women who programmed and engineered for NASA and they also had a large part in making sure the voyage went down safely. Mary Jackson and Katherine Johnson had to find the “hidden figures” in the analytic geometry and IBM programming that they used to determine these things. Another way that the title could be interpreted is that Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine were all “Hidden Figures” because they were African American women. They had to use separate bathrooms located ½ mile away from the NASA building and they also had to use a separate computer room called “West Computing Group.” This segregation kept them essentially hidden from others at NASA, even though they were indispensable to the success of the mission.

    2: Back in 1960, Civil Rights were still nothing more than a “dream” petitioned by Martin Luther King and JFK. There were many examples of Jim Crow discrimination or racism perpetrated by the white characters towards Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy. An example of racism towards Mary was her being denied the opportunity to be an engineer because the requirements for the necessary degree kept being moved for her. I think that this was a combination of both racism and sexism as people didn’t want a black woman being an engineer. Mary ended up having to take her case to court and play to the judge’s ego just so she could take the required night classes to get her degree. Another example of discrimination perpetrated by the white characters was the separate colored bathroom that was ½ mile away from the NASA building. We first see this in the scene where Katherine asks her white female colleague where the bathroom is located. The woman remarks: “I have no idea where your bathroom is.” From that point on Katherine would have to go all the way to the colored bathroom, which would take around 40 minutes before she returned to her desk. One last example of discrimination perpetrated by the white characters was having a separate segregated computing group called “West Computing group.” These women were confined to a cramped basement office on the west campus while the white computers were on the east campus.

    4: Sexism had an immensely large affect on Dorothy’s, Mary’s, and Katherine’s careers. One example of sexism was shown when Dorothy was pushed away from the IBM computer by the men who were trying to fix it. They didn’t know what was wrong with the computer and they were astonished to see that Dorothy, a woman, had fixed the computer for them. Another example of sexism was seen with Katherine when she was talking to Colonel Jim Johnson about her job at NASA. Jim was extremely surprised to hear that Katherine did “something so taxing,” and even began asking her, “They let women handle that sort of thing?” An example of sexism that Mary faced was not being able to get her engineering degree even though she had the credentials for it. Like I said in question #2, I think that this is an example of both sexism and racism. People had similar mindsets to Colonel Jim Johnson in that they didn’t think women could handle hard work and do things like complex math and engineering that were burdensome. Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine not only had to deal with racism in their lives, but they had to deal with sexism as well. They had to persevere and overcome these difficult issues to advance further into their career.

  13. Benjamin Iverson

    1. The title “Hidden Figures” really is a genius title that adds to the overall meaning of the film. “Hidden Figures” has at least two distinct meanings. First, it refers to the African American women who were so essential to the United States’ success in the space race. While their work was incredibly valuable and influential, many of us had never heard of them until this music. Dorothy, Mary, Katherine, and all of the computers were the hidden figures behind the space program. Another, more literal interpretation of the title relates to the math being done. The computers and engineers were doing work/math that had never been done before. Nothing was straight forward. They needed to look beyond the number for the “hidden figures.” They needed to see what had never been seen before. Either way you look at it, these “hidden figures” are eventually brought to light – though it took much longer for the women than the math itself.

    2. Despite their brilliant minds, Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy were treated very different by their white coworkers. The very first day Katherine worked in the Space Task Group, she got herself a cup of coffee and received evil glares as she did so. The next day, she found an old, beat up, and empty coffee pot labeled “colored.” She was among the most brilliant minds in the world, yet she could not drink from the same pitcher as them. Katherine accepted this as a fact of life and dealt with it for several weeks, until she exploded and called out NASA and her coworkers for the blatant racism she had been facing. After that, Harrison threw away the colored pot. Later on, when working on the go-no-go point for John Glenn’s spaceflight, the information changed so fast that Katherine’s work almost instantly became outdated. To solve this, Johnson wanted to attend the Pentagon briefings, but Sheppard would not let her in. A woman had never been allowed in the briefings, much less a black woman. Katherine was very frustrated, but she was dedicated to her work so she persisted. Every time there was a briefing, she would try to enter. This continued until she ignored Sheppard and went straight to Mr. Harrison, who, somewhat reluctantly, let her in.

    3. For Katherine, Mary, Dorothy, and the rest of the West Computing Group, racism was just one of many obstacles that they must overcome. Katherine’s struggle may be the most obvious. For the majority of the movie, Katherine disappears from the Space Task Group for 45 minutes a few times every day. She’s not taking extra breaks and skimping on her work as many of her colleagues believed; she’s simply using the bathroom. At Langley, there is only one “Colored Women’s Restroom” and it happens to be on the other side of campus from where Katherine works. Not wanting to challenge Jim Crow rules, Katherine made the trek across campus day after day. It was very clearly wrong, but Katherine just did it without complaint. As disruptive as it was, she did not let it get in the way of her work. In fact, she brought binders of work with her to the bathroom every day. Until Harrison tears down the “colored” sign, Katherine didn’t seem like she was going to fight it any time soon. Mary, on the other hand, was much more deeply impacted by her experience. She wanted to become an engineer and was incredibly qualified. When she applied for NASA’s engineer training program, they raised the requirements to keep her from joining. Instead of accepting this, Mary signed up for advanced classes at the all-white high school. When they told her that she wouldn’t be able to attend the segregated school, she lodged a complaint in the court system. Her persistence paid off and, in the face of racism and discrimination, Mary Jackson became the first female African American engineer at NASA. In the West Computing Room, Dorothy did all of the work of a supervisor, but was never given a promotion simply because she was black. Not wanting to admit defeat, she kept approaching her white supervisor and explained the many reasons that she should be made supervisor. Dorothy did not beat around the bush and eventually, she got exactly what she wanted and was made supervisor of the IBM.

  14. Gabe Liss

    1. The title “Hidden Figures” has many different meanings that can be interpreted in many different ways. I believe that Hidden Figures points to the hidden gems in the system of NASA that helped advance the United States in the Space Race. Dorothy, Katherine, and Mary were all hidden from the public, and they never got any credit. However, without them, who knows if NASA would have made the advancements that they did. I also believe that “Hidden Figures” means all of the American heroes that never get talked about. I had never heard about any of these brilliant women until watching this film, which makes me wonder how many other brilliant heroes I have never heard of just because they are either women, or because they are not white.

    2. Jim Crow discrimination or racism demonstrated by the white characters in this movie affected Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary in many ways. One example is the coffee in Katherine’s office. When she entered the room, there was only one pitcher of coffee, but when Katherine went to help herself to some coffee, everyone in the room looked at Katherine with surprise and disgust. When Katherine entered the room the next day, there was a separate coffee pitcher labeled “colored.” This coffee pitcher was much smaller, empty, and not plugged in. This act showed Katherine that the white people in the room didn’t want to drink the same coffee as Katherine, which really hurt Katherine, as well as made life more difficult. Another example is when Mary Jackson tried to enter Hampton University, but was not able to because the school only allowed white people. This angered Mary, and forced her to go to court to be eligible for the class. Once Mary entered the class, everyone stared at her with disbelief. This was probably a very uncomfortable experience for Mary, but she had to take the class in order to become an engineer.

    3. All three women in this film had to overcome challenges that the white people put in placed in order to prevent them from succeeding. Dorothy Vaughn was clearly acting as a supervisor to the other women, but her boss would not give her that label because she believed that a black women should not become a supervisor. Dorothy did her job perfectly, never being late, making sure everyone was on task, and making progress, but it was no use. One night, Dorothy decided to sneak into the IBM computer room, and she helped fix the machine. At first, the white men that caught her were very angry, but when they realized what she had done, she earned new respect. Soon after, Dorothy got the promotion she deserved, and became the first black supervisor to work at NASA. Mary Jackson had her hopes set out on becoming an engineer at NASA. Once she finally was ready, she was told that she needed to take another class, which was only offered at an all white college. Mary went to court, and proposed to the judge that someone had to be the first black woman to attend an all white school, reminding the judge of Brown vs. Board of Ed. After reminding the judge of his own history, the judge granted her access to the class. Mary finished the course, and became the first black woman to work as an engineer at NASA. Katherine was a brilliant mathematician, being the only person at NASA to know how to do analytic geometry. Despite her knowledge, Katherine was not allowed to attend important meetings, and she even had to walk a half mile in the rain to go to the bathroom. Katherine grew sick of her treatment, and she protested to her boss. Realizing that they were all on the same side, Katherine’s boss took down the segregated bathrooms in NASA, and allowed her to attend the meetings. With this new time and knowledge, Katherine was able to come up with the equation that would calculate the trajectory and landing points of the rocket ship. This helped America finally come out on top in the Space Race with Russia.

  15. Ian Rosenwasser

    1. The term, hidden figures, displays how African Americans were neglected during the period of Jim Crow laws. In the movie, the black women of NASA were segregated from the whites. The whites worked on the creation and mathematics of rockets, while the black women were referred to as computers. These women were “hidden” because they all had the intelligence of the whites, but were placed in a lower level of NASA because of their skin color. Also, when Katherine is invited up to west wing, the information for building a rocket is classified from her because she’s colored. Without the information, Katherine can’t complete the full equation for the trajectory of the rocket. Katherine was also a “hidden figure” in the reports that she handed to Stafford. Although she did most of the work to solve the analytic geometry of the rocket, Katherine wasn’t able to put her name of the reports. All of the women that worked at NASA were “hidden figures” because they helped work on the rocket mathematics, but had to fight to get credited for their work.

    2. There were many times during the movie where white characters discriminated against Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy. An example of Jim Crow racism against Dorothy was when she was doing the work of the supervisor, but wasn’t granted the position. She sent in an application for the position, but wasn’t hired because NASA didn’t want to pay a colored women extra. Dorothy repeatedly gives reasons for her boss to hire her as a supervisor, but she is rejected the position every time. Dorothy doesn’t give up her hopes of becoming a supervisor, and teaches all of the black women how to run the new IBM processing machine. Dorothy goes through more Jim Crow discrimination while learning how to process the machine because the librarian doesn’t let her get the necessary book from the white section of the library. Dorothy has to steal the book before she is kicked out of the library, and she learns how to process the IBM. Once she leads the black women to the IBM room, Dorothy’s boss reluctantly gave her the supervisor position. Dorothy was heavily affected by Jim Crow laws because if she was a white women, she would have become supervisor without all the hard, extra work. Another example of Jim Crow racism is the separation of white and colored bathrooms. This becomes a problem for Katherine when the going to the colored bathroom from the west wing is a 40 minute round trip. When Mr. Harrington yells at Katherine for being gone, Katherine snaps at him and explains that she has to walk a half mile just to go to the bathroom, and that her co-workers created a separate coffee pot for her. Mr. Harrington realizes the struggle of the black women at NASA, and tears down the white-only bathroom sign to create a bathroom for everyone.

    4. Sexism was a major issue to Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy’s careers. When all three women are stopped by a police of the road, the policeman is astonished that NASA hires women. The women at NASA also get payed less than the men, even though they are doing about the same amount of work. Mary faces sexism when the requirements to become an engineer at NASA require her to get a degree at an all white school. Mary overcomes this by going to court, and convincing the judge that he will be the first to let a black women attend a white, male school. Lastly, Mr. Harrington is sexist when he addresses his workers as “gentlemen,” or tells them to “call their wives.” When he makes these statements he doesn’t acknowledge Katherine, and all the hard work she does.

  16. Stav D

    1.) The title Hidden Figures has different layers and meanings for this film and time period. One example of the meaning of Hidden Figures in the film is the whole idea of the West Computing Room. The room is separated for black women and these women are just as extraordinary, if not more, than the other East Computing Room with white females. This is just one example of how these women are considered to be the Hidden Figures of NASA. Another way the title Hidden Figures is shown in the movie is in the math that Katherine comes to check and how she recognizes the secret answers to the flight trajectory. On top of all of this, Hidden Figures can be related to the time period outside the film and how the African American community was the hidden figures that are forgotten throughout history. The same can also be said about women, which shows just how discriminated against these women are. However, they overcome these obstacles and make themselves indispensable to NASA and its program.

    3.) Katherine, arguably one of the smartest numbers people at NASA, wants to become part of the head board, but it is all white males. Often times she is asked to do something, but she gets no recognition for her work as she isn’t allowed to put her name on it. Eventually, she is called upon to write the go/no go signal and is Harrison’s closest advisor. Mary has talents when it comes to engineering, but is told she needs more experience and classes to be a NASA engineer. She isn’t allowed to go to the school however as it is segregated still, so she takes the situation to a judge. After some convincing, she is allowed to take night classes and she eventually becomes the first African American Female engineer. Dorothy has her heart set on becoming a supervisor as she already takes the responsibility of one, but she is also blocked because of racism and sexism. However, she learns the computer that the white men are supposed to know better than them and gets her department promoted as they become too valuable not to.

    4.) Sexism affected all three of the women’s’ careers heavily as it gave them many hurdles to overcome. For one, they all had to work in the West computing room which was a basement room for African American females. As one can imagine, there isn’t much room to grow from being stuck in the basement position, but all three were determined to do so and they did. Katherine for example was not allowed to enter the meeting held by the men because she was a female and black, but this didn’t stop her from checking the men’s numbers later which in turn let her be the right hand woman of Harrison. Mary also wants to be an engineer, but is originally denied the opportunities based off of her gender and skin color. Also, the same can be said about Dorothy wanting to become a supervisor, but she had to teach herself how to use the computer which would in turn allow her to become more valuable. Sexism also plays a role in the film similarly to today in a sense that there is a wage gap, especially between Katherine and the men. This is something we still have today and Katherine had to get paid less because she was a female.

  17. Griffin Kozlow

    1. The title “Hidden Figures” has two different meaningful layers throughout the film. The three black women working for NASA in this film are Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson, and Mary Jackson. All three made enormous strides and achievements through their hard work and dedication; however, none of these women’s stories have been told. They have been pushed to the back of the books and disregarded for decades. With this movie, their inspiring, heartfelt stories are uncovered. They are taken out of hiding and the racism of our country is exposed to the very people who participated. These three women are the “Hidden Figures” referred to in the title. They made great achievements in their fields and were hidden from history. Now, director Theodore Melfi uncovers these hidden figures and shows the world their strides. The second meaning of this title has more to do with the plot than the overall message. All three of these women are mathematical geniuses, and Katherine discovers the formula for the trajectory of the rocket, as well as making other discoveries while working at NASA. One very powerful scene that stands out is when no one is left in the office at night except Katherine and her boss. She stays late because her determination to succeed is unmeasurable. Eventually, after going through a full whiteboard (an oversized whiteboard, no less), Katherine has discovered a new formula that makes it possible for America to get ahead in the Space Race. Her work and determination through these figures on the whiteboard are not credited to her. Any discoveries she makes are credited to one of her partners: Paul Stafford. The figures she mixed and matched to create a new formula were hidden from the world and she was never given credit. These hidden figures were never shown to the rest of the world until now.
    2. There are two major examples of Jim Crow discrimination against Katherine that stand out in this film. One day at work, Katherine goes over to fill her coffee with the pitcher that the whole room shares. You can see some white people giving her dirty looks and wondering why she is taking coffee from that pitcher. The next day, when she goes to get coffee, there are two coffee pitchers. The same one from yesterday is there, but there is a new pitcher next to it. A pitcher labeled “colored”. This is very blatant and shameless discrimination and it shows how disgusting some of the people working at NASA (as well as the rest of the country) really were. Throughout the film, Katherine takes bathroom breaks during her work day. Each time, we see her running out the door, through the hall, outside, down the street, into another building, and into a bathroom. At first, nothing much is thought of it. However, eventually the camera shows the sign on the bathroom and it says “colored”. When asked why she is always gone for so long during her bathroom breaks, she explains that there is no colored bathroom in the building where she works. She never once complained and she always ran back and forth when she had to go to the bathroom. This is yet another example of segregation and Jim Crow discrimination in the movie because black and white people can’t even share a bathroom.
    5. The Civil Rights movement plays as the backdrop for the advancing fight against the Cold War’s space race. The Civil Rights movement attempted to give African Americans equal opportunities: socially, politically, and economically. One major fight in the Civil Rights Movement was the fight for equality in the workplace. Although the film takes place in a time of great racism and discrimination in the United States, strides had already been made in the Civil Rights Movement. It was not common to see a black woman hired by a big company, which can be seen when the police officer, in the beginning, is surprised to hear that three black women are working for NASA. That means it was a relatively new accomplishment for Civil Rights activists. Without these strides, America might have fallen behind in the Space Race. Without the three influential black women featured in the movie, what would NASA have done? The first big step for America in the space race (John Glenn’s mission) was only made possible because of Katherine Johnson. She made the mission possible, and the Civil Rights movement along with many Civil Rights activists made Katherine’s job possible.

  18. Jackson Blau

    1. The title of the movie “Hidden Figures” has many different layers of meaning for the film and also for the time period. In this movie and the time period, African American people are the “hidden figures”. They are hidden away under the blanket of white supremacy that during the time was everywhere. Moreover, African American women are “hidden figures”. They are neglected, not acknowledged, and in general thought to be lesser than anyone in the country. This is due to their race and their gender. The three main characters, Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine are all hidden figures of the NASA program. Throughout the movie, the black women who work for NASA are hidden away in a separate building basement called the “West Computing Group”. Their work is not acknowledged by the men in NASA or by the women of the exclusively white “East Computing Group”. A perfect example of this is when Katherine is working with all the white men in the main computing room for the space flights when sees the miscalculation in the math. As she is checking all men’s work she notices that critical information is “classified”. She holds the paper up to the light and finds out the actual hidden information. She then climbs up to the huge chalkboard and solves the problems that the men had had so many problems with. This is just one example of many hidden figures in the movie.
    2. Throughout the movie there are many example of Jim Crow discrimination towards the main characters (Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy). One time Jim Crow discrimination gets in the way of Katherine is when she is forced to pour her coffee out of a different pot than the white men at work. This really upset Katherine and brought her down. Katherine is also paid much less then her white colleagues which is truly unfair and does affect her considering she is a single mother of three young children. Katherine works harder and longer than any other man doing the same job, but because she is black, Katherine is discriminated against and paid less. Another example of when Jim Crow discrimination gets in the way is when Mary must go to school for her to become a NASA engineer. Jim Crow discrimination gets in the way here because she must go to an all-white school in Virginia that doesn’t accept African Americans. She wasn’t allowed to go to this school and these classes were not available at black schools. This was done specifically so that Mary couldn’t apply for the job. This then causes Mary to court to plea her case on being able to go to class at the all-white school, and eventually she is let in. That is how Jim Crow discriminations hurts the main characters.

    4. Sexism had a huge effect on all of the women’s careers. For example, Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary along with the other women of color had to wait until called upon by men to get the same jobs that were handed to men like loose change. An example of this is when Dorothy at first got shunned away from the IBM Mainframe computers room by two white men. The men were appalled to see a woman touch the very expensive computer. Since the men were unable to make the computer, it absolutely shocked them that a woman could make it work. This sexist belief comes from the common belief that men are smarter and can accomplish more than women. So when Dorothy made this large achievement, her career skyrocketed as she was finally acknowledged and was able to bring the other African American women in to help make sure the IBM mainframe computer worked. Secondly, sexism affected Katherine’s career, as well, in the fact that the men around her did not believe that she was capable of contributing to the project. For example, when Paul Stafford blacked out almost everything on the papers that Katherine had to understand in order to compute the problems on the sheet. But, the fact that Katherine was able to find a way passed the obstacles placed in front of her shows that the sexism even though it was undeserved, had contributed to making Katherine’s show so much more impressive. Lastly, sexism shaped Mary’s desire to become an engineer for NASA entirely. Mary would have never needed to dream to become anything if she was a male, she would just become one, as she said in the film. However, because of her gender her dream was constantly shot down by her superiors, the judge who did not want her to attend an all-white school, and the teacher of the night school Mary attend who believed that women could not understand curriculum that was not made specifically for women. The struggles that Mary had to faced made the success she achieved in career so much greater, because she eventually became the engineer she had long dreamed of.

  19. Caitlyn Moore

    1. The title Hidden Figures has different layers of meaning for this time period and film because not only were the black women in this movie Hidden Figures within NASA but black people everywhere were Hidden Figures within society at this time. Many things that black people did weren’t recognized or acknowledged at this time. Within the movie the women, although they contributed a lot weren’t even known of seemingly until this movie came out. Also, no matter how much black people invented or created during this time the country was unaware of it and weren’t appreciated for it.

    2. An example of discrimination and a Jim Crow law that was perpetrated to Katherine was the segregation of restrooms. When Katherine got moved to the higher position as a computer there still was no bathroom for her to use within the building that she got moved to so she had to travel a half a mile there and back in order to even use the bathroom. This was a challenge that she was forced to face due to her promotion and not only did it prevent her work since she wasted lots of time with the walk there and back but it also physically tired her out. Another example of a Jim Crow law was when the supervisor wouldn’t allow her into the room where they met to discuss calculations and their excuse was that she was a woman. Katherine knew more about the calculations then the man who was allowed in the room but since she was black she wasn’t allowed in which was a part of the segregation of this time

    3. All three women overcame these obstacles by continuing towards their dream regardless of the challenges. Katherine was persistent by defeating the odds through her abilities and showing her strength making everyone respect her regardless of her skin color. Mary although there was a law preventing her from going to college that she needed to attend in order to get the promotion, she went to the judge and made it possible for her to go. Dorothy although she couldn’t become a supervisor and she was qualified to do so, she went to the computer room and taught herself how to do it and even brought the other black women computers with her.

  20. Lily Meinel

    1. “Hidden Figures” has many layers of meaning that is shown throughout the film. One of the meanings is the fact that Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine were a big part of the reason why John Glenn got into and out of space. I did not know about these people until the previews of the movie started to come out because I never learned about them. Their success was swept under a rug because they were African American women that were smarter that some of the men at NASA. Thus making them hidden figures. But they were also hidden in real life. Were the colored computers worked was in the West Wing in a basement. They were basically out of sight. While the white computers worked in the East Wing that was like a real office. When Katherine came to be the computer for Mr. Harrison she was to check the math for the other men there. Paul Stafford the head person there (other than Harrison) would give his work to her but most of it was blacked out. Making it harder for Katherine to do her work. Katherine become fed up with it and hold the paper with the blacked out ink and sees the hidden stuff. Then she figures out a way to do the math that is needed to get the go-no go to work.

    2. When Katherine came to work for Harrison she went to go get some coffee. She poured the coffee and everyone started to stare at her. The next day when KAtherine went to go get coffee there was a “colored” coffee pot for her. The coffee pot was not even filled with coffee because the white people did not want to touch it. Dorothy was visiting the “white” section of their library because the “colored” section did not have the book she was looking for. The Liberation comes up to her and says that they do not want any trouble. Dorothy says there will be no trouble she justed need to get a book the was not in the “colored” section. Then Dorothy and her two sons got escorted out of the library by two police officers because she would not leave the “white” section.

    3. When Mary decided she wanted to go back to school and become an engineer for NASA. But the classes she wanted to take was at an all whites school because Virginia did not go by the Brown v. Board ruling. She got a court date and she talked to the judge and she was able to take only the night classes their. But in the end Mary became the first African American women engineer for NASA. Katherine was very passionate about her job. She worked hard all day and into the night. She would complete stacks of books filled with others peoples work that she had to check. And on top if that do the stuff Harrison gave her. The work she had to do was blacked out and she could not go to the meetings about getting John Glenn into space. Her hands were basically tied, she could not help out the team and get the go-no go plan to work if she could not have everything she needed. She put the blacked out ink up to the light and figured out how to make the go- no go plan work. And Harrison would let her come into the meetings so she could do her job. When Glenn was about to get onto the spaceship the IBM’s numbers were not matching up. Glenn said that he was not going to get on the ship until Katherine did that numbers and made sure that they matched. Katherine then soon became apart of Harrison’s team of geniuses. Dorothy she was running the West Wing computers by herself but she was not allowed to be a superviser. The law said that a white female had to be the supervisor of the colored computers. Dorothy was also worried that her colleges and herself would soon be out of a job because of the IBM. Dorothy fixed that IBM and got it working. She also taught the other colored computers to work the machine as well. The people at NASA were very thankful for her and made her the first African American women to become a supervisor at NASA.

  21. Grace Jung

    1. First of I just want to say that this movie was inspirational and so moving. The title itself gives you a glimpse about what you are getting into. I love the title because it perfectly describes who these women represented during this time period and right now as well. No one knew about them. They were referred to as computers and were shoved away into a smaller building outside of the main building campus. At first, I didn’t really think about the title of the movie, but after watching it you totally understand why they called it “Hidden Figures”. Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy were literally hidden away from the public. When John Glen asked Katherine indirectly to go over the IBM calculations, no one knew that Katherine, a strong African American women was doing the corrections. No one knew that Mary was apart of the building of Mercury 7. No one knew that Dorothy got out of her way to check out a library book and learn about the IBM and help NASA. These women did not take part of the huge victory and honor that many white males took part of during John’s landing because of the racial discrimination they faced. They did all the calculations, I mean they were called computers, but yet no one knew that they were the ones doing the calculations. This came to a shock to me when I saw the movie. In my history book it never talked about how there were African American women and even white women involved with the calculations behind the white mask that NASA portrayed. These are figures to be remembered yet our history books do not speak of them. They were not only hidden during that time period, but also today. And we just now heard of them.

    2. One example of the Jim Crow discrimination inside the movie were the constant reminders that Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary were black or colored. Katherine had to move to the main building to help Al Harrison and his team with the calculations to get Glenn to space. In that building there were no colored bathrooms and she didn’t want to get in trouble or risk her getting in trouble going to a regular bathroom, so she ran all the way back to her old building and do her business and then come back. She had to run a mile or two just to do her business. Then when she was missing she would get in trouble. But finally Al sees what she’s doing and how uncomfortable and wrong it is for her to run a mile just to do her business. So he goes over to Katherine’s old building and then takes down the colored sign and tells her to go to whatever bathroom she wants to go to, preferably a bathroom close to their office. So this situation did get justice, but most of the time there was no hero to take down the Jim Crow laws that still stood. Another example of a Jim Crow law in the movie was when Dorothy was not able to gain the supervisor position. I think this is an example of an existing Jim Crow Law in this movie because it shows that a capable African American women doing the same thing that a regular supervisor would be doing can’t get the job because of her skin color. Even though Vivian, a white female supervisor, tries to reassure Dorothy that it’s not because of her skin color that she can’t get the supervisor position. But everyone could clearly see it’s because of her skin color. She was denied the same rights that anybody else could get because of her skin color. She was capable and doing the same jobs as their past supervisor. Dorothy made herself available and never missed a day. So instead of wallowing she started learning about the IBM and getting it to work so that she and her co workers wouldn’t be left without a job. I guess you could say that it isn’t a Jim Crow Law but discrimination but I think it is a Jim Crow Law because Vivian repeatedly says that the African American women couldn’t get a permanent job, all the jobs they gave the African American “computers” were temporary.

    3. All of these women faced their own prejudice and discrimination in this movie, and they all had different ways of confronting it. Katherine was discriminated inside her own department because she was female and because she was African American. She was undermined by her fellow white male peers and was under constant criticism. They, meaning mostly Paul Stafford, wouldn’t treat her like a regular employee there and wouldn’t let her in on the information that was crucial for her to make the correct calculations. And so she put the paper into the light and read it and then she was able to write the correct data and graph. She was brought into Al’s office and interrogated, but she did nothing wrong. Katherine needed this information to do her job except she was denied it. So she tells Al that she was just doing her job and he lets her go. Throughout the movie, she undergoes many of these incidents where she stands up for herself because she is doing nothing wrong but only trying to do her job efficiently. Mary, however is denied the right to become an engineer because her “lack of education”. This is her biggest problem that she overcomes with the law. NASA supplies classes so that people can have the higher of education that is mandatory if she wants to become an engineer. The problem is that the school is not yet integrated and only allows classes for white people. So she goes to court and convinces the judge with an inspirational speech. She tells him that he was the first in his family to get a higher education (I’m pretty sure that what she said) and that there was always going to be a first. And so he might as well let her become the first to integrate the school. After her moving speech he tells her that she can take the night classes. She not only is the first to integrate that school but also the first African American women to become a engineer at NASA. I talked about Dorothy in my second answer so it’s gonna overlap a little, but she overcame the wall that restricted all the computers from moving on to great things. She was denied the position of a supervisor so she taught herself how to work the IBM after she heard that once they have it up and running, that they wouldn’t need any of the “computers”. So she teaches herself how to run it and then teaches the other African American women “computers” how to work it. By overcoming the wall she was able to supply all the women permanent jobs and become the first African American women supervisor at NASA.

  22. Jordan L

    2) Back in the 1960’s, Jim Crow discrimination and racism was very prevalent back then. In the movie, Hidden Figures, we see all the protagonist feel the affects of racism and all in different ways. Firstly, Katherine Johnson experiences Jim Crow discrimination and racism when she is prohibited to use the bathroom closest to her workspace because it was designated for “WHITES ONLY”. This causes Katherine to leave her workspace for an hour and a half just to use the restroom because the closest colored bathroom is all the way across campus in a different building. This affects Katherine because it causes her to have shame to have to use the distant bathroom and it jeopardizes her job due to the lengthy trip to the bathroom with a explanation to her boss. Secondly, Katherine is a victim of discrimination and racism when she is not allowed to drink from the communal coffee pot because she is black. This makes her feel extremely less important from the rest of the employees and it makes her to believe that she doesn’t fit in. A third example of Jim Crow discrimination and racism was when Dorothy Vaughn went to the library with the hopes of checking out a simple coding book but was denied the option to check it out because of the color of her skin. Again this makes her feel ashamed and embarrassed like Katherine but especially because it was in front of her son. This incident affected her by putting another obstacle in front of her career because the book was essential to her advancement at NASA. In the end, Dorothy spawned the courage to snag the book into her purse and exclaim “I deserve this, I pay my taxes too!”.

    3) Hidden Figures tells the story of how three black ladies overcome challenges set by the white society. The three black ladies are named Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine and each of them overcome their challenges differently. Firstly, Dorothy’s long lived dream of being a supervisor at NASA could not be achieved because she was a black woman. Even though she did supervise the black mathematical department she did not receive the title nor the salary a supervisor would obtain. When the new IBM computer arrived at the NASA facility she realized that her job and all the rest of black math geeks would soon become obsolete. After seeing that the white male engineers were failing to program the computer, Dorothy saw the opportunity to advance herself and the workers she supervised. Dorothy began her advancement by learning how to program the IBM computer from a computing book that she stole from the library. Once she learned how to program the computer she the black employees how to do it too. Therefore making herself and her employees indispensable to NASA. In result she became the head supervisor of the IBM machine and saved her’s and other’s jobs. Secondly, Mary in the start of the movie received a promotion to assist in the construction of the rocket. Some of the white males who worked by her side were so impressed by her thinking that they told her to become an engineer, however it was unachievable because at the time black women were not allowed to go a high school that was severely segregated where she could earn an engineering degree. But with encouragement from her family she took the situation to court and convinced the judge that it would be in his best interest as well to let her take classes to obtain the engineering degree. In the end, she became the first female African American engineer in America. Lastly, Katherine was given the opportunity to work on the calculations for the re-entry of the rocket into Earth’s atmosphere. However she was met with distain and disrespect from her fellow employees. Katherine had to speak up and take risks to earn the respect of both her boss and astronaut, John Glenn. In the end, John Glenn only relied on her calculations alone to be brought back from space safely to Earth.

    4) Sexism was also very prevalent in Hidden Figures. At the start of the movie, Dorothy, Mary, And Katherine have a run in with a cop who is baffled that three women are allowed to work at NASA. Katherine sees sexism when she is paid less because she is a women which causes her to look foolish because she is unable to purchase a necklace of pearls which is expected to wear by every women. Another, way Katherine faces sexism is when she is only allowed to check the men’s work and is unable to present her own. Mary faces when she tries to become a engineer. When she is denied to go to school that provides the credits that she needs to become an engineer she takes it to court. She convinces the judge that he would be the first to ever let an African American become an engineer but an female African American. Dorothy faces sexism when she wasn’t given the opportunity to become a supervisor of the IBM machine although she was the most qualified. NASA gave the job to white male bozos who didn’t know what they were doing. Dorothy overcame this by learning the language to program the machine and took the male’s jobs.

  23. Kate Marszalek

    “Hidden Figures”

    1) The title for this movie represented 3 different layers of meaning. The first layer can be
    seen as the basic meaning of the hidden figures in math. The US was in a race to space and desperate to beat the Soviet Union into orbit. They were dealing with new concepts and mathematical questions. They had to find the hidden figures in order to win the race. On a deeper layer, the hidden figures refer to the location of these women. “The computers” as they were called was a group of African American women hidden away in the basement of another building. They were not allowed the same access or respect as other employees of NASA. They themselves were hidden figures. The third layer of meaning was in the fight for recognition. As Katherine completed the steps for her work, she would, as normal, put her name on the paper. But, in return, her supervisor would take her name off of the reports. Katherine was a hidden figure in the sense that she was never given credit for her work.
    3) For Katherine, white society denies her a basic human need, going to the bathroom. Every day, Katherine has to run across campus with her work in her hands just so she can go to the bathroom in the “colored” restroom. In a literal sense, Katherine is really only able to overcome this challenge by taking her work with her and working on the bathroom to keep up. To fully overcome the challenge, Katherine uses help from her boss when he knocks down the discriminatory sign in the building where she works. Multiple times, Katherine is able to overcome her struggles with discrimination in the main NASA building while continuing to do her job and make a name for herself. A literal obstacle that Dorothy has to face by white society is when she is denied the title of supervisor and when the book she needs is in the white section of the library. Though Dorothy already does the actual work of supervisor, she is denied the title because of her skin color. Eventually, Dorothy is able to gain the label after a change in views and hard work. Dorothy also faces a white society challenge in the library. Dorothy needed a book to do the coding and said book was in the library. Except that coding book was in the white section, so Dorothy literally overcomes this obstacle by walking into the section, and defying the limitations set against her by society, and taking the book. Mary overcomes one of the biggest challenges set by white society at that time, the right to education. Mary has to take a class at the high school in order to get to the school to become an engineer. Except, Mary is not allowed to take that class because of her skin color. So, Mary goes before a judge to gain her right to an education. After a long fight, the judge allows Mary to take the night class. Mary is able to overcome the obstacle of segregated education and the discrimination she faced while trying to get into the classroom. 5) At a time in our history when on the cusp of great scientific advances, we were still burdened with our discriminatory beliefs. The Soviet Union was the first to get a satellite into orbit while the United States was still divided over race. We were late going into the space race because we were not able to use our resources to our advantage because of their skin color. An example of this in the movie can be seen when John Glenn was about to take off into space. NASA had noticed a problem with the math but had already let Katherine go, because her job was finished and replaced with a computer. John Glenn demanded that Katherine sign off on the math before entering the rocket. This proved that it took a highly respected figure to break the barrier, in this instance, between races. Glenn proved that skin color did not matter but the mind did. The CRM was in a way a silent battle during the time of the space race. But it was quickly taking speed as people started to recognize/fight against discriminatory practices set in place by the white society.

  24. Kyle Alkatib

    1. The title, “Hidden Figures” has many different meanings to it. The title can be interpreted as all the different numbers that were used to figure out everything needed to get a human in space. These numbers were hidden and had to be figured out. Katherine Johnson had to find all these numbers using analytic geometry and a lot of math to figure out how to launch and land the rocket safely. The title could also be interpreted as all the black women in the background doing the work to successfully launch and land the rocket. Katherine, Dorothy and Mary were behind the scenes doing everything and in the end they didn’t get any recognition. They were hidden the whole time. No one knew that they were the ones that successfully launched and landed the rocket.

    2. Despite all the work they did and how smart Katherine, Dorothy and Mary were, they were still discriminated against. An example of racism against Katherine was with the coffee pot. When she was working, Katherine got up to get a cup of coffee and when she did all of the white men in the room just stared at her because they did not want to drink coffee out of the same pot as a black women. The next day, Katherine came to work and saw a separate pot that said “colored” on it. Mary was discriminated against when she wanted to get the necessary requirements to become an engineer. At first, she was not allowed to go back to school because it was an all white school and Mary was not allowed to go there. Then she went to court and she was given the okay to take night classes. This shows discrimination against black people because they would not allow Mary to go to an all white school so that she can fulfill her dream. Another example of racism was when Dorothy wanted to get a book from the library. She couldn’t find the book in the colored section so she went to the white section. The librarian saw her and told her she couldn’t take a book from there because she wasn’t white. Dorothy ended up stealing the book because she needed it for work. Black people couldn’t even check out the same books as a white person in the library.

    4. Sexism was a big issue in Katherine, Dorothy and Mary’s career. They were always treated differently because they were women. For example, Katherine was paid much less than all the other men she worked with even though she worked harder and did much more than all of the other men. Katherine was also not allowed to go to the Pentagon meeting because she was a women. Mary also faced sexism when she wanted to attend an all white male school to get her degree and become an engineer. She eventually went to court and was allowed to go to school. Sexism was also shown when the three women were on the side of the road and the cop showed up. The cop was baffled that NASA allowed black women to work there. There were also times when Al Harrison said “Gentlemen” and “Go call your wives” to the whole group even though Katherine was right there. There were a lot of little things like that that displayed sexism throughout the movie.

  25. Davit Tran

    1. In the movie Hidden Figures, the title has more then one meaning to it. One of the meanings relates to the astronomical mathematics done to find the “Go-No-Go point” for the landing of the John Glenn flight. The other meaning has to do with the African American woman who worked for NASA. In the movie, the woman worked in a crowded office that was all the way in the back of the NASA facility. Their building was old and rusty. NASA knew that these women were smart and could get work done, but they were afraid to be seen letting black women work. These ladies were the “hidden figures” of NASA. They did a lot of work, but they got no credit for it, and less pay then the white people got. For example, in the movie we see that Katherine Johnson finds these equations and proofs them and does all the work, but when typing and sending out the work, she has to put the name of her advisor, Stafford on all of the papers. She is not allowed to put her own name on it.
    2. In the movie, we see racism everywhere. Two examples of Jim Crow discrimination were the bathrooms and the coffee pot that Katherine had to deal with. In the movie, Katherine Johnson was moved to a new section of NASA where she worked with many smart people. These people happened to be all white. And because they were all white, there were no “colored” bathrooms in their offices. Katherine found herself running all the way back to her old office, a mile away just to use the colored bathrooms. Another scene of discrimination was with the coffee maker. At first when Katherine started working in the offices, she drank the coffee from the normal coffee maker, but after the white people saw her drinking from it, they brought in a old and nasty coffee maker just for the “colored”. In the movie we see the discrimination that the black women NASA employees had to deal with.
    3. In the movie we have three main leads. The three main leads were three African American women who work for NASA. In the beginning we see that all three of them are “human calculators”, and just punch in numbers and solve equations. But when two of the three women get assigned a new task, we see the challenges that they face because they are black women. Katherine Johnson for example, when moved to a new wing of NASA, finds herself surrounded by only white people. At first the white people discriminated her, they didn’t allow her to use their bathrooms, so she had to run to the opposite side of the facility just to use the “colored” bathrooms. They brought in a terrible coffee maker just so she couldn’t use theirs, when given data to proof, they would black out all the useful information, and lastly, they did not allow her into the pentagon meetings where information changed rapidly and affected a lot of her work. But in the end, she argued and fought for all those things to be changed. Her boss did help her with some of it. Mary Jackson also faced racial injustice when transferred to her engineering job. The boss at her new job encouraged her to become an engineer, but everything was against her. There has never been a women engineer in this field, and she’s black. She had a degree in engineering, but to work where she wanted, she needed a further degree. The only place that taught classes for that degree was at an all white school. Mary Jackson had to go to court and fight for her rights. In the end she was allowed to go to class at that all white school, but only at nights. And lastly, is Dorothy Vaughn. Dorothy, was in charge of the black women who worked at NASA. She gave the their job assignments, and she did everything a department director should do. After giving her résumé and applying as the department director, she got denied, obviously because she was a black women. Later on in the movie we see Dorothy sneaking into the IBM room to work the machines. The white men who were in charge of the machines had no idea how to work them, and when they saw Dorothy working them with ease, they requested that she help them. Dorothy was asked to work there, but she denied unless the black women who worked for her were allowed to work on the IBM machines. The people agreed because Dorothy was the only one who knew how to work the machines. In the end Dorothy was asked to be advisor of the IBM department.

  26. Megan D

    Hidden Figures, as a title has multiple layers in many ways. The first being that in the movie they were looking for math, referring to figures, that “didn’t exist” and they had to look “beyond the numbers”, which refers to the hidden factor. When they finally figured out a formula, it was a very old, pre-existing, math theory that was hidden in the number. The other way that this title can be interpreted is in relation to the characters; Catherine, Dorothy, and Mary. These women are referred to as the figures that were hidden. They were not given due credit because they were both women and they were black. During the 60’s racism and sexism was very prevalent in America and therefore many women and black people who did amazing things are forgotten because white men wanted to take all the credit. Looking back now, this movie is trying to get people to see the forgotten and find the hidden figures.
    One example of Jim Crow discrimination was when Dorothy went to the library to find a book about the IBM and programing. When she went in the black section to get the book it wasn’t there, so she went to the white section to find it. In the end she was dragged out of the library with her sons, despite the fact that she wasn’t violent or disruptive at all and only wanted a book. Another example of the Jim Crow laws was when Catherine would leave for forty minutes at a time to use the restroom because the only colored bathroom was a half a mile away in the West computing office. Luckily when she was asked why she leaves she yells at the racists, and acknowledges the coffee pot issue, and gets her way because the next morning her boss knocks down the colored sign and allows her to drink from the “white coffee pot”.
    Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary all overcame racism and/or sexism separately. Firstly Catherine overcame racism and Jim Crow Laws. Catherine found that after her first day they had put a small pot of coffee next to the larger pot with the label colored. She would also have to go almost a mile, there and back, to be able use the restroom. When she was confronted by her boss as to why she was gone for 40 minutes at a time, she responded with a passionate speech that exposed her white male co-workers in their passive attempts to oppress her and keep her “in her place”. Because she had proved herself a very capable and necessary part of the team, her boss took the label off the coffee pot and the next morning he walked to the West Computing building and physically tore down the colored bathroom sign in front of the complete team of white men and one woman secretary. This was an example and it made them all realize that race didn’t matter, what mattered was your talent in math and science and your intelligence. Next, Dorothy trained all the women in the West Computing group to program the IBM, which was at the time was being programed by incapable white men. She taught herself how to program the IBM and single handedly made the IBM work, which was crucial to the rocket launch because they needed fast computing in time for the rocket launch. When the men found out what she did they called her to work with them. She responded that she wouldn’t go without her group of girls because she knew that they would know how to correctly program the machine since they worked for it and the men who were supposed to operate the machine didn’t, the women were going to be more efficient and be able to take orders from her without being offended that a black person, let alone a female, was bossing them around.

  27. Henry Van Faussien

    1.) I could argue that the title Hidden Figures could be applied to every character besides John Glenn. Anybody that watched the space mission most likely only knew the brave astronaut that risked his life to revolutionize space odysseys for the whole world. However the next layer of Hidden would be the white men that made the initial calculations and problem solved to create successful missions, like Jim Parsons character or the heat panel scientist. They were a little bit more known and people that looked into the missions would definitely be able to find their name i.e the byline in each of the calculations that Katherine attempted to put her name. The next layer would be the white women for example Kirsten Dunst character. They were in communication with the head guys and did work but much more glamorously. The final layer would be the African American women computers that would take the work by the white scientists and check it. Without the publication of this movie they would still be hidden to this day.

    2.) The first example of Jim Crow laws would be the restrooms that forced Katherine to jog over to the black restroom that angered her boss very much. This makes Katherine very angry but she knew that making a scene about it would only cause her to lose her dream job. So she toughened up and rose above the discrimination. The second example would be the coffee pot. She takes a cup of their coffee and the next day she finds a second empty coffee pitcher that is labelled colored coffee. This does contribute to her outburst as she is furious that these people can work in the same room as her yet treat her like complete crap.

    3.) Katherine overcame the racism by becoming the only scientist that the astronaut truly trusted his life in. She used to be only a computer but she rose through the ranks and achieved her goal becoming the equal of white men. Mary overcame racism by becoming NASA’s first female African American engineer. She also was successful in winning a local court case to take night classes and obtain her degree that she required to get the job. Dorothy was successful in becoming the supervisor for the IBM and she successfully taught each of the West Wing computers to operate the IBM something that even the white males were struggling to do.

  28. Ashley A

    2. In this movie, there were many examples of Jim Crow discrimination and racism displayed by the white characters. For example, when Dorothy went to the library to get a book and a random white lady says that she doesn’t want any trouble in the library and that she could find the book she needed in the colored section. When Dorothy explained that the colored section didn’t have what she was looking for, the white lady just says that’s the way things are and at the end of the scene you see Dorothy and her 2 sons being escorted out, rather roughly, by the library’s security guard. Another example of Jim Crow laws was when Katherine went to get some coffee to settle into her job. As Katherine was reviewing some work, she got up to go get some coffee; however, as she was doing so the whole office silenced and watched her, appalled that she would dare to drink from their coffee machine. The next day, when Katherine went to go get some coffee a small, dusty kettle labeled colored was waiting for her, and what’s worse is that it didn’t even work. Lastly, an example of racial discrimination was when Katherine first entered her new job and the first assignment that she was given was trash can to empty because she was assumed to be the custodian not the smartest person in the room, due to the fact that she was black.

    3. These 3 women had to overcome some major obstacles that were placed in their way to succeed and get what they deserved and wanted in life. Katherine had to defeat the challenge of being a black woman co worker with 99% white men. Katherine defeated this obstacle by showing over and over threw her work that she was brilliant and deserved to be treated fairly. She demanded that she would be placed in places of importance when it comes to her work and constantly proved that black women have the capability to be excellent at what they do and shouldn’t be treated differently because of their race or gender which her white co workers slowly began to realize as the movie progressed. Mary had to fight against the constant difficulties put on her shoulders to simply further her education. Mary was a very smart and intellectual person who was especially talented in the area of engineering but wasn’t one due to her skin color and gender. When her talents were recognized by an engineer that she helped when working on the shuttle, she is convinced to apply. However when she applies, she gets told that NASA doesn’t hire female engineers and she gets held back because she no longer meets the requirements. For her to meet the requirements she has to take a course at an all white high school, which in Virginia was nearly impossible. This obstacle was met by another obstacle when she realizes that to get her education she has to go to court. She wins after convincing the judge that a black person in a white high school was the right call to make, which was difficult to do. When she entered the class she was met by stares of her new all white male classmates. Both the teachers and students were shocked that a black women could understand and be at equal level with them in education. Dorothy overcame the challenge of advancing the black women of NASA when they were about to be disposed of. Dorothy did this by learning and studying the works of the program that was to replace her and becoming essential to its function to keep her and her colleagues needed in NASA.

    4. The issue of sexism was also a prominent feature in this movie. These women’s careers were constantly affected by this ongoing issue during this time period. Katherine had to go through it when she was fighting to be included in the meetings that would make sure that her calculations were correct but was constantly rejected because there was no protocol for handling women in those meetings. Mary experienced it when she wanted to become an engineer. Her husband told her that she wouldn’t be able to succeed because she was black and a women and when the white lady told her that NASA wasn’t accepting female applicants for the engineering position. Also when Mary entered her first class and her teacher told her that the class was not designed to be taught to a women she experienced sexism in the school system. Dorothy encountered it when she was able to get the IBM machine working while multiple white men had been struggling with it. She was yelled at by two white men for even being near the computers. However when they found the machine to actually be working it shocked them that she could do something they couldn’t; they weren’t used to this instance happening at all.

  29. Ny'dea Terrell

    1. The title of the movie “Hidden Figures” provides a glimpse of the story itself. The movie setting is1960’s Hidden Figures during the occurrence of the Civil Rights Movement. At this time Jim Crow Laws were implied, leading the Whites to feel and act as if they were superior to the African Americans; hence, the poor and morally wrong treatment. I believe you would reference the saying “seen but never heard”, applies to how Whites acknowledged the African Americans. I specifically used the word “acknowledge”, because that was the exact opposite interaction in the movie between African American and White characters. The African American women had a separate office from the White women in a dingy office space. It is my belief this was a tactic that was suppose to make the African Americans feel insignificant. Also I think the name is in reference to how the African Americans were not acknowledged for their work. Instead they were given the easy/simplistic jobs, the ones that are simple tasks that do not require a numerous amount of brainpower. It is by giving them “busy work” you lessen their momentum or idea they will reach their highest potential. That is why I believe Whites gave them simple work, no one else would do. As a deduction that is why I suspect the name is “Hidden Figures” is used as the title.

    2. One Jim Crow Law I saw present in the movie, was the law that African Americans could not use the same restroom facilities as a Whites. In the movie when Katherine Johnson was transferred to a different building, there were no African American bathrooms in the new building. In result she had to sprint to other side of the campus to reach the African American restroom, then quickly run back to her new office; accordingly, this became a daily routine. Furthermore another would be how Dorothy Vaughn went to a library, but could not check out a book. The librarian would not let that happen, because it was from the Whites only section of the library. Vaughn was then thrown out of the library after refusing to check out a book from the African American section of the library.

    3. Between the three women they all went through trials that lead to rewarding outcomes, each in their individual field. For Katherine Johnson when she first transferred to an office she could work with with other mathematicians she was given work to check numbers, but was simplified by a co-worker who thought that she would not be able to comprehend the numbers. Johnson wittingly put the paper to light and was able to do her job despite the minor set back. Eventually fixing an error in the calculations, that was not even found by her snob co-worker. Johnson’s burden of proving herself lessened overtime. On the other hand Mary Jackson’s troubles presented a different problem. Jackson wanted to apply for an engineering job, but rule books updated just before her decision to apply, so she now needed a different set of credentials. The road to success for her was bumpy, but every wall she came to she knocked down. Including when the college refused to provide an education to her, because she was African American. Despite their unreasonable efforts she graduated, received the job at NASA, and even contributed by fixing the machine that no colleagues could do. In Spite of both problems, it is my belief that Dorothy Vaughn experienced the most difficult problem. Vaughn worked the position of the supervisor in the African American department, but did not have the salary of one. It is unfathomable that she had to work the position and not quit the job of a supervisor, to return to a regular one, because she could not lose her job as a whole from NASA. Although it is my opinion that Dorothy Vaughn had the hardest trials, I do find it hard it to pinpoint a specific problem that was greater than the other.

  30. Clare Walton

    1. The title, “Hidden Figures” has many reasons behind it. One of the main reasons i believe is because these three women, Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy, have very important jobs and were a big reason on why NASA was able to do what it did. They were, however, not given the respect and acknowledgment that they deserved. Which why you could call them “Hidden Figures”. Another layer on how this could be told is the the African-Americans at the time were not valued and were not thought to be people. They weren’t allowed to be people, with their rights taken away and being limited in everything that they did whither a certain job at NASA or what drinking fountain they could use. People turned their backs and pulled their children away from the blacks. This could show them as “Hidden Figures” because they were an important part of the time but people chose to degrade them instead of working to make them equal. These three women portrayed in the film are not well known, but they are so very important in what makes this country whole, this being another example on how the title of the movie fits.

    3. There are many obstacles that are in this movie that make it hard for the main characters to do what they want. For Mary she wished to become an engineer for NASA. she didn’t have the requirements that was necessary. But to do so she had to take classes at a local school that was whites only. Mary went to court and fought for her right to take these classes at the school. She won and was able to take the classes to become an engineer. Dorothy wanted to become a supervisor of the computer girls. She was continuously denied of the role. She started to learn how to program and use the new machines that NASA had just bought. She did this by reading books and the manual and learning it all herself. By doing all of this she showed that she was capable and they eventually gave her the job. Kathrine had the struggle of being the only women, a black women even, at the section of NASA at which she worked. The men there would try to make her use a different coffee pot because of her color. Also in the building that she worked there weren’t any colored bathrooms. She would have to run to use it and she was criticized for being gone for so long. She stood up to her superior and got the respect that she deserved in her work area.

    4. While Dorothy was trying to learn how to use the new machines she was questioned because she was a women. She did know what she was doing and she even did it better than the men that were assigned to figure it out. People questioned her ability even though she had shown that she was more than qualified to do that work. Mary was working to become the first women engineer at NASA. to do this she had to take new classes and work to do what the men were “more qualified” to do. In Katherine’s job there were only men who were doing the math that she was. People watched her differently and gave her judgemental looks as she tried to do her job. People would double check all of her work and she had to show that she was even smarter than most of the men that were in the room. She was able to work at a faster and better pace than most of the men that she worked with.

  31. Andrew Beggs

    1) The title of the film “Hidden Figures” has many different meanings and interpretations revolving around this time period. The figures that were hidden were the numbers that NASA was trying to find to try and get a man into space and to also orbit the Earth. The hidden figures represent the math for the calculations. There were many unsolved math problems. Hidden Figures could also have been interpreted in the way that the women who worked for NASA were hidden. They were black women who did they calculations and they were separated but they had great potential. Their hard work sort of goes hidden behind the surface because of their race. They were denied credit.
    2) One example of a Jim Crow representation in the movie was when Katherine was forced to pour her coffee from a different coffee pot than where the white men and women poured their coffee. Katherine also gets paid a lot less than the white people she works with which is very hard for her because she has three children and she is single. Katherine was also not able to get a book out of the library because it wasn’t in her section. She decided to steal the book because there wasn’t a book of that kind in her section. She had to break one of the Jim Crow Laws in order to make her discovery. The high amount of racism and discrimination in the work environment really played a toll on her and affected her ability to do work because of the distraction. Mary is also affected when she wants to become a NASA Engineer. In order to do this, she needs to take certain classes that are only provided at all-white schools. She is obviously not allowed to attend white schools because of the Jim Crow Laws, so she goes to court to fight the case. This seems to bring up Mary’s confidence when she wins and is allowed to attend.
    3) The main idea that the 3 women use while they are discriminated against while working at NASA during this time period is their ability to prove other people wrong. Dorothy wanted to become a supervisor at NASA but she was completely shut down because of her race. By the end of the movie, Dorothy overcomes this by working extremely hard and proving herself and a smart and organized person by being good at her job. Dorothy also had to learn the new computer system and she learned it faster than the white men, using her logic to get a step ahead. Katherine is doubted by many of the white workers at NASA but as the movie goes on the workers realize that she has great potential and she is great for the future of NASA. We see Mary have to overcome to fact that she was denied to go to white school. She needed to take classes there in order to become a NASA Engineer so she pleaded her case to the court with intelligence and passion, which allowed her to enroll at the all-white school in Virginia. All three of these women had to overcome different obstacles because they were all black and were discriminated against.

  32. Emily Juriga

    1. The title “Hidden Figures” has different layers of meaning for this film and the time period. The first obvious layer of the title is that of African American women’s role in the NASA program, that their work was not discussed or honored for more than 60 years. The progress that Kathrine Johnson (instrumental in John Glenn’s flight and the moon landing), Dorothy Vaughn (first African American NASA supervisor), and Mary Jackson (First female African American engineer at NASA) made for Black Rights in the US was not significant at the time for the civil rights movement as a whole, but as Dorothy said in the film, even one of them moving up was a step toward bigger chances for all African Americans. The other layer of “Hidden Figures” has a depth I didn’t understand at first, which is its meaning from a mathematic point of view. The women’s work and calculations were vital in getting John Glenn’s proper flight pattern to orbit the earth and land safely. The part that is hidden about that is the fact that the American people were not concerned or focused on the performance of the mathematicians; they were wrapped up in the Rocket and John Glenn the astronaut. So the hidden figures in this meaning are the literal figures or numbers that went into getting men into space.
    2. One example of discrimination displayed in the film was when Katherine had been given a desk in the mathematics department is charge of John Glenn’s flight and she was the only female and only African American in the room and when she got coffee from the coffee pot one day, all of the white men noticed and the next day a small coffee pot was put out labeled colored. This was an action by the white men in the room who were uncomfortable with sharing just the same coffee with someone with different skin than them, and Katherine was angered and agitated by that action. Another example of discrimination by the white characters was when Mary Jackson was denied the ability by whites to go to additional schooling to get an engineering degree. She then went on to take her fight to court, and she was granted the ability to take the class she desired. But being denied the ability to take a class to further her education in the first place was all the works of discrimination and racism that always surrounding the lives of African Americans in the Virginia and the south. Her fight in court was a huge stepping stone in her life, and helped her go on to become the first female African American engineer at NASA. She fought to prove herself in the air chambers when testing the capsule, and she was smart and furthered herself.
    3. All three women overcame obstacles that white society put in front of them. Katherine Johnson had been forced to run to the west campus of NASA to use the restroom and still kept her composure. But enough was enough when finally she ran through the rain and she had to explain to her new boss that she couldn’t use the facilities in the East building and that obstacle was dropped for her and for all African American women in the NASA buildings. She accomplished the work she had to get done, but with much hassle with her necessary travels, she was gone a lot from her desk. Even though the obstacle she faced was dropped because of its disruption of her work, instead of mainly a racial issue being dropped, it still made progression for the African American Women in the NASA complex. An obstacle faced by Dorothy Vaughn was her future in NASA, that the New IBM computer was being installed and the colored “computers” would not be needed anymore, even though the other white “computers” would still have a job after the computer install. What Dorothy did in response was learn how to run the computer and made her fellow coworkers learn the ins and outs of the computer so that once it was set up, they could jump in and run it and not become obsolete extra people. This strategy worked, and she overcame the effort by NASA to kick them out, and Dorothy became the first African American NASA supervisor. Mary Jackson overcame the obstacle put up by white society when she pushed for her ability to further her education to get an engineering degree. She was, as I explained in my previous answer, denied the ability to go to school again, and she took that denial to court and she won her case, and was granted the right to go to night classes for her degree, which just so happened to be a class of all white men doing the same thing she was doing.

  33. CHRISTIAN RAVELA

    2.)Provide at least 2 specific examples of Jim Crow discrimination or racism perpetrated by the white characters and how they affected Katherine, Mary, and / or Dorothy.

    One specific example of Jim Crow discrimination was in the scene in the calculation room. Katherine, while double checking everybody’s math got up to get up some coffee and all of a sudden it seemed like getting coffee from the white man’s coffee urn was worst than murder. As she made her way back to her desk, she realized that what she just did really triggered some of the other white men in the calculations room. Everybody gave her the most dirtiest looks, it truly was upsetting while watching this scene, it kind of got me a little angry. You can clearly see the discrimination in that scene. Nobody had to say anything to make you understand what was going on. That entire scene screamed racism and discrimination and what was going to happen the following day would blast racism in your ears enough to make you deaf with it. The following day, Katherine came back to an urn that was for her skin of color labeled COLORED in all caps. The embarrassment goes on to the next level when she finds it empty while attempting to put coffee in her mug. Another example that was persistent in the film, until Mr. Harrison had to take action, was how there was no bathrooms for the Colored in the building of the calculations room. Everyday since her first, Katherine had to run to the a half mile to closest campus with a colored women’s bathroom just to use the toilet. She was gone from her desk about forty minutes a couple times a day just to use the bathroom. Her being gone for such a long time just to use the bathroom made Mr.Harrison wonder why he could never find her, Mr. Harrison asking Katherine why she was gone for so long, prompted into a very powerful scene in which Katherine, very angered, yelled out why she was gone for so long, she also let out her anger about how she couldn’t even get coffee from the same urn every other white man got from. It in fact was extremely satisfying to see her explode at Mr. Harrison and everyone in the calculations room about all the simple things that were taken out of proportion because of the color of her skin. This movie had so many examples of Jim Crow laws that were racist and discriminated against people of color.

    3.) This is a story of overcoming challenges that white society put in the way of our main characters. How did all three women overcame these obstacles.

    All three women in the movie came over great obstacles, Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary, defied the odds of society. One of Katherines main challenges was to prove herself that she was worthy of being there, in the Calculations room, she proved all those white men wrong, when she fought for herself and started to put in her work on overdrive, she got herself into the daily briefings, once she got in, she could calculate all the flight courses, faster than all the other men did in the calculations room combined. Dorothy found herself struggling and fighting for that management spot she wanted. But later on into the movies, she finds her whole group of women becoming replaced by a new IBM computer. Luckily, Dorothy finds out that the men trying to figure out the new IBM computer are actually struggling to make it work. Dorothy, being smart, goes inside, and looks at the manual, she looks at the things she doesn’t know, and takes note. The following thing she finds herself in the library. Trying to find a book that will teach Dorothy about the language the computer speaks. But she also finds herself in trouble when the librarian kicks her out. She left the library, but without the library knowing that she stole the book that actually would help her. The next day, she went into the IBM computer room, and she actually got the computer to work. She amazed all the white men workers around her, and her action eventually got her the management spot that she wanted, and she also got to get all her girls up to date on the new computer, and she got to bring them all to the IBM computer to help work it. Mary, came over one of her main challenges, when she realized that she could be better than where she was, she could become on of the first women to become a female engineer at NASA, she was nearly qualified but she had to take a few classes to get her up to date. But the classes she needed to take to become an engineer at NASA, was at the local high school, for whites only. She went to court and fought hard to get the judge to get her a court order for her to take those classes.

    4.) How did sexism affect Dorothy’s, Mary’s, and Katherine’s careers? Provide specific examples.

    Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine at the beginning were faced with sexism when they were pulled over and the police officer said he wasn’t aware that NASA hired blacks or even that they hired women. Katherine’s career faced sexism when she asked her boss, if she could be put inside the briefings. But Glenn kept pushing the fact that she was a women and that there wasn’t women allowed in there. Although he had no facts to back him up. Another example was the entire plot, they were women working at NASA where it was usually just men running the show, but with women, and even black women, working, they faced lots of sexism for just working there. Working in a male dominated field was also something that affected their careers. They had to use their voices and prove the men that they were wrong too. Katherine had to let all hell loose in the calculations room when she was forced to go to the nearest black women’s bathroom, which was half a mile away from her.

  34. Michael Wainer

    1. The title of the movie, “Hidden Figures”, has two different meanings for the movie. The more obvious meaning is the numbers that Katherine was able to find in order to figure out the go no go point for the John Glenn flight. It was new math that had never been seen before, and use it for the flight. The second, more important meaning is the women. They are hidden figures in that they were forced to work in the basement in the west wing well all of the scientists and engineers were in the east wing. Many of them were smart as proven by, Katherine, Mary and Dorothy, but for years before they movie they were stashed away in the basement checking unimportant math.
    3. All three women, Dorothy, Katherine and Mary, must face and overcome obstacles while advancing at NASA. Many of their obstacles have to do with race, and their advancement inside of NASA. For example, Mary who aims to become an engineer must first take courses to enter the training problem with NASA. The problem with this is that the classes were only available at West Virginia, which Mary could not afford, and Hampton High School, and all white high school. In order to get into the classes Mary must go to court in order to fight the ruling, where she argues to the judge that she needs to be the first to attend the school much like John Glenn will be the first American in space. The judge gives Mary permission to attend night school at Hampton and she goes on to become NASA’s first female African-American engineer.
    4. In my opinion sexism is even more prevalent in the film than racism. One of the characters that faces sexism even more than the other is Katherine Goble/Johnson. It is even obvious when telling her boyfriend and future husband, Colonel Jim Johnson, about her job as a computer at NASA, his response is, “They allow woman to do that?”. Although he did not mean this to be rude or to offend Katherine, this was unfortunately a very popular feeling during the time period. Another example of sexism Katherine faces is when she begins to use outdated numbers because she can’t attend the security briefings. When asking the lead engineer, Jim Stafford, he lists to reasons that she cannot attend. One is that she does not have the proper security clearance. Although this is a good reason, it seemed like if this was the only reason somebody of Katherine’s intelligence would have been granted proper clearance immediately upon request. However the other reason that Stafford gives Katherine for not being allowed to in seems to be the stronger reason. He says that they have no prior protocol for a woman attending the briefings. This goes on for multiple briefings before the boss, Al Harrison, stepsin and allows her to attend.

  35. Camille West

    1. The title of the movie, Hidden Figures, has some “hidden;)” meanings. An obvious one is the fact that the remarkable women featured in the movie were hidden from history because of their skin color and gender, and also the fact that there weren’t a ton of black people or women in NASA in the first place, because mostly white men were encouraged to seek higher education and be smart, but there women overcame both of these obstacles, but still weren’t recognized for their work. Another meaning is the math that NASA couldn’t figure out, the illusive numbers that were required for the Astronaut, John Glenn, to return to Earth after his orbit. The less obvious meaning is the information that was withheld from Katherine in her efforts to figure out how to make the orbit successful, even though she was the one who was actually able to figure it out.

    3. These women overcame the many obstacles they encountered in the only way they could; with grace and subtlety. A big obstacle featured in the movie, stemming of course from racism, was the lack of bathroom that Katherine was allowed to use, as there were only whites-only bathrooms near her work place, and she constantly had to traverse the NASA campus to get to the only bathroom she could use. Instead of saying anything about it, Katherine just did what she had to do, and used that bathroom, but did not shy away when asked why she disappeared everyday for an hour. If she had done anything differently, people would have accused her and all black people of complaining and being lazy. When faced with other difficulties, such as being pulled over and being discriminated against in the workplace, her and her friends were articulate and poignant, yet polite in doing so.

    5. Having the Civil Rights Movement was a perfect backdrop for this movie for a lot a reasons. This is when black people really took the spotlight and got the attention that they needed for change, so it was a really important time for growth. This is the time when it was crucial for everyone to come together and do their part, and that is exactly what Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary did. They represented black people and women in a really great way by doing great work and showing that they were just as capable as anyone else. It was also important because it was more effective in showing the struggles that they faced, because although people do still suffer similar things, it’s harder to talk about in modern context because it is not as recognized and less blunt. Also, the 60s was a great time for fashion so the movie had great costumes.

  36. Lizzie Potocsky

    1.) I think that the title of the movie, “Hidden Figures” is a well representation of the film. This title makes one think as it can be interpreted as many different meanings. In this time period, men felt superior to women. Even more, whites felt superior to blacks. Put the two together and when it comes to an African American woman, she is not viewed fairly by others. The film displays the African American women working for NASA as the hidden figures. They have so much knowledge and talent, but are overshadowed by whites and males just because they are seen as superior. Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine were all essential in the Space Race. However, most people are unaware of their impact. Thus, they are seen as Hidden Figures. The women working were tucked away in a basement, while the white males worked in a large office. Another meaning of “Hidden Figures” can relate to the numbers that had to be figured out in complex mathematics. The problems were complicated and the women had to do a lot of research and investigation in order to find the missing numbers (which represent the hidden figures).

    2.) Racial discrimination was a main theme in “Hidden Figures”. Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy were all affected by discrimination. First of all, Mary was a brilliant woman when it came to science. She wanted to be a NASA engineer. However, for her to do so, she had to complete courses at a school in Virginia. This school was only for white people and they refused Mary’s entry. Mary, however, did not stop. She was persistent in getting into this school. She took her case to court and fought for her right to attend the all-white college. Another example of racism in the film was when Katherine had to walk about a mile to use the women’s restroom. At the time, restrooms were separated for whites and blacks. The white women’s restroom was right out of the office door, while the blacks was far away. One day, Katherine was late to work and soaking wet from the rain. Her boss asked her why she was late, which caused Katherine to have a meltdown, in which she finally voiced her disgust in having to walk a mile to go to the bathroom. She thought it to be extremely unfair that the colored bathroom was so distant, while the white bathroom was nearby. Why couldn’t they just share? Her boss was moved and took down the colored only sign from the bathroom.

    3.) Racism, unfortunately, was an obstacle that Katherine, Mary , Dorothy and all the ladies of the West Computing Group had to overcome. For example, Katherine had to walk across campus to another building just to use the colored restroom. There was only one bathroom in the Langley building and it was for white people only. Katherine walked to the colored restroom every day and just accepted this way of life. One day, however, Katherine was angry and spoke up about how unfair and how far she had to walk just to get to a restroom. After this upsetting moment, her boss removed the whites only sign off of the nearby restroom. Mary also faced racism. She was a bright woman whose dream was to be a NASA engineer. She had to take classes at an all white college since this was the only place that offered the necessary education. She had to fight for this opportunity to attend by taking her case to court. She won and was able to complete her desired education to further her career. She became the first female African American engineer. Dorothy always wanted to have the title of supervisor since she did a supervisor’s job. However, her white female boss would not promote her simply because she was black. Dorothy approached her several times and the answer was always no. Eventually, as time went on and she proved herself worthy of the title, Dorothy became an IBM supervisor.

  37. Jack Walt

    1. The movie name Hidden Figures relates to several issues that make up the content of the film. The foremost are the barriers broken by these black women who were confronted by racism and sexism all their lives. They persevered through the segregation of the time period, having to walk long distances to use the “colored only” bathroom or using a different water fountain as their coworkers. These differences largely effected the emotional state of these women and other African Americans, but was hidden on the surface. The title also refers the main job of Katheryn, which was working with math and numbers to ensure safety to the flying and landing of space shuttles. The spectators of the great trip to space only view the visual side of these adventures and sometimes fail to see everything that goes on behind the scenes. The figures that Katheryn works with are pivotal to the trips and the double meaning of the title adds an interesting side to the movie.

    2. Their were two main discriminatory acts against Katheryn that really stuck out to me. In the workplace, she had to get coffee out of the colored only pot and use the colored only restroom. These actions made it extremely hard for her to go about herself and her work on a daily basis. To use the restroom, Katheryn would have to walk half of a mile away from her workplace to use the bathroom she was allowed to use. The long breaks taken to do this disrupted her work flow and made it hard to keep up with the white employees. Every time she retrieved coffee, Katheryn felt inferior to her coworkers because of the separation. Her boss Al Harrison stood up for her in both cases, tearing down the racist signs and ending these Jim Crow prejudices.

    5. The space race with the Soviet Union and the Civil Rights Movement were both taking place in the early 1960s. In the workplace of NASA, the number one priority was beating the Russians to space. Not only was NASA trying to come up with the technology and beat the odds, but they were also trying to beat time. This Cold War with the Soviets had been going on for almost 30 years from when the movie took place and beating them to space would have a large impact on the outcome of the war. At home, tensions were rising due to the ongoing mistreatment of African Americans. This mistreatment was demonstrated in the film with Katheryn, Mary and Dorothy being discriminated against. They fought through this, using their intelligence to work their way up in NASA and contribute to winning the space race.

  38. Ian Birley

    1. For one, Hidden Figures has the mathematical meaning of “unknown numbers”. In this movie, one of the central conflicts for the Katherine Goble plot is figuring out math that doesn’t exist yet. This applies to the title of the film. The other meaning would be “hidden historical figures”, or “people we don’t know about”. Before this film, these people were not well known. The movie revealed their story and situation. A third meaning would be that of the time period. These people were discriminated against because they were colored women. They had to abide by the segregation and stigma of existing within the environment of 1961 with those uncontrollable roles imposed upon them. The title “Hidden Figures” is clever because it means all of these things at once.
    2. One example of Jim Crow segregation in the movie is what stands in the way of Mary’s goal to become an engineer. In order to meet the prerequisites of being hired by NASA, she must get a degree at a segregated high school. This is obviously unfair because it is impossible for her to get into a position due to uncontrollable factors. Another example of Jim Crow segregation is the bathroom journey. The movie depicts Katherine Goble on multiple occasions making a half mile and back journey everyday simply to use the restroom. This may not depict reality. According to this site: http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/hidden-figures/ (which itself sites Margot Lee Shetterly’s book which inspired the movie), there were colored bathrooms on the east wing and Katherine didn’t really face this problem. Either way, I don’t really need to go out of my way to say segregated bathrooms (or anything for that matter) are bad, because any sane person would think such a thing to be true in a western society.
    3. This movie does see many challenges overcome. Katherine overcomes the challenge of getting a permanent position as a mathematician for NASA. Dorothy overcomes the challenge of being the first colored female supervisor at NASA. Mary overcomes the challenge of becoming the first colored female engineer at NASA. They all overcame these obstacles by being very good at what they do, and fighting for themselves as individuals. They were promoted based on merit against a system that discriminated based on their race and sex.

  39. Hank Peters-Wood

    1: The film Hidden Figure’s title may refer to multiple meanings. In my opinion, the obvious meaning is that “Hidden Figures” is referring to NASA’s three key employees, that happened to be African American women. These women, Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine, were essential in NASA’s launching of United States astronaut, John Glenn, into orbit. The women were incredibly brilliant and talented in reference to mathematics and science, but they never received the credit they deserved. They were kept separate from the white workers of NASA, while being forced to work in a secluded area called the “West Computing Group” and they were completely kept out of the public eye. Without these women, NASA may have never been able to succeed in their missions or accomplishments, and the space race may have turned out very differently. Another possibility for the name “Hidden Figures”, is that it could be referring to the work that these women were doing. Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy were working to look past the basics of mathematics and find the “hidden figures”. What they were trying to do had never been achieved before and they really needed to look past what was already known to accomplish their goals.

    2: One example of Jim Crow racism seen in the film, is the separate bathrooms. Mary, Dorothy, and Katherine were not allowed to use any of NASA’s office bathrooms, and were forced to walk about a half a mile to find a bathroom for “colored” people. This is remarkably unfair and would be a great inconvenience to the three workers throughout the workday. Another example of Jim Crow racism seen, is the fact that the three African American women were forced to work in a completely separate wing of the office, separated from all other white workers. These women were isolated from everything and confined to the “West Computing Group” area.

    4: Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy not only had to constantly face racism, but they also often had to face sexism… often these two came together. One example is when Katherine had an encounter with a police officer who was astonished when she informed him she worked for NASA. He couldn’t believe that women were allowed to work such an important and tough job. This is an unfair assessment because men are no more qualified to work specifically in fields of mathematics and sciences, or any prestigious job, for that matter, than women. Another example of sexism is when the white males don’t allow Dorothy to help them fix the computer system, even though they are completely perplexed. Eventually, they give up and Dorothy is able to fix the computer. The men, are once again astonished that they women can do something that they can not. This movie shows how often the African American women of NASA had to face sexism and racism.

  40. Brooklyn S.

    Hidden Figures had many different meanings for this movie during this time period. First, until the trailer for this movie was released many people had no idea that Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughn even existed. I didn’t even know there were that many african-american women working in the computing program. So in the sense that many people didn’t know who they were or that they even existed I would say they are hidden figures. Secondly, being an african-american in 1961 was tough, but if you were an african-american women it was even tougher. African-american men had barely any respect from white people let alone if you were a woman. During this time women were expected to keep quiet, stay at home and raise the kids. However this was not the case for Katherine, Dorothy and Mary. They were all well educated women who were ahead of their time. They had full-time jobs and still took care of their family. Hence this I believe they were hidden figures because society at that time didn’t pay mind to women achieving great things especially women of color.
    Two examples of the Jim Crow laws that Katherine, Mary and Dorothy faced were the segregated buildings and the segregated bathrooms. When Katherine was given the opportunity to work with the Space Task Group. The Space Task Group was on the east campus which contained all white buildings for the workers. When Katherine was sent to work there she was surrounded by white males and one white female. One day while she was working in her new position, she went to the municipal coffee pot in her room. After she uses she was given many stares. The next day there was a small coffee pot with a label saying “colored”. The people in her work group were threatened by her and didn’t respect. This also leads to the next example, when Katherine was working and had to use the restroom like any other human being she was not able to go on east campus because there were no colored bathrooms. So, she had to run a half mile in heels to the west campus to use the bathrooms there.
    Mary, Katherine and Dorothy all overcame obstacles in their own way. When Katherine was sent to work in the Space Task Group, she was met with conflict from one of her co-workers Paul Stafford. Paul Stafford knew that Katherine was very smart and I believe he saw her as a threat. I believe that he was not used to a woman with so much knowledge especially a black woman. Mary overcame sexism when she tried to apply for the engineering program. No woman had ever applied for the engineering program before she did. When she did they changed the rules and made it harder for her to get in. Dorothy overcame sexism when l she was the first women to work the IBM. When she found out that the IBM was going to take her job she decided to learn how to use the machine. When she was trying to work the machine the men doubted her and didn’t trust her.

  41. Hassan Dabliz

    1. The title hidden figures has many meanings, some that are part of the movie and some that happens outside of what is going on in the movie during that time period. To work at NASA you have to be a genius so I don’t understand why there smart people would feel the need to separate equally smart if not smarter people based on their skin color into the east and west computers. The women that have to work as the west computers are “hidden” because they are a second class behind the east computers. Another example of being a “Hidden Figure” is when they bring Katherine up to the west wing and give her an assignment that she cannot complete without all the information, she is not given the information because it is “classified” so she cannot complete the equation for the flight trajectory of the rocket. Katherine is also a hidden figure in another way when she gives the report to Stafford with the analytic geometry that was mostly done by her, but she wasn’t allowed to put her name on it and receive credit.
    2. An example of a Jim Crow law discrimination in the movie hidden figures is when Katherine is forced to pour her coffee from a different coffee pot than the white men at work. Katherine who is a single mother and has three kids is getting paid a lot less than the white employees, these two acts of discrimination have a big effect on Katherine in the movie and you can really see it affects her mood and morale. Mary is also affected by the Jim Crow discrimination laws when she as to go to court and make her case about going to an all-white university in Virginia in order to get her degree so that she can be a space engineer for NASA.

    4. Sexism was a major obstacle in the career’s and lives of Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary, like when they were stopped by the police officer when they were at the side of the road and the police man makes a comment about him not knowing that NASA hired women. Mary struggles when she has to go to court to convince a judge to not only let her go to a collage that is all white, but also all male. All three women along with the other women are paid a lot less than the men that they work with at NASA. Mr. Harrington was sexist when he didn’t acknowledge the work that Katherine did while talking to all the employees and saying “gentlemen”

  42. Joshua Salter

    1. Hidden Figures, the title of the movie can be interpreted in multiple different ways after watching the movie because of what happened in the movie and the time period the movie took place in (the 60s). One way that you can interpret the title Hidden Figures is that in the Movie you can interpret Catherine, Mary, and Dorothy as hidden figures because of the hard work they do and they don’t get recognized for it. You can look at them this way because in the movie Catherine would always calculate numbers for landing point and for the rocket to even launch and her name would never be on the front cover of the title page, it would say “By: Paul Stafford”, instead of saying “By Catherine Jackson”. Also, for Dorothy, in the west wing of the NASA building, Dorothy was basically the supervisor for the wing but when she asked Ms. Mitchell to be the supervisor she said “no”, even though that wing of the building didn’t have one because the previous one had gotten sick, so Dorothy was doing the job of a supervisor, but she didn’t get the recognition or respect of a supervisor. Mary Jackson can also be interpreted as a hidden figure because in the movie when she gets her opportunity to get promoted, she is missing a degree so she goes back to the high school, to get her degree, but the movie never portrays her impact on NASA after she gets her degree, it shows her graduating from an all-white high school class at the end of the movie. But, not what her job looks like after she gets her degree. Another way Hidden Figures can be interpreted as is that in the beginning of the movie all of the African-American ladies work in one building, you can interpret them as hidden figures because they are separated from all the other workers but by the end of the movie most of them have been promoted to the main building that Catherine is in.
    2. Throughout the movie there were multiple Jim Crow acts of discrimination shows towards Catherine, Dorothy, Mary, and the rest of the African-American coworkers. One example of Jim Crow discrimination in the movie was towards Catherine, during the movie, Catherine had been promoted to calculator at the main NASA building, she was the only African-American lady that worked in that room, one day she went to go and get her coffee, and there was no coffee pot that said “colored”, so she got coffee from the pot everyone else does, and after she filled up her cup, people looked at her with looks of grimace on their faces. The next day when Catherine came into the office, she went to go get a cup of coffee, and there was a new coffee pot that read “Colored” on the front of the coffee pot. This made Catherine feel discriminated against because they make a colored coffee pot until they had noticed she drank out of the one that everyone else did, this is also made Catherine feel welcomed and unwanted because of the way people looked at her the first time she went up to go and get coffee. Another example of Jim Crow discrimination in the movie was very rough for Catherine in specific but also the same for her other African-American coworkers was the colored and non-colored bathrooms at NASA, when Catherine was promoted into the new building, she was the first person of color to ever work there, so there was no bathroom that read “Colored Only”, so when she had to use the bathroom she would have to walk (but she ran most of the time) to the bathroom a half of a mile away. This made Catherine also feel unwanted because she had to leave her place of work just to use the bathroom instead of being able to use a restroom at the new building she worked at. This also made Catherine stressed because of the amount of work she had to do, and just to use the bathroom it took her around 40 minutes, it made her feel so stressed that she would take her work to the bathroom with her and do it on the toilet. These are some examples of Jim Crow discrimination shown against people of color and how they felt about the discrimination in the movie “Hidden Figures”.
    3. In the movie “Hidden Figures” the three main characters Catherine, Dorothy, and Mary overcome the obstacles put in front of them by a white society all in different ways. Catherine overcomes her obstacles by working hard to get a name for herself in the new work building, and once she gets a name for herself, she voices her opinion on what she believes in. Like for example there was a point in the movie when Catherine would work hard to solve an equation for John Glenn’s landing points, but almost every day the numbers would change in the meeting she wasn’t allowed to attend because she was a female, so one day after a meeting she walked up to Mr. Stafford and handed her the new numbers, and he said “those are incorrect”, and he told her that the numbers changed six minutes ago and the meeting. After this Catherine was upset about not being able to attend the meetings, so she said something to Mr. Harrison who allowed her into the meeting, and when she got her opportunity she made the most of it by solving an equation in front of all of the white men in the room. Dorothy overcomes the obstacles of a white society by also working hard, for example one day Dorothy snuck into the new IBM room and she figured out how to work when the white men that already worked there couldn’t figure out how to work the IBM machine, another day Dorothy went into the IBM room and was caught by white men, and they told her that she wasn’t supposed to be in there. But, the men had noticed that she had got the machine to work, so eventually Dorothy and the other ladies that she supervised were all promoted to work in the IBM room at the same building Catherine was at. Mary overcame the obstacles of the white society by fighting in court, Mary had the opportunity to also work in the main building that Catherine was at, she was basically offered a promotion but Ms. Sumner pointed out that she was missing a necessary degree needed to be able to work the position she was promoted to, and the only affordable and the closest option was at an all-white high school. So Mary went down to see the judge, about her situation of not being able to take the course at the all-white high school, so in the court room Mary talked the judge into allowing her to take the course, so she was the first person of color to attend an all-white high school in the state of Virginia. This is how the three main characters Catherine, Dorothy, and Mary overcame the obstacles set in front of them by a white society.

  43. Danielle Lutz

    1. The title “Hidden Figures” gives you an insight to the movie in many different ways. One meaning could be the fact that the women and their achievements were hid from the world. The three women, Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine, were hid from the world because they were black women. This time period was when those two were minorities. Women could not vote, they were paid less, and men looked down on them. They’re bathroom was in the basement separated from everyone just like everything else was. Another way to interpret the title’s meaning could be the fact that there were many math equations that were never solved and it was all about figuring out the right numbers and equations.
    3. All three women overcame challenges that white male society through at the main characters. They were all black women so they faced discrimination because of their gender and race. Katherine was one of the smartest people with numbers at NASA, but she was faced with obstacles to do her job. One time she was forced to run far away to use the bathroom but got in trouble with her boss. The other workers, all white men, pretended like they didn’t know there were no colored bathrooms nearby. She was strong and gained people’s respect by proving what she could do. Mary was prevented from going to college and she needed to go to get a promotion. She went to a judge and made it possible for her to go to the college. She showed determination and it paid off. Dorothy was qualified to be a supervisor but couldn’t become one, so she went to the computer room to teach herself. All three women struggled with their gender and race but worked through it and pursued their dreams.
    4. Sexism was a huge issue in Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy’s lives. The three were always mistreated because they were women. Katherine worked very hard, harder than most of the men working at NASA, but she was paid much less. This along with not being allowed to go to the pentagon meeting because she was a women were a big example of sexism. Mary was also discriminated against because when she wanted to go to the college to get her degree and promotion, she couldn’t because she was a woman. In the movie there were several little comments or remarks even that were sexist. When the workers were referred to as gentlemen and the three women were there was sexist. The fact that these women and their accomplishments were kept from the world is also sexist.

  44. geoffwickersham (Post author)

    1. The name hidden figures has different meanings in the film and time period. In part it means that the most important figures in beating the russians to the moon, and many other NASA advancements, were being hidden away from the public eye because of their gender and race. The brilliant African American women, Dorothy vaughn, Katherine Johnson, and Mary Jackson, were covered up in history because of the racist and sexist mindset that Blacks and women are not intelligent enough to work for programs like NASA in a high position. The term hidden figures applies itself not only to these black woman but all minorities at the time. It gives a name to the discrimination and refusal by whites and men that minorities could work on the same level as them. These bright women brought a sense of hope to other minorities to not give up on their dreams.

    2. There were many examples of discrimination in the movie. Specifically when katherine had to run all the way from east campus to the west campus, over half a mile away. The reason for this is because there were no colored bathrooms in the east campus. This shows how there were never blacks working in the east campus before Katherine. Another example of jim crow laws discrimination is when the three ladies get confronted by a police officer while they were fixing their broken down car. THis shows how Blacks were targeted just for being in public. They were minding their own business and still go confronted by the officer. The officer was shocked that they worked for NASA and still racially profiled them.

    3. Though these three women faced countless obstacles they managed to overcome them. Katherine overcame one of her obstacles when her boss tore down the Colored bathroom sigh saying there’s no more colored or white bathrooms, just bathrooms. This is a big obstacle that she overcame because each day she had to run ½ a mile just to use the bathroom. She also earned respect in the east campus when she came up with the groundbreaking math. Dorothy overcame her obstacles of being stuck as a computer by personally learning the code for the IBM that was troubling the white men that ran it. She personally put in the effort to learn and teach the code earning herself the manager position. Lastly but in my opinion most inspiring was when Mary jackson went to court so she could attend classes at an all white school to become an engineer. She was determined and dedicated to becoming an engineer. She fought and one in the courthouse and got the right to attend the classes. These women had to overcome more obstacles than anyone and showed the true struggle that it took for a minority to succeed in the days of racism and discrimination.

    Nick C.

  45. geoffwickersham (Post author)

    “Hidden Figures” Extra Credit

    1. The title of the film, “Hidden Figures”, can be interpreted in different ways, depending on how you look at it. The movie takes place in the 1960’s in the South, where segregation was still very high. The three main characters are all African American women, giving a logical meaning to the title, since they were pretty hidden in their time. Black people were seen as inferior to white, and sexism around work was common, so these three characters had the “whole package” for being ignored. They had to work in impossible conditions to be barely acknowledged by the people around them. Continuing the fact that they were barely acknowledged for their work, we see another meaning to the title. These women contributed to the first orbit around the Earth by a man, but they didn’t go public, and weren’t acknowledged by the brilliant researches they did. This is also one of the reasons for the movie in the first place: to spread the word about who really made this mission possible. The last meaning behind the title that I think is important is the math. The math discovered by Katherine Johnson was hidden to the other researchers in the NASA, making the math a “Hidden Figure”. These are the meanings I see behind the title, as they are all the “Hidden Figures” in the movie.

    2. The movie takes place in the South during the 1960s. As we have learned this year, Jim Crow laws were put in place to keep white and black segregated. The movie does a great job at portraying these laws, as it shows the struggle of the three women to integrate in the NASA. Katherine was greatly affected by this law. At her job, she had to run half-a-mile to get to another building where bathrooms were for “black only”. She ran under the rain in heels, which made her life miserable. She also had a separate chug of coffee, and couldn’t use any of the coffee reserved for “whites only”. Mary was also affected by the Jim Crow laws. She wants to become an engineer for NASA, but in order to do that she needs to go to a school and take night lessons, but the school is for “whites only”. She can’t follow her dream due to Jim Crow laws, but in the end, she goes to the jury and gets permission to enter the school. These are some of the restriction imposed on the three women by the Jim Crow laws.

    3. This movie was about overcoming obstacles imposed by the racist whites of that period. All the black women had to overcome obstacles to get their job. Let’s start with Katherine. She started working in the mathematic section of the NASA, and she was discriminated on right away. We see from the start how the men look at her, “disgusted” by her presence. She tries to do her work and find formulas and solutions for the mission, but her restraint in getting valuable information keeps her from taking major steps. Her boss is one of the most racist in her department. When she makes a discovery, he gets the award, and she remains in his shade. She fights to get more information, and ends up getting it, and even assisting the result of her work when the orbit around Earth is accomplished. Mary also has to overcome challenges. She wanted to work as an engineer, but she needed a degree that she later got. She was discriminated on, but much less than her two other friends. We see little of her in the movie, and mostly when she gets the permission to attend the engineering school. Dorothy was the last main character to face problems. She wanted to get a post as supervisor, but her boss, a white woman, denied her the opportunity. She believed she had the capacity to supervise her workers, but she couldn’t. She was spoken meanly to and had to do work she didn’t like. She finally ended up becoming the manager, but after many months of humiliation. These three women overcame many obstacles and achieved what was seen as the impossible.

    Pietro D.

  46. Zacharie Chentouf

    1. The title “Hidden Figures” has many different layers of meaning for this film, and time period. It references these African American women whose amazing stories have remained untold, “hidden” from view or from most people, and also references all the math that goes behind NASA’s launches, and who calculates these. These amazing women, Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy, including the fellow African American women working with them, often have their efforts and contributions to NASA’s space programs overlooked, “hidden”. For example, when Katherine was calculating all the data for the “no go zone” for John Glenn’s flight, or the launch projections, she had to reprint the computer printouts that she typed out because on it, she said she had calculated the math with Paul Stafford, and Paul Stafford made her change it so that it would only say his name. The irony in this is that Katherine was actually the one doing all the math, and she was the one’s name had to be removed. It was not only until the end of the movie where Paul Stafford accepted an article that, again, Katherine made, that had both her name, and Stafford’s. Furthermore, not only was Katherine’s work uncredited, when she was first assigned to the Space Task Group in NASA to check the analytic geometry, most of the data she had to work with was marked out by Stafford because it was “classified”. They were blacked out with a marker, being “hidden figures”, and Katherine had to calculate these the math that was already done a second time, and also put the paper up to the light to be able to know certain names, such as “Atlas”, the name of a program. Another example of this of African Americans having their stories hidden from most is that the IBM machines that needed programmers, and provided the calculations for the landings, launches, degrees, and everything with the space program at first did not have enough manpower, and the manpower that did man it was not that qualified, and was not able to work the machines properly. Because the IBM machines would remove a lot of jobs that the west computing group had, doing calculations manually that the IBM machines could do at an extremely fast rate, 24,000 calculations a second, Dorothy took this into her own hands, learned programming herself, and taught it to her group. They took up the control, and control of the IBM machines. Mary would also become one of the leading engineers at NASA, the first female one at NASA. Interestingly, there was also a white “hidden figure” in this movie, Al Harrison, as he pushed for civil rights involuntarily, and voluntarily, as he just wanted the best work and best calculations to be produced. He made the bathrooms in NASA interracial by tearing the colored and white signs down after hearing that Katherine had to walk half a mile to go to the bathroom, taking forty minutes of her day that she could have used to work, even though she yelled at him about it, he had hired Katherine to the Space Task Group despite her being an African American and women, which at the time was unheard of, he removed the colored coffee that Katherine had to drink from, making everyone drink from the same coffee, and he accepted Katherine into the Pentagon briefings so that she could be up to date with the data from space so that her calculations were up to date, despite her being a woman, which was against protocol.

    2. There were many examples of Jim Crow discrimination or racism perpetrated by the white characters, and they greatly affected Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy, leading them to be stronger. As a young girl, Dorothy was extremely intelligent as a 6th grader, but would not be able to have a higher education than the 8th grade if she stayed in her current curriculum, so her parents, with money gathered from the staff of Dorothy’s current school, moved somewhere where Dorothy was able to go into the 9th grade. Furthermore, Dorothy was acting like a supervisor for a year for the west computing group made up of African Americans, but wasn’t officially holding that position or title, and did not receive the proper pay for doing that job either. When she repeatedly demanded this, Dorothy did not receive this position until the end of the movie because of the way things were. Dorothy was kicked out of the library for being in the white section, or the section that wasn’t the colored section, where the better books were. The police officer even put his hands on her children. We subsequently see Dorothy and her children riding the bus in the back, in the colored section. Mary wanted to become an engineer at NASA, but could not because the requirements required the applicants to the engineering program to have certain education that she didn’t have, and if she did want it, she would need to go take classes at an all white school, which was impossible, but would eventually attend these classes by a court decision. Katherine was treated coldly by her fellow white peers when she started working for Al Harrison, and they even put a colored cup for her to serve herself coffee because they did not want to touch the things she did. She would also have to walk half a mile just to go to the bathroom before Harrison took out the segregated bathrooms. Nevertheless, this greatly affected these African American women, more positively than negatively. This led them to speak up for their rights, not to stay silent, and that took their careers extremely far, leading them to achieve the great things they did. This was despite the fact that Virginia, the state that these three women were in, should not have been segregated following Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, but still was because this Supreme Court ruling was not being enforced.

    3. This is a story of overcoming challenges that white society put in the way of our main characters. All three women overcame these obstacles by speaking up, and by earning respect. To become NASA’s first African American supervisor, Dorothy did not let up, kept demanding for the position, and proved through not only her words, but through her actions, her teaching of programming for the IBM machines to the west computing group, and her own helping of setting up the machines despite not having clearance, that she had the abilities of being a supervisor. To learn about programming, she obtained a book from the library despite it not being in the colored section, in which she was not allowed to be in. Mary went to court for obtaining her classes to become an engineer at NASA because she would not let certain regulations making it impossible for an African American woman like herself to achieve their dreams. In court, she spoke eloquently, researched the judge, talking about how he was the first in his family for most things, and how there was the first man in space, both of which were unheard of when they happened. She argued that she wanted to be the first woman engineer in NASA, even though an African American woman attending classes at an all-white school was unheard of. The judge allowed her to go to the night classes, and she would eventually become NASA’s first African American woman engineer because of her perseverance. Katherine did the same, yelling at her boss, Al Harrison, after he asked her why she would be leaving for forty minutes a day, and she explained the situation to him. She persisted through the hardships she fought through every day, going to the bathroom half a mile away without complaining, until enough was enough, and she did speak up. She earned the respect of her white peers, not only by speaking, not only by talking, but by doing, too, with her actions, with her amazing skills with math, figuring much of it out for the space programs for NASA. She even earned the respect of Paul Stafford who at first would do everything to make her day worse, but then let her leave her name in the byline in articles she wrote towards the end of the movie. She was let into the Pentagon briefings, and she would earn the highest respect from the astronaut going into space, John Glenn, who would only trust the landing coordinates of his spaceship from her, and she had to verify these coordinates after being relieved from her assignment because of the IBM machines doing so many calculations, but they had given two different calculations for the same problem. Another key thing to these women overcoming obstacles was the support they had from themselves, and their families. Mary had her husband Levi, who supported her after realizing she could become an engineer, despite not doing so initially, Dorothy had her children, and Katherine did so too, as well as her new husband that would support her unconditionally. They also had the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr., and their preacher at their church all pushing for the same rights they were pushing for.

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