hidden figures film review essay

Hidden Figures

I’ve been a computer programmer for 29-1/2 years, so I suppose I would be a tad biased toward a film that uses FORTRAN as a means of exacting socially relevant revenge. In “Hidden Figures,” the FORTRAN punch cards coded by Dorothy Vaughan ( Octavia Spencer ) prove that she is not only qualified to be the first employee supervisor of color in the space program, but that her “girls” (as she calls them) have the skills to code the IBM mainframe under her tutelage. Vaughan’s victory comes courtesy of the programming manual she had to lift from the segregated library that vengefully refused to loan it to her because it wasn’t in the “colored section.” When her shocked daughter protests her unconventional borrowing methods, Vaughan tells her, “I pay my taxes for this library just like everybody else!”

Vaughan is one of the three real-life African-American women who helped decipher and define the mathematics used during the space race in the 1960s. “Hidden Figures” tells their stories with some of the year’s best writing, directing and acting. Co-writer/director Theodore Melfi (adapting Margot Lee Shetterly’s book with co-writer Allison Schroeder) has a light touch not often found in dramas like this, which makes the material all the more effective. He knows when to let a visual cue or cut tell the story, building on moments of repetition before paying off with scenes of great power. For example, to depict the absurdity of segregated bathrooms, Melfi repeats shots of a nervously tapping foot, followed by mile-long runs to the only available bathroom. This running joke culminates in a brilliantly acted, angry speech by Taraji P. Henson that is her finest cinematic moment to date.

Henson plays Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who, in the film’s opening flashback, is shown to have a preternatural affinity for math in her youth. Her success at obtaining the education she needs is hindered by Jim Crow, but she still manages to earn degrees in math and a job at NASA’s “Colored Computer” division. In an attempt to beat Russia to the moon, NASA has been looking for the nation’s best mathematicians. The importance of the space race forces them to accept qualified candidates of any stripe, including those society would normally discourage.

We meet the adult version of Johnson as she’s sitting in Vaughan’s stalled car with her NASA colleague Mary Jackson ( Janelle Monae ). The dialogue between the three women establishes their easy rapport with one another, and introduces their personalities. Vaughan is no-nonsense, Jackson is a wise ass with impeccable comic timing and Johnson is the clever optimist. They are similarly educated, though each has their own skill set the film will explore.

Vaughan’s mechanical skills are highlighted first: Spencer’s legs jut out from underneath her broken down car as she applies the trade taught to her by her father. Her supervisory expertise is also on display when a police officer shows up to investigate. Though the cop situation is resolved in an amusing, joyous fashion, “Hidden Figures” never undercuts the fears and oppressions of this era. They’re omnipresent even when we don’t see them, and the film develops a particular rhythm between problems and solutions that is cathartic without feeling forced.

At the request of Vaughan’s supervisor ( Kirsten Dunst ), Johnson is sent to a room full of White male mathematicians to assist in some literal rocket science. The calculations have stumped everyone, including Paul Stafford ( Jim Parsons ), the hotshot whose math Johnson is hired to check. Parsons is a bit of a weak link here—his petulance, while believable, is overplayed to the point of cartoonish villainy—but the overall attitude in the room made me shudder with bad memories of my own early career tribulations. I’ve been the only person of color in a less than inviting work environment, and many of Henson’s delicate acting choices vis-à-vis her body language held the eerie feeling of sense memory for me. Though she remains confident in her work and presents that confidence whenever questioned, Henson manifests on her person every hit at her dignity. You can see her trying to hold herself in check instead of going full-Cookie Lyon on her colleagues.

In addition to the unwelcome men in the room, Johnson also has to deal with the tough, though fair complaints of her grizzled supervisor, Al Harrison ( Kevin Costner ). Costner is a perfect fit here; he should consider running out the rest of his career in supporting mentor roles. He and Henson play off each other with an equal sense of bemusement, and when the film gives him something noble to do, it hides the cliché under the nostalgic sight of “ Bull Durham ”’s Crash Davis holding a baseball bat.

While Johnson tries to keep John Glenn (charmingly played by Glen Powell ) from exploding atop a rocket and Vaughan fights FORTRAN and Dunst for the right to be a supervisor, Janelle Monae is secretly walking off with the picture. Mary Jackson wants to be the first Black engineer at NASA, yet as with Vaughan’s library book, she’s hindered by Jim Crow practices. Jackson takes her case to court, and the scene where Monae wordlessly reacts to the outcome is one of the year’s best. With this and “ Moonlight ,” Monae has established herself as a fine actress able to handle both comedy and drama. The awards praise for Spencer is certainly justified, but Monae is the film’s true supporting player MVP.

Watching “Hidden Figures” I thought about how I would have felt had I seen this movie 30 years ago, when I made the decision to study math and computer science. I might have felt more secure in that decision, and certainly would have had better ideas on how to handle some of the thorny racial situations into which I found myself. The strange thing for me is that I saw more Black programmers in this movie than I’ve encountered in my entire career. I had few points of reference in this regard, and the I.T. world reflects that. Even today, some of my customers look at me funny when I show up to fix the problem.

Hopefully, “Hidden Figures” will inspire women and people of color (and hell, men too) with its gentle assertion that there’s nothing unusual nor odd about people besides White men being good at math. But my secret fantasy is that this feel-good film will be a huge hit at the box office. Under its great acting, bouncy Pharrell score and message is a film that’s as geeked out about math as a superhero film is about its comic book origins. So much so that it does my mathematician’s heart proud. It deserves to make as much money as any planet in the Marvel Universe does. This is one of the year’s best films.

Odie Henderson

Odie “Odienator” Henderson has spent over 33 years working in Information Technology. He runs the blogs Big Media Vandalism and Tales of Odienary Madness. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire  here .

• Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson
• Jim Parsons as Paul Stafford
• Janelle Monae as Mary Jackson
• Kirsten Dunst as Vivian Michael
• Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughn
• Mahershala Ali as Jim Johnson
• Kevin Costner as Al Harrison
• Aldis Hodge as Levi Jackson
• Glen Powell as John Glenn
• Olek Krupa as Karl Zielinski
• Allison Schroeder
• Theodore Melfi
• Benjamin Wallfisch
• Hans Zimmer
• Pharrell Williams

Cinematographer

• Mandy Walker

Writer (based on the book by)

• Margot Lee Shetterly
• Peter Teschner

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What Sets the Smart Heroines of Hidden Figures Apart

Movies about brilliant scientific or mathematical minds often focus on their subject’s ego—not so with a new film about three African American women who worked at NASA in the ’60s.

When it comes to historical movies about brilliant minds, especially in the realms of math or the sciences, audiences can all but expect a tale of ego. Films such as A Beautiful Mind , The Theory of Everything , and The Imitation Game all lean in some way on the idea of the inaccessible genius—a mathematician, computer scientist, and theoretical physicist all somehow removed from the world.

Hidden Figures is not that kind of film: It’s a story of brilliance, but not of ego. It’s a story of struggle and willpower, but not of individual glory. Set in 1960s Virginia, the film centers on three pioneering African American women whose calculations for NASA were integral to several historic space missions, including John Glenn’s successful orbit of the Earth. These women—Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan—were superlative mathematicians and engineers despite starting their careers in segregation-era America and facing discrimination at home, at school, and at work.

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And yet Hidden Figures pays tribute to its subjects by doing the opposite of what many biopics have done in the past—it looks closely at the remarkable person in the context of a community. Directed by Theodore Melfi ( St. Vincent ) and based on the nonfiction book of the same title by Margot Lee Shetterly, the film celebrates individual mettle, but also the way its characters consistently try to lift others up.  They’re phenomenal at what they do, but they’re also generous with their time, their energy, and their patience in a way that feels humane, not saintly. By refracting the overlooked lives and accomplishments of Johnson, Vaughan, and Jackson through this lens, Hidden Figures manages to be more than an inspiring history lesson with wonderful performances.

From the start, Hidden Figures makes clear that it is about a trio, not a lone heroine. Katherine (played by a radiant Taraji P. Henson) is the film’s ostensible protagonist and gets the most screen time. But her story is woven tightly with those of Mary (Janelle Monáe) and Dorothy (Octavia Spencer); the former became NASA’s first black female engineer , the latter was a mathematician who became NASA’s first African American manager . (It’s worth noting that, as a dramatization, the film makes tweaks to the timeline, characters, and events of the books.)

Hidden Figures begins in earnest in 1961. Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy are part of NASA’s pool of human “computers” —employees, usually women, charged with doing calculations before the use of digital computers. Due to Virginia’s segregation laws, African American female computers have to work in a separate “colored” building at the Langley Research Center. But the U.S. is so desperate to beat the Soviet Union into space that NASA becomes a reluctant meritocracy: Because of her expertise in analytic geometry, Katherine is assigned to a special task group trying to get Glenn into orbit. She arrives at her new job to find she’s the sole brown face in the room.

Katherine is closest to the excitement, but Hidden Figures widens its scope beyond her. Mary must navigate layers of racist bureaucratic hurdles in her quest to become an engineer. Dorothy is fighting for a long overdue promotion, while the arrival of an IBM machine threatens to put her team of computers out of work. The women consistently out-think their higher-ranked (usually white, male) colleagues, whether by learning a new programming language, solving problems in wind-tunnel experiments, or calculating narrow launch windows for space missions. Each is uniquely aware of the broader stakes of her success—for other women, for black people, for black women, and for America at large—and this knowledge is as much an inspiration as it is a heavy weight.

Early on, Dorothy shares her ambivalence about Katherine’s prestigious new assignment. “Any upward movement is movement for us all. It’s just not movement for me,” she says, disappointed after a setback at work. It’s a subtle, but loaded point, and one of the most thought-provoking lines in the film. Of course she’s proud of Katherine, and of course Katherine is paving the way for others. But individual victories are often simply that—Katherine knocking down one pillar of discrimination doesn’t mean countless more don’t remain. Still, Dorothy’s frustration with her stagnation at work doesn’t translate to defeatism or selfishness. She spends much of the film maneuvering to protect her team’s jobs, even if it means risking her own status and security.

Their intellect may not be broadly relatable (again, they’re exceptional for a reason), but their sense of rootedness is. Though most of their time and energy go to their careers, the women of Hidden Figures don’t take their relationships with each other and with their friends and families for granted. If one gets held up at work for hours, the other two wait in the parking lot until they can all drive home. On the weekends, they go to church and neighborhood barbecues and spend time with their children. They don’t “have it all,” but they do strive for balance and connection. (Another “feel-good film” from 2016, Queen of Katwe , also used the concept of community and interdependence to undermine the built-up notion of isolated talent.)

Despite the racism and sexism Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary face, Hidden Figures is a decidedly un-somber affair. The breezy script by Melfi and Allison Schroeder opts not to dwell much on the particulars of aeronautical science; instead, it revels in the intelligence and warmth of its subjects, in their successes both in and out of the office, and it wants viewers to do so too. Hidden Figures doesn’t hide its efforts to be a crowdpleaser—depending on audience size, you can expect clapping and cheering after moments of victory, and loud groans whenever egregious acts of racism take place (there are many). A buoyant soundtrack by Pharrell Williams, Hans Zimmer, and Benjamin Wallfisch and regular doses of comic relief help keep the tone light and optimistic despite the serious issues at hand.

Rounding out Hidden Figures ’ all-star cast are Kevin Costner, as Katherine’s boss and eventual ally; an appropriately un-funny Jim Parsons as a new colleague of Katherine’s who can barely tolerate her presence; Kirsten Dunst as Dorothy’s manager and the epitome of the racist-who-thinks-she’s-not type; Glen Powell as an affable John Glenn; and Mahershala Ali as Katherine’s kindly love interest, Jim Johnson. Because of the engaging performances that Henson, Monáe, and Spencer give, each main character is fascinating to watch in her own right. But it’s their dynamic that makes it a joy to see them onscreen together.

Hidden Figures doesn’t try to push many artistic boundaries, but it tells its story so well that it doesn’t really have to. The film also avoids the most glaring missteps of historical movies that deal with race: At no point does it try to give viewers the impression that racism has been “solved,” and its white characters exist on a constantly shifting spectrum of racial enlightenment. What’s more, the film’s straightforward presentation belies its fairly radical subject matter. As K. Austin Collins notes at The Ringer , Hidden Figures “might be one of the few Hollywood movies about the civil rights era to imagine that black lives in the ’60s, particularly black women’s lives, were affected not only by racism but also by the space race and the Cold War.”

The Hidden Figures author, Shetterly, has discussed how the film only portrays a fraction of the individuals who worked on the space program— and how the movie was meant to speak to the experiences of the many African American women working at NASA at the time.  Watching this particular story unfurl on the big screen, it’s hard not to think of how many more movies and books could be made about women like Katherine Johnson—talented women shut out of promotions and meetings and elite programs and institutions and, thus history, because they weren’t white. Even today, barriers remain. A 2015 study found 100 percent of women of color in STEM fields report experiencing gender bias at work, an effect often influenced by their race. Black and Latina women, for example, reported being mistaken for janitors (a scene that, fittingly, takes place in Hidden Figures ).

With the complex social forces that shaped its characters’ lives still so relevant today, Hidden Figures is powerful precisely because it’s not a solo portrait or a close character study. Certainly, Hollywood will be a better industry when there are more films about the egos and personal demons and grand triumphs of black women who helped to change the world. But Hidden Figures shines with respect for sisterhood and the communistic spirit, and in casting its spotlight wide, the film imparts a profound appreciation for what was achieved in history’s shadows.

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“Hidden Figures” Is a Subtle and Powerful Work of Counter-History

The basic virtue of “Hidden Figures” (which opens on December 25th), and it’s a formidable one, is to proclaim with a clarion vibrancy that, were it not for the devoted, unique, and indispensable efforts of three black women scientists, the United States might not have successfully sent people into space or to the moon and back. The movie is set mainly in 1961 and 1962, in Virginia, where a key NASA research center was (and is) based, and the movie is aptly and thoroughly derisive toward the discriminatory laws and practices that prevailed at the time.

The insults and indignities that black residents of Virginia, and black employees of NASA , unremittingly endured are integral to the drama. Those segregationist rules and norms—and the personal attitudes and actions that sustained them—are unfolded with a clear, forceful, analytical, and unstinting specificity. The efforts of black Virginians to cope with relentless ambient racism and, where possible, to point it out, resist it, overcome it, and even defeat it are the focus of the drama. “Hidden Figures” is a film of calm and bright rage at the way things were—an exemplary reproach to the very notion of political nostalgia. It depicts repugnant attitudes and practices of white supremacy that poisoned earlier generations’ achievements and that are inseparable from those achievements.

“Hidden Figures” is a subtle and powerful work of counter-history, or, rather, of a finally and long-deferred accurate history, that fills in the general outlines of these women’s roles in the space program. Its redress of the record begins in West Virginia in 1926, where the sixth-grade math prodigy Katherine Coleman is given a scholarship to a school that one of her teachers refers to as the only one in the region for black children that goes beyond the eighth grade. She quickly displays her genius there—but the school’s narrow horizons suggests the sharply limited opportunities for black people over all.

The nature of those limits is indicated in the very next scene, which cuts ahead to a lonely road in Virginia in 1961. There, a car is stalled, its hood open. Katherine is there with her two other African-American friends and colleagues. She’s sitting pensively in the passenger seat; Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) is beneath the engine, trying to fix it; and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) is standing impatiently beside the car. A police cruiser approaches. They tense up; Dorothy says, “No crime in a broken-down car,” and Mary responds, “No crime being Negro, neither.” Their fearful interaction with the officer—a white man, of course, with a billy club in hand and a condescending bearing—is resolved with a comedic moment brought about by the women’s deferential irony. What emerges, however, is nothing less than an instance in a reign of terror.

Dorothy is the manager and de-facto supervisor of a group of “computers”—about thirty black women, all skilled mathematicians—that includes Katherine and Mary. Dorothy is awaiting a formal promotion to supervisor, but a talk with a senior administrator makes clear that it’s not to be; the clear but unspoken reason is her race. (Tellingly, Dorothy addresses that official, played by Kirsten Dunst, as “Mrs. Mitchell,” who, in turn, calls her by her first name.) Mary, endowed with engineering skill, is summoned to a team led by an engineer named Zielinski (Olek Krupa), a Polish-Jewish émigré who escaped the Holocaust and who encourages her to seek formal certification as an engineer. To do so, Mary will have to take additional classes—but the only school that offers them is a segregated one, whites-only, from which she’s barred.

When NASA astronauts ceremoniously arrive at the research center, the black women “computers” are forced to stand together as a separate group, conspicuously divided from the other scientists. (Only John Glenn, played by Glen Powell, greets them, and does so warmly, shaking their hands and lingering to chat with them about their work.)

As for Katherine—now Katherine Goble, the widowed mother of three young girls—she’s plucked from the pool of mathematicians to join the main research group, headed by Al Harrison (Kevin Costner). There, she’s the only black person and the only woman (other than the secretary, played by Kimberly Quinn). She once again rapidly displays her mathematical genius, but not before being taken for the department custodian; forced to drink from a coffeepot labelled “colored”; treated dismissively by the lead researcher, Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons); and compelled to walk a half-mile to her former office in order to use the “colored ladies’ room.” (Moreover, the contrast between that depleted and dilapidated facility and the well-appointed and welcoming white-women’s bathroom proves the meaning of “separate but unequal.”)

Each of the three women has a particular conflict to confront, a particular focus in the struggle for equality. Mary’s struggle takes place in a public forum: she petitions a Virginia state court for permission to take the needed night classes in a segregated school. She’s not represented by a lawyer, and speaks on her own behalf; but, rather than making her case in open court, she makes a personal plea to the judge that’s as much about him and his outlook as it is about her, and her work and its usefulness. What her plea isn’t about is law, rights, or justice.

The omission is no accident; it’s set up by dramatic contrast with the angry insistence of Mary’s husband, Levi (Aldis Hodge), a civil-rights activist, that she not bother pursuing a job as an engineer: “You can’t apply for freedom. . . . It’s got to be demanded, taken.” Mary says that there’s “more than one way” to get opportunities, but the deck of this debate is stacked by the terms in which Levi couches it, saying that there’s no such thing as a woman engineer—at least, not a black one—and blaming her for not being home often enough to take proper care of their children.

Dorothy’s pursuit of a formal promotion to supervisor also takes place against the backdrop of the civil-rights movement. She learns that her entire department of human “computers” will soon be replaced by an electronic computer—an enormous I.B.M. mainframe that’s being installed. A gifted technician, Dorothy seeks out a book from the local library (a segregated library from which she’s thrown out), in which she’ll learn the programming language Fortran; she soon becomes NASA ’s resident expert. On that trip to the library, in the company of her two sons on the cusp of adolescence, they witness a protest by civil-rights activists chanting “segregation must go” and see police officers, with police dogs, approaching the protesters. Dorothy and her sons pause and look, until she tells them to “pay attention that we’re not part of that trouble.” But, sitting in the back of the bus with them, she emphasizes that “separate and equal aren’t the same thing,” and adds, “If you act right, you are right.”

Katherine, too, fights for her dignity and for opportunities at work. Her calculations very soon prove indispensable to the effort to put the first American astronaut, Alan Shepard, into outer space. (The scene in which she displays her calculations to the entire office of scientists features a small but brilliant stroke of film editing, which suggests that she envisioned the effect of that bold step before she took it.) She’s fighting prejudice against blacks, against women (none has ever been admitted to a Pentagon briefing, where she can get the information she needs for her analyses), and against bureaucracy itself. Paul, who has been the department’s resident genius, and to whom she reports, is resentful of his subordinate—a black woman, for good measure—outshining him in mathematical talent and analytical insight.

Eventually, upbraided by the head of the department, Al, in the presence of the entire staff, Katherine explodes with rage, setting forth the full litany of indignities to which she’s subjected because of her skin color, before storming out. But this sublimely righteous outburst is posed on a solid meritocratic basis. Katherine isn’t the only black woman to have worked in the main research department under Al; there has been a veritable parade of black women “computers” stationed in that department, and each has been found wanting and has been sent back to the pool. As a result, none has effected any change in the status of black employees or of women at NASA . Katherine’s outburst is effective because Katherine, unlike her predecessors, is indispensable. Taking her claims to heart, Al plays a heroic role, championing Katherine’s work and treating her with due respect—but his heroism is a conditional and practical one, spurred by his single-minded devotion to the space program.

In “Hidden Figures,” the civil-rights movement isn’t just a barely sketched backdrop; it’s in virtual competition with the efforts in personal advancement and achievement heroically made by the three women at the center of the film. In the movie, the three women never speak directly of civil rights. In the warmhearted romance at the center of the movie—Katherine’s relationship with Col. Jim Johnson (Mahershala Ali)—the subject never comes up. (Katherine Johnson is now ninety-eight; a title card at the end of the film declares that she and Johnson recently celebrated their fifty-sixth wedding anniversary.) The movie presents three women whose life experiences have been extraordinary; their work, their personal lives, and their struggle for justice are uncompromisingly heroic. What the movie is missing, above all, is their voices.

These women are not in any way submissive or passive. On the contrary, each one speaks up and takes action at great personal risk. (For instance, Dorothy steals a book that the library won't let her borrow and then speaks sharply to the guard who hustles her and her sons out.) The movie's emphasis on individual action and achievement in the face of vast obstacles is both beautiful and salutary, but its near-effacement of collective organization and political activity at a time when they were at their historical apogee—for that matter, its elision of politics as such—narrows the drama and, all the more grievously, the characters at its center.

What the women at the center of “Hidden Figures” lived through in their youth, in the deep age of Jim Crow, and, later, at a time of protest and of legal change, remains unspoken; their wisdom and insight remain unexpressed. For all the emotional power and historical redress of the movie—above all, in the simple recognition of the centrality of its three protagonists to the modern world—it pushes to the fore a moderation, based solely on personal accomplishment, in pursuit of justice. This is different from the civil-rights goal of a universal equality based on humanity alone, extended to the ordinary as well as to the exceptional. This is, by no means, a complaint about the real-life people on whom the movie is based; it’s purely a matter of aesthetics, a result of decisions by the director and screenwriter, Theodore Melfi, and his co-writer, Allison Schroeder, about how they imagined and developed the characters. (I found myself thinking, by contrast, of recently published stories by the late filmmaker Kathleen Collins , with their incisive observations regarding participants and observers of civil-rights activism.)

Melfi and Schroeder are white; perhaps they conceived the film to be as nonthreatening to white viewers as possible, or perhaps they anticipated that it would be released at a time of promised progress. Instead, it’s being released in a time of resurgent, unabashed racism. The time for protest has returned; for all the inspired celebration of hitherto unrecognized black heroes that “Hidden Figures” offers, and all the retrospective outrage that “Hidden Figures” sparks, I can only imagine the movie as it might have been made, much more amply, imaginatively, and resonantly, linking history and the present tense, by Ava DuVernay or Spike Lee, Julie Dash or Charles Burnett.

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Review: ‘Hidden Figures’ Honors 3 Black Women Who Helped NASA Soar

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By A.O. Scott

• Dec. 22, 2016

“Hidden Figures” takes us back to 1961, when racial segregation and workplace sexism were widely accepted facts of life and the word “computer” referred to a person, not a machine. Though a gigantic IBM mainframe does appear in the movie — big enough to fill a room and probably less powerful than the phone in your pocket — the most important computers are three African-American women who work at NASA headquarters in Hampton, Va. Assigned to data entry jobs and denied recognition or promotion, they would go on to play crucial roles in the American space program.

Based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s nonfiction book of the same title, the film, directed by Theodore Melfi (who wrote the script with Allison Schroeder), turns the entwined careers of Katherine Goble (later Johnson), Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan into a rousing celebration of merit rewarded and perseverance repaid. Like many movies about the overcoming of racism, it offers belated acknowledgment of bravery and talent and an overdue reckoning with the sins of the past. And like most movies about real-world breakthroughs, “Hidden Figures” is content to stay within established conventions. The story may be new to most viewers, but the manner in which it’s told will be familiar to all but the youngest.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. There is something to be said for a well-told tale with a clear moral and a satisfying emotional payoff. Mr. Melfi, whose previous film was the heart-tugging, borderline-treacly Bill Murray vehicle “St. Vincent,” knows how to push our emotional buttons without too heavy a hand. He trusts his own skill, the intrinsic interest of the material and — above all — the talent and dedication of the cast. From one scene to the next, you may know more or less what is coming, but it is never less than delightful to watch these actors at work.

Start with the three principals, whose struggles at NASA take place as the agency is scrambling to send an astronaut into orbit. Katherine Goble is the central hidden figure, a mathematical prodigy played with perfect nerd charisma by Taraji P. Henson. Katherine is plucked from the computing room and assigned to a team that will calculate the launch coordinates and trajectory for an Atlas rocket. She receives a cold welcome — particularly from an engineer named Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons) — and is not spared the indignities facing a black woman in a racially segregated, gender-stratified workplace. The only bathroom she is allowed to use is in a distant building, and she horrifies her new co-workers when she helps herself to a cup of coffee.

Dorothy (Octavia Spencer) and Mary (Janelle Monáe) also face discrimination. Dorothy, who is in charge of several dozen computers, is repeatedly denied promotion to supervisor and treated with condescension by her immediate boss (Kirsten Dunst). The Polish-born engineer (Olek Krupa) with whom Mary works is more enlightened, but Mary runs into the brick wall of Virginia’s Jim Crow laws when she tries to take graduate-level physics courses.

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Review: ‘Hidden Figures’ flawlessly navigates societal issues

In 1961, a time of segregation and rampant racism and sexism, three African-American women overcame every challenge they faced and helped NASA in the early days of the Space Race. The record of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson is a story that was ignored until now. Based on the biography by Margot Lee Shetterly, Theodore Melfi’s “Hidden Figures” is a story of empowerment, perseverance and bravery.

All three women are given tremendous opportunities that come at an incredible social cost — they are forced to face the scourge of 20th century racism. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), a gifted mathematician, is assigned to a team of white men to calculate coordinates for the Atlas rocket. Jackson (Janelle Monáe) is assigned to work with the NASA engineers, and when asked if she would still try to be an engineer if she was white, she chillingly responds , “I wouldn’t have to . I would already be one.” Finally, Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) is a cunning mathematician and the brains of the operation.

One of the biggest factors of the film’s success is the phenomenal acting. Henson, Monáe and Spencer all work in perfect harmony as three strong women who persevere through hardships. The chemistry among the three women feels so rich that when they are together, it’s almost as if these events are playing out in real time. Spencer and Monáe are both just as compelling, playing their roles with a bit of wit and sass. The supporting cast, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons and Mahershala Ali, all are charming and fit their roles well as background characters.

While paying homage to these amazing women, the film also portrays racial and gender issues that are still relevant. “Hidden Figures” is particularly good at making this commentary work by having the characters of the film — though from the ’60s  — feel as though they are alive today. The viewer can easily engage with the challenging social commentary at the heart of “Hidden Figures” because the characters seem genuine and avoid coming across as preachy. The film masks an educational experience in a gripping story and engaging characters.

The script, by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi, is compelling and pleasing in every sense. The film is brought to life by the wit of the three main leads. Johnson, Jackson and Vaughn are inspirations who American history pushed away because of their race and gender. Young girls today can now look up to these three intelligent women and the amazing work they did. Schroeder and Melfi cleverly make the film family-friendly and accessible for every kind of audience to enjoy. They balance the intensity of the space race and segregation with humor from the three lead actresses.

The direction of the film is where the film loses its steam. Nothing about the visuals of the film is interesting, besides the setting of 1960s NASA. The film is occasionally hokey and feels like something that a history professor would show to pass class time, but the extraordinary performances and incredible story help the film escape total cheesiness. Trying to balance a harsh and racist setting while also trying to make the film family-friendly is difficult for Melfi, and it shows in his bland direction of the film. Although Melfi’s direction is uninteresting, he still creates the atmosphere necessary for this segregation and space race drama. Overall, “Hidden Figures” beautifully depicts an amazing story that hopefully will inspire men and women of all ages, races and sexes. It teaches the audience messages of equality and bravery with an effortless mastery that never preaches or belittles.

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Hidden Figures (2016) - Film Analysis / Review

Hidden Figures is a 2016 film that is based on a true story about three women, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who worked at NASA dealing with racial prejudice. This film was set in the 1960's when it was very rare to see non-white people in the roles these three women had; it was even more unlikely to see women in them. These women were working in segregated areas and it was very difficult for their talents to be seen by other people due to the barriers of their gender and race. Taraji P. Henson played the role of Katherine G. Johnson, who was the star of the film. Katherine's role was to create a new field of science for space with her group. The film also does a great job balancing the personal lives of these women while at the same time presenting their crucial roles in NASA. These women all played pivotal roles in taking down racism in the field of science. These women were all smart and had a lot to bring with the positions they held. Katherine proves to the chief how smart she was in a scene where she presented her findings of a formula and her knowledge of a classified piece of information. The chief's main concern was how she found out this important piece of information because he was certain that mathematics could not have resulted in her knowing; she told him she held the paper up to the light, when he did so he also saw the proof. His first question to this woman, due to her undeniable intelligence, was if she was a Russian spy; yes, he asked a Black Woman if she was Russian because of all that she knew. It was obvious that she was not Russian, but it was the only thing that this man could associate with her level of knowledge. To be woman during those times were hard, and to be Black was even harder. These women had to work twice as hard to be heard due to their gender, and even harder to be heard due to their color of skin. Dorothy Vaughan's role began working with computers in her position at NASA, then due to her knowledge was promoted to supervisor. Her role was pivotal because she, not only

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Hidden Figures: the American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians who Helped Win the Space Race

This essay will discuss the book and film “Hidden Figures,” which tell the story of the black women mathematicians at NASA who played a crucial role in the space race. It will explore themes of racial and gender discrimination, perseverance, and the pursuit of the American Dream. The piece will analyze how these women’s contributions challenged societal norms and advanced both civil rights and space exploration. At PapersOwl, you’ll also come across free essay samples that pertain to American Dream.

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“Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race” written by Margot Lee Shetterly was the book I had chosen for my first book review. This book illustrates a remarkable story about Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden. These unbelievably black women had to face impossible obstacles as they went to work as “calculators” at NASA but at the time was called, “National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics” also known as NACA.

Despite the amount of social and political challenges they have faced at the heights of Jim Crow, these women became an essential project that put the first man on the moon. Hidden Figures tells a story about four amazing women whose contribution to science led to NASA’s greatest successes. Not only does Margot Lee highlight an astonishing account of intelligent, hard-working, and devoted African-American women who made crucial contributions to the Space Race but they also changed history.

Firstly, I thought this book was researched by Author Margot Lee because she had provided us with many details of the civil rights movement, school segregation, and the aeronautic industry. These women had to face many difficult obstacles and discrimination in their workplace as they continued to live in a country where being a white male meant the best chances of fair pay and advancement. However, these women’s brilliant minds did not go unnoticed and they were able to get the respect from their coworkers that they deeply deserved. Their willpower soon led them to opportunities that they thought were unimaginable. Yet, after everything they all went through to get to where they were, they still had to face the ugly reality of a “colored only” bathroom in the workplace.

Although this may be true, women were not taken seriously as men when it came to this profession. NASA began hiring women during World War II as female computers. These women did the work of mathematicians but were considered less of a professional in order to be paid less. Each specific character in this story worked hard in their career but was not acknowledged for their hard work. In 1943, there was a push in hiring qualified black women because the demand could not be satisfied with white employees only. Many people of skin color were given an opportunity to show off their skills in the real world.

In addition, I enjoyed how this book focused a lot on the individual stories for each of the women. I was very inspired by the sacrifices, determination, and intelligence each of these ladies had to offer. The book incorporated few stories of history that moved from WWII to the Cold War and then the Space Race. The book also included the Civil Rights Movement and the push to end school segregation. These “human computer” women were forced to work on the west side of the Langley campus until the 60s when integration occurred. It is very disappointing to imagine all the brilliant minds that never realized their potentials because of influences like race, gender, and income.

Hidden Figures includes a lot of feminism and breaking down race barriers which I enjoyed. Reading more into this book, I really respect the message that Margot Lee was writing about. Even more, I was on board to calling attention to something that most Americans were very ignorant about women’s roles and black people’s roles in NASA during the Space Race and WWII. The simple facts that this news was shocking to a lot of people means this story is important and should be shared. The story was soon made into a movie which was even better because a lot of people would not read the book. Black history in America, as Shetterly points out, is extremely hidden. Stories like this one can inspire young females to follow their dreams no matter what society may say we can or cannot do.

Despite the good messages in this book, I do have my opinions and reviews. While reading the book, I thought that the book was not well written. Shetterly was unable to distinguish characters from one another. As I was reading each chapter, I could not tell the difference at times between Dorothy, Katherine, and Mary. What they did, what their roles were, it was all blurred together due to Shetterly’s incapability to develop characters or personalities for any of them. She often also switches from person to person, and from time period to time period in the same chapter which made it very confusing. It also is hard to differentiate the three women focused on here. “Katherine listened intently as her brother-in-law described the work, her thumb cradling her chin, her index finger extended along her cheek, the signal that she was listening carefully” (118). She was reporting on a conversation she was not present at. Secondly, she is hearing about it from someone who is relating something that happened 60 years ago.

This book could be a learning experience and give an insight to the scenes’ making of the space program. It could also prove that every person’s role and contribution is important and makes a difference. Best of all, it’s a true story. This was such an extraordinary and important story to tell, but the writing was a bit dry and repetitive.

In Conclusion, this book was highly informative, though I think I would have enjoyed it more if I was more interested in science, space and aerodynamics. My understanding for these topics is lacking, which is the reason why I often skimmed some overly technical paragraphs.

However, the life stories this book depicts are awe inspiring and moving, and this is what I’m here for. Strong and educated women of every race and heritage, taking a stand, breaking down stereotypes, making a career, proving that they have the brains it takes to work in one of the most prestigious scientific facilities in the world (and everywhere else as well). All of that, while so many hindrances were put in their ways, because of their gender, because of their race. Because of prejudice, ignorance and hate. This book shows – and reminds us – that there are people who take opportunities and master them with grace, people who hold doors open for the less fortunate and give them a chance to shine, people who value bravery and kindness more than anything else. This is what made this book worth reading. 

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Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. (2021, Jun 27). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/hidden-figures-the-american-dream-and-the-untold-story-of-the-black-women-mathematicians-who-helped-win-the-space-race/

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PapersOwl.com. (2021). Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/hidden-figures-the-american-dream-and-the-untold-story-of-the-black-women-mathematicians-who-helped-win-the-space-race/ [Accessed: 17 Sep. 2024]

"Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race." PapersOwl.com, Jun 27, 2021. Accessed September 17, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/hidden-figures-the-american-dream-and-the-untold-story-of-the-black-women-mathematicians-who-helped-win-the-space-race/

"Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race," PapersOwl.com , 27-Jun-2021. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/hidden-figures-the-american-dream-and-the-untold-story-of-the-black-women-mathematicians-who-helped-win-the-space-race/. [Accessed: 17-Sep-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2021). Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/hidden-figures-the-american-dream-and-the-untold-story-of-the-black-women-mathematicians-who-helped-win-the-space-race/ [Accessed: 17-Sep-2024]

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HIDDEN FIGURES

SUBJECTS — U.S. 1940 – 1991, Diversity/African-American, and Virginia; Mathematics; Science-Technology; Biography: Katherine Johnson;

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING — Courage; Human Rights;

MORAL-ETHICAL EMPHASIS — Respect.

AGE : 13+; MPAA Rating PG for thematic elements and some language;

Drama; 2016, 127 minutes; Color.

Give your students new perspectives on race relations, on the history of the American Revolution, and on the contribution of the Founding Fathers to the cause of representative democracy. Check out TWM’s Guide:

Benefits of the Movie Possible Problems Parenting Points Selected Awards & Cast Helpful Background

Using the Movie in the Classroom Discussion Questions Social-Emotional Learning Moral-Ethical Emphasis

Assignments and Projects CCSS Anchor Standards Links to the Internet Bibliography

MOVIE WORKSHEETS & STUDENT HANDOUTS

TWM offers the following worksheets to keep students’ minds on the movie and direct them to the lessons that can be learned from the film.

Film Study Worksheet for a Work of Historical Fiction and

Worksheet for Cinematic and Theatrical Elements and Their Effects .

Teachers can modify the movie worksheets to fit the needs of each class. See also TWM’s Historical Fiction in Film Cross-Curricular Homework Project .

DESCRIPTION

From the 1930s to the advent of the digital computer in the early 1960s, several hundred female “human computers” were hired by the federal government. Their task was to calculate numbers and to solve the equations necessary for new generations of airplanes, the first American rockets, and the first U.S. manned space flights. They worked with pen, paper, and analog calculating machines. The need for these workers was so great that even in those days of rampant racial discrimination, black women were hired as well as whites. The human computers reported to the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, operated by the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) and its successor, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

“Hidden Figures” is the story of three black women who made important contributions to the U.S. Space program both before and after the “human computers” were replaced by digital computers. The three real-life heroines of the movie are:

• Dorothy Vaughan, who supervises the “colored computers.” She sees that digital computers are the wave of the future and learns the prototype programming language FORTRAN, orients herself to a room-sized IBM computer, and encourages the women in her section to do the same.
• Katherine Goble Johnson, a gifted mathematician, performs essential calculations and makes important theoretical contributions for determining the trajectories and orbits of America’s first satellites and manned space missions. Backing up a digital computer’s early efforts, she confirms final calculations for John Glenn’s history-making orbit of the Earth.
• Mary Jackson takes on Virginia’s stridently segregationist education system to attain the graduate qualifications that allow her to become NASA’s first female African-American engineer.

The women face entrenched racist and sexist attitudes. However, their persistence and outstanding work boost the U.S. presence in space and blaze a path forward for achievement based on merit. The movie closely follows Margot Shetterly’s meticulously researched, award-winning, 2016 historical work of the same name.  The validity of the film is confirmed by Katherine Johnson’s posthumously published memoir, My Remarkable Journey, at page 7, in which she states, that, “75% of what was shown in the movie is accurate,”

SELECTED AWARDS & CAST

Selected Awards:  2017 Academy Awards Nominations: Best Picture; Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Octavia Spencer); Best Adapted Screenplay; 2017 Golden Globe Nominations: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Octavia Spencer); Best Original Score – Motion Picture; 2017 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Featured Actors:  Taraji P. Henson as Katherine G. Johnson; Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan; Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson; Kevin Costner as Al Harrison; Kirsten Dunst as Vivian Mitchell; Jim Parsons as Paul Stafford; Mahershala Ali as Colonel Jim Johnson; Aldis Hodge as Levi Jackson; Glen Powell as John Glenn; Kimberly Quinn as Ruth; Olek Krupa as Karl Zielinski; Kurt Krause as Sam Turner; Ken Strunk as Jim Webb.

Director:  Theodore Melfi

BENEFITS OF THE MOVIE

“Hidden Figures” is well-crafted historical fiction that is inspirational for everyone, especially for girls and students of color.  It tells a story that was “never hidden, but unseen.” The Mses. Vaughan, Johnson, and Jackson are outstanding role models for young people trying to break through barriers of prejudice and glass ceilings in employment. Additionally, the film provides a historical link to today’s STEM and STEAM initiatives in schools and can encourage students to seek out programs that will reinforce their skills and lead to careers in science and technical fields. The movie provides excellent opportunities for class discussion and assignments.  [The quotation “never hidden, but unseen” is from Hidden to Modern Figures: Frequently Asked Questions , a NASA website, accessed April 24, 2017.]

Students will be introduced to: (1) a fascinating episode in American history; (2) the struggles of black women to reach racial and  gender parity in the workplace; (3) the accomplishments of black women in technical fields and their contributions to America’s efforts in aeronautics and the space race of the second half of the 20th century; (4) the disruptive influence of WWII and the Cold War on sexist employment practices and racial discrimination; and (5) a few of the despicable aspects of Jim Crow.

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS

Parenting points.

Watch the film with your children and tell them that the three leading actresses in the movie portray women who actually worked at NASA and that the film gives us a good idea of their experiences. Also, be sure to put the film into perspective. Hidden Figures doesn’t show the millions of people denied jobs due only to the color of their skin.   It doesn’t show the full extent of the humiliation endured by black citizens of the United States living in the South during the “Jim Crow” era, the late 1800s through to the 1960s. During that time African Americans were humiliated on a daily basis and denied access to public facilities.  In addition, they suffered from discrimination in education, employment and housing.  At times they were beaten and lynched.

Beginning  with small steps in the 1940s (President Roosevelt’s executive orders requiring the hiring of some African Americans in defense industries) and gaining strength each year with the Civil Rights Movement, the United States has developed a growing tradition of inclusion and equal opportunity for minority citizens that runs counter to the shameful tradition of racism. (As of January 2022 millions of African Americans have good jobs and have entered the middle-class. We have elected a black President, twice. There have been two black Secretaries of State and a black man heads the Department of Defense.)   The work of well-intentioned Americans is to continue to bend the  moral arc of the Universe toward reaching the ideals of the the Declaration of Independence.

HELPFUL BACKGROUND

Dorothy Vaughan

Katherine Johnson

Mary Jackson

The US National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) was the forerunner of NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NACA was established in 1917, at the end of the First World War, on the grounds of Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia. It was part of the effort to develop America’s fledgling aeronautical sector. In the mid-1930s, Langley began hiring female, or “girl,” mathematicians to compute solutions to equations using pen, paper, and analog adding machines.  The women were called “computers.”

By the 1930s it was clear to American leaders that crucial battles in the next war would be fought in the air. It was therefore essential to transform America’s unimpressive aircraft arsenal into a powerful aerial armada. This opened the door a crack for women at Langley. During WWII, in the 1940s, when many of the men were sent to soldier in Europe and the Pacific, the need for manpower to fuel the American war materiel machine became a need for woman power as well. Thus, the door for women to serve in technical fields opened a little further.

Melvin Butler, the man responsible for filling the burgeoning job positions at Langley, devised recruitment tools designed to appeal to housewives looking for a different kind of work.   His advertisements exhorted them to,  “Reduce your household duties . . . .”  He issued a challenge, citing the need for “women who are not afraid to roll up their sleeves . . . .” Shetterly, p. 5.

While increasing numbers of women were being integrated into the workforce, another social change was underway. In 1941, as American industry geared up to produce the weapons to fight WWII, a group of civil rights activists led by A. Philip Randolph, head of the union for black male porters, men who worked as sleeping car attendants on America’s railroads.  Mr. Randolph and others formed the “March on Washington Movement.” They demanded that President Roosevelt end racial discrimination in hiring for the defense industry and threatened a massive march on Washington, D.C., to protest racial segregation in employment and in the military. Randolph is credited with forcing FDR to issue Executive Order 8802 which prohibited racial discrimination in hiring for national defense industries and established the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC). While Executive Order 8802 didn’t end discrimination against African Americans in defense industries, it did lead to some job gains for black workers.

In 1943, employment applications began arriving at Langley from black women. For example, Dorothy Vaughan, one of the three main characters in the film, came to NASA when she saw a federal civil service bulletin intended to recruit white women. Even though there was still discrimination against “Negroes,” the relentless Mr. Butler began hiring well-qualified black women to work as human computers. He got around the scandalous implications of racial equality by setting up a segregated work area for the smaller number of “colored” computers. It was called West Computing because it was located in a building at Langley’s western end. White females worked at East Computing.  Shetterly, p. 8.

Propelled by the Civil Rights Movement, opportunities for blacks to work in the aeronautics and space industries opened up a little more during the 1950s and 1960s. Spurred by Soviet Russia’s Sputnik, the first man-made object to orbit the earth, the U. S. recognized the need to provide technical and scientific training to students and to move them into positions that could benefit America’s reach for the heavens. The administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by increasing the resources that went into scientific research and training. Additionally, U. S. leaders were engaged in selling the American way of life to non-aligned nations during the Cold War. They worried that Jim Crow segregation and the second-class citizen status of American “Negroes” would not play well in the court of international opinion. Shetterly, p. 104.

Jim Crow Laws and Customs

In the American South after the Civil War and Reconstruction, the white power structure (formerly the slave-owning class) reasserted itself and imposed a racist system through “Jim Crow” laws and customs. These were designed to denigrate and suppress African Americans. One of the pillars of Jim Crow was separate sanitary facilities. Restrooms and drinking fountains were designated “White Only” or “Colored.” There were many fewer restrooms and drinking fountains for blacks than there were for whites. Every day in cities, towns, and villages across the South, African Americans faced personal emergencies when the only restroom available —  for what could quickly become an urgent need — was forbidden territory. A black person in that situation had to find some alternative or run the substantial risk of arrest or a beating for using a “White Only” restroom. This disgraceful practice is treated semi-humorously in the film — cinematically, there was no other way to present it. However, the unavailability of restrooms was no laughing matter for African Americans who had to live under Jim Crow.

(The white husband of this writer was once detained, at age 15, by police for defacing a “White Only” sign on a laundromat in Tallahassee, Florida.  It was Halloween night in 1963. Hard at work on his task, he heard a sound behind him, looked over his shoulder, and saw a police cruiser come to a stop.   He was released after a few hours on the condition that he clean up the sign. An African-American teenager would probably not have been treated in such a lenient fashion.)

Ms. Shetterly’s book describes the proliferation of black middle-class neighborhoods around the Langley campus in the middle of the 20th Century. Despite economic and professional gains by African Americans since that time, segregation in housing hasn’t changed much.

… Brown University’s US2010 Project [has shown that] in 1940, the average black lived in a neighborhood that was 40 percent white. In 1950 it fell to 35 percent — where it remains today. This average, of course, aggregates data from many neighborhoods where blacks have virtually no exposure to whites, and others where integration is advanced. Nonetheless, by this measure there has been no progress in reducing segregation [in housing] for the last 60 years.   Commentary by Richard Rothstein for the Economic Policy Institute,  February 3, 2012, accessed on January 9, 2022.

The Impact of the Black Press and the “Double V” Campaign

African-American newspapers, journals, and magazines of the 1940s and 1950s were inspiring and influential in the segregated lives of America’s black citizens. They contributed to initiatives to integrate society and achieve economic and social justice. In WWII these publications promoted the “Double V Campaign:” Victory overseas in the war and victory over discrimination at home. This campaign intentionally echoed the concept of the double consciousness of blacks in a racist society, articulated by the African-American intellectual W. E. B. Du Bois, and analyzed in his signature book, The Souls of Black Folk . Dubois wrote that blacks faced a nearly impossible task in constructing internally positive personal identities because they were forced to act in ways that were acceptable to an oppressive white society. To do this they had to see themselves through its eyes: devalued and negatively stereotyped. Shetterly, p. 33. This psychological conundrum confronts every oppressed group.

Euler’s Method

Euler’s Method, employed by Katherine Johnson in her breakthrough calculations for John Glenn’s Friendship Seven orbit, was devised in the 18th century.  The idea behind Euler’s Method is to approximate a curve using the concept of local linearity to join multiple small line segments of the curve. Mathscoop.com. The method was one of many mathematical innovations developed by Leonhard Euler of Switzerland, one of the great mathematicians of his time. Euler lived from 1707 to 1783, dying just seven years after the U.S. declared independence from Great Britain.

USING THE MOVIE IN THE CLASSROOM

Unless the class has already studied American history of the 20th century, set the scene before for showing the film with direct instruction covering the following points:

This movie takes place during the Cold War with the Soviet Union, 1947 – 1991. From the end of WWII until 1957 most Americans thought the U.S. was the technological leader of the world. Then, on October 4, 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik, the first man-made object to orbit the earth. Sputnik was followed by additional Russian successes in space: the first animal in orbit (1957, the dog Laika); the first animals and plants returned alive from space (1961); the first human in orbit (1961) etc. From 1957 to 1961 the Russians led the space race as the early U.S. space program was plagued by failures. People all over the world looked up at the sky and wondered at the Russian achievement.  Americans of all races, classes, and backgrounds were united in their desire for the United States to put a man into orbit and bring him home safely, as soon as possible.

At the same time, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Civil Rights movement was gathering force. However, most of the Southern U.S., including Virginia, was still in the grip of laws and customs designed to denigrate and oppress African Americans. These were referred to as “Jim Crow.” In addition, black people and women of all races suffered from discrimination in employment.

In the early 1960s, electronic computers were in their infancy. The people designing airplanes and rockets used analog adding machines. An ingenious analog device called a slide rule assisted engineers and scientists with multiplication, division, and finding exponents, roots, and logarithms.

After Watching the Movie

Tell the class that the movie, “Hidden Figures,” does not claim to describe the full effects of racism or the broad scope of the Civil Rights movement. It shows an episode in the ongoing process of eliminating discrimination against blacks and women in employment in the U.S.

After watching the film, students will be interested in reading the Helpful Background section. Click here for a version in Microsoft Word, suitable to be printed and distributed to the class. Teachers should feel free to modify or add to the handout as may be appropriate for their classes.

What is Real, What is Dramatic License, and a Few Interesting Anecdotes

Katherine Johnson estimates that the film is 75% accurate.  My Remarkable Journey, p. 7.  The author of the book, Hidden Figures , Margot Shetterly, estimates that she has identified almost 50 black women who were working at Langley as computers, mathematicians, engineers, and researchers. She surmises that about “70 more can be shaken loose.” Approximately 400 white women were working in the same capacity.

Katherine Johnson and Mary Jackson worked for Dorothy Vaughan in West Computing, but the three were not close friends.

The character of Al Harrison, Katherine Johnson’s boss at the Space Task Group, is a composite. NASA says he is largely based on Robert C. Gilruth, who became the director of the Space Task Group in 1958. Shetterly nominates engineer John Stack as the model for Harrison.

Fly-by-wire navigation (FBW), in which the trajectory of the flight is controlled by computer and not by the pilot, began with the Mercury mission. In 1962 FBW wasn’t as reliable as it is today. The early astronauts, who were all former test pilots, hated FBW and lobbied hard for back-up manual controls. As they said, they didn’t want to be “spam in a can.” In fact, the manual controls saved the life of at least one astronaut. For a description of the struggle between the astronauts and the engineers over FBW.  See Learning Guide to The Right Stuff .

John Glenn really did request that Katherine Johnson double check the computer calculations. Glenn said, “. . . [G]et the girl. . . . If she says the numbers are good, then I’m ready to go.” NASA Biography of Catherine Johnson, accessed April 22, 2017 . Ms. Johnson did the computations in the days leading up to the launch, not when Glenn was about to climb into the spacecraft and blast off.  My Remarkable Journey, pp. 160 & 161.

The characters who exhibit the most adherence to Jim Crow attitudes, the initially hostile police officer, the condescending white engineer in the Space Task Group, Paul Stafford, and Mrs. Mitchell, the white supervisor, all change their behavior. The policeman escorts the three protagonists to work. Mrs. Mitchell indicates her growing respect for Dorothy by addressing her as “Mrs. Vaughan” at the film’s end. And Paul Stafford reverses his resistance to Katherine’s presence and status, bringing her a cup of coffee. Coffee serves as a symbol for acceptance onto the NASA team.

Mrs. Mitchell’s real-life counterpart was Margery Hannah, who behaved differently than the character in the film. She “went out of her way to treat the West Area women as equals, and had even invited some of them to work-related social affairs at her apartment.” Shetterly p. 47.

It was actually Mary Jackson who lost her cool about the segregated bathrooms. Dorothy Vaughan had sent her on a special assignment to East Computing. Mary “blew her top” to wind tunnel engineer Kazimierz “Kaz” Czarnecki (Karl Zielinski in the movie) about the egregious situation. He listened, then invited her to come work for him. He became her mentor, and she eventually organized his retirement party. Shetterly, p. 254.  Katherine Johnson did not have experiences of having to walk long distances to find a “Colored Women” bathroom, but other “colored computers”  did.  My Remarkable Journey, p. 7.  The filmmakers scripted the scenes of Katherine Johnson racing across the campus and her (Mary Jackson’s) explosion to demonstrate what other black women had to endure.

The seating at the cafeteria at Langley was segregated. A West Computer named Miriam Mann found the “Colored Computers” table sign to be especially loathsome. She would periodically remove it, and it would reappear on the table some days later. Eventually, it wasn’t replaced. Shetterly, p. 44. This could have been the inspiration for Katherine’s humiliating coffee pot encounters which she does not recount in her memoir.

Dorothy’s visit to the segregated library with her children depicts another obstacle to equality in the Jim Crow South. Separate and unequal schools were not the only barriers to learning and advancement that confronted African Americans. The photo below tells it all.

In her personalized trailer for “Hidden Figures,” actress Octavia Spencer (“Dorothy Vaughan”) regrets that the number of women in math and computing has recently declined: “….[W]omen today hold only about a quarter of U.S. computing and mathematical jobs – a fraction that has actually fallen slightly over the past 15 years, even as women have made big strides in other fields.” Why Is Silicon Valley So Awful to Women? by Liza Mundy, The Atlantic, April 2017.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Who or what is the antagonist in this story? What defeats the antagonist? Explain whether or not you believe that this shows a process that works in reality.

Suggested Response:

Racism (or “Jim Crow”) is the antagonist. This is what the heroines must overcome. The whites who show racist tendencies change by the end of the film when they come to understand that their African-American coworkers are valuable parts of the team. Racism is defeated by the need to get into space and by the courage of the “Colored” computers in challenging barriers to try to help the NASA team. This displays a process that has worked and continues to work at NASA, in the U.S. military, in business, in sports, and in many other areas. People working together for a common goal can lead to the end of prejudice. The question that whites in this film must answer is whether their racial prejudice is more important to them than getting a man into orbit. An example of team spirit triumphing over racial prejudice in sports is described in the movie Remember the Titans .

2. What or who are the “Hidden Figures” referred to in the title to this movie?

Shetterly cites two possibilities in her book Hidden Figures : One is the women, and especially the black women, whose contributions to America’s space effort went largely unrecognized until the movie was released. Another possibility is that the “Hidden Figures” are the mathematical figures that had to be uncovered in calculating trajectories and orbits for the astronauts.

3. Does this movie paint an accurate picture of racism in the Southern United States under Jim Crow? [or] What are some of the things about racism in the Southern U.S. under Jim Crow that this movie doesn’t show?

It’s not that the film is inaccurate, it’s simply that the story of the three black ladies who found jobs at NASA doesn’t lend itself to showing most of the terrible things that racists in the Southern U.S.  did to black people: the daily humiliation, the beatings, the lynchings, etc.  The movie doesn’t tell the story of the millions of people denied education and jobs because of the color of their skin.

4. What role does the scene with the policeman and the three protagonists play in the story? What does this tell you about the position of the black women in Virginia society in the late 1950s?

This scene foreshadows what happens in the film in terms of the attitude of many whites at NASA toward the black women with whom they work. It also serves as a reminder of the ever-present threat of force against black Americans inherent in Jim Crow, which continues to a lesser extent to this day.

5.   [This question should be preceded by Question #1.] One view of human relations is that in our lives we are associated with different groups, called “tribes” in this formulation.   There are involuntary tribes that we are born into, like families, clans, and countries. Then there are the tribes of affiliation which we join out of interest and belief.   For example, Katherine Johnson could be said to belong to the following “tribes of affiliation:”  mathematicians, the human computers, the NASA Space Task Group, mothers,  church members, basket ball fans, etc.   Analyze the conflict in this film in terms of this view of human relations.

Racism broke down because the voluntary “tribe” of the NASA workforce became more important than the societally assigned “tribe” of race.  The concept of race and racial differences is a societal construct.  To give an example, many people who are identified as African American have as many white ancestors as they do black ancestors.  That means that many of their genes are, in fact, caucasian.    So, why are they not classified that way?

Note: It’s a great exercise to ask students to identify the tribes to which they belong, both those assigned by tradition and society and those assumed voluntarily. Which are the most important?

6. Three characters in the film exhibit racist tendencies. Identify one of them, describe how their racism is shown, and what happens to their attitudes through the course of the film.

The characters who exhibit the most adherence to Jim Crow attitudes are the police officer shown at the beginning of the movie; Mrs. Mitchell, the Female Computers’ white supervisor, and Paul Stafford, the condescending white engineer in the Space Task Group. By the end of the film, each changes their attitudes: the policeman escorts the three protagonists to work; Mrs. Mitchell indicates her growing respect for Dorothy by addressing her as “Mrs. Vaughan,” and Paul Stafford reverses his resistance to Katherine’s presence and status, bringing her a cup of coffee.

7. Coffee serves as a symbol in this movie. What does it symbolize?

Professional respect and acceptance as a member of the NASA team.

8. What is the role of the romance between Katherine Johnson and the Army officer that she married in the story?

It shows that feminism is not just work related and that a man with the strength of character can appreciate and love a strong woman if he abandons stereotyped ways of viewing women.  It is also an accurate portrayal of Mrs. Johnson’s second marriage and her second husband, Colonel Jim Johnson.  My Remarkable Journey,  pp. 140, 141, 207, 214 – 216.

HUMAN RIGHTS

See Discussion Questions numbered 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

1. Describe three acts of courage by the heroines in the film. Why are these actions particularly courageous?

There are several possibilities: Dorothy Vaughan: repeatedly asking to be promoted to the position of supervisor and walking into the computer room to work with the new machine; Katherine Johnson: entering the Space Task Group; and Mary Jackson: bringing her case to court and speaking up to the judge. These actions were particularly courageous because they required challenging the color bar, something that had been enforced in the South for four centuries through intimidation and violence. (For an example, see the picture above of the police forcibly removing a black woman from a library.)

MORAL-ETHICAL EMPHASIS (CHARACTER COUNTS)

(Treat others with respect; follow the Golden Rule; Be tolerant of differences; Use good manners, not bad language; Be considerate of the feelings of others; Don’t threaten, hit or hurt anyone; Deal peacefully with anger, insults, and disagreements)

1. What is the basic moral failing of racism?

There are many valid responses. Examples include racists do not treat others with respect; they do not follow the Golden Rule, and they are not tolerant of differences.

ASSIGNMENTS, PROJECTS & ACTIVITIES

Each of the discussion questions can serve as quick write or essay prompts.

1. The following are research topics for essays by students. Length of essay and extent of research depend upon the capabilities of the class.

• Describe the origin and history of Jim Crow.
• Define  the terms”de facto” and “de jure” and describe how they relate to Jim Crow.
• Compare and contrast racial discrimination in the North and in the South during the period 1950 – 1965.  Use at least three sets of comparisons.  Provide citations to newspaper articles, books, or pages on the Internet that show the particular incidents.
• Describe the changes in American attitudes towards race and racism (both North and South) from before Brown v. Board of Education and the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1954) to Selma and the passage of the Voting Rights Act (1964).
• For students who live in the Southeastern United States, describe the history of Jim Crow laws or customs in your state/city.

[There is no correct answer to the the questions posed by the next two essay prompts.  Students should be informed that any response that (a) is based on core Western values, as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, (2) comports with the Golden Rule, and (3) uses logical analysis, will be acceptable.]

2. Write an essay evaluating whether the U.S. should pay reparations to its African-American citizens in light of the following:

National Book Award winner Ta-Nehisi Coates has written that the practice of “redlining,” or denying mortgage and financial services to blacks, has prevented the intergenerational transfer of wealth in families that is a mainstay of middle-class financial security in the U.S. The Case for Reparations — Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal.Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic, June 2014 Issue .

3. Some people feel that ethnic or racially segregated neighborhoods afford groups of people a sense of belonging and an opportunity to “be themselves” and feel at home. Others believe that racially segregated neighborhoods are not only illegal but un-American. Write an essay answering the following question, “When do neighborhoods that are divided along racial or ethnic lines become ghettos?”

4. Research and present information on the STEM or STEAM program at your school. Describe any outreach efforts to enroll students of color or girls in these programs.

5. Research and present information on courses of study in engineering, computer programming, mathematics, or robotics at three of your top choice colleges/universities.

6. Write a persuasive job notice intended to recruit female students and students of color to the fields of math, computing, and sciences.

7. Conduct interviews (in person or via video conference) with math/science/engineering professionals of color/female professors about their career paths and the obstacles they have had to overcome.

CCSS ANCHOR STANDARDS

Multimedia:

Anchor Standard #7 for Reading (for both ELA classes and for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Classes). (The three Anchor Standards read: “Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media, including visually and quantitatively as well as in words.”) CCSS pp. 35 & 60. See also Anchor Standard # 2 for ELA Speaking and Listening, CCSS pg. 48.

Anchor Standards #s 1, 2, 7 and 8 for Reading and related standards (for both ELA classes and for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Classes). CCSS pp. 35 & 60.

Anchor Standards #s 1 – 5 and 7- 10 for Writing and related standards (for both ELA classes and for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Classes). CCSS pp. 41 & 63.

Speaking and Listening:

Anchor Standards #s 1 – 3 (for ELA classes). CCSS pg. 48.

Not all assignments reach all Anchor Standards. Teachers are encouraged to review the specific standards to make sure that over the term all standards are met.

LINKS TO THE INTERNET

• ‘Hidden Figures’: ‘The Right Stuff’ vs. Real Stuff in New Film About NASA History by Robert Z. Pearlman, collectSPACE.com Editor; 12/27/16;
• The True Story of “Hidden Figures,” the Forgotten Women Who Helped Win the Space Race By Maya Wei-Haas smithsonian.com
• The Human Computer Project ;
• NASA Article on Katherine Johnson ;
• NASA Biography for Mary Jackson ;
• NASA Biography for Katherine Johnson ;
• NASA Biography for Dorothy Vaughan ;
• FDR, A. Philip Randolph and the Desegregation of the Defense Industries A lesson plan from the White House Historical Association;
• 1941 – Plans for a March on Washington form the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library; and
• Article on Johann Euler from the History of Mathematics web site.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

In addition to websites which may be linked in the Guide and selected film reviews listed on the Movie Review Query Engine , the following resources were consulted in the preparation of this Learning Guide:

• Shetterly, Margot Lee, Hidden Figures , New York, William Morrow, 2016; and
• Johnson, Katherine with Joyce Hylick and Katherine Moore, My Remarkable Journey, A Memoire, Amistad, 2021.

This Learning Guide was written by Deborah Elliott and was published on May 9, 2017.   It was revised with the assistance of James A. Frieden and republished on January 10,  2022.

LEARNING GUIDE MENU:

Benefits of the Movie Possible Problems Parenting Points Selected Awards & Cast Helpful Background Using the Movie in the Classroom Discussion Questions Social-Emotional Learning Moral-Ethical Emphasis Assignments and Projects CCSS Anchor Standards Links to the Internet Bibliography

MOVIE WORKSHEETS:

RANDALL KENNEDY, Professor, Harvard Law School on the two alternative traditions relating to racism in America:

“I say that the best way to address this issue is to address it forthrightly, and straightforwardly, and embrace the complicated history and the complicated presence of America. On the one hand, that’s right, slavery, and segregation, and racism, and white supremacy is deeply entrenched in America. At the same time, there has been a tremendous alternative tradition, a tradition against slavery, a tradition against segregation, a tradition against racism.

I mean, after all in the past 25 years, the United States of America has seen an African-American presence. As we speak, there is an African-American vice president. As we speak, there’s an African- American who is in charge of the Department of Defense. So we have a complicated situation. And I think the best way of addressing our race question is to just be straightforward, and be clear, and embrace the tensions, the contradictions, the complexities of race in American life. I think we need actually a new vocabulary.

So many of the terms we use, we use these terms over and over, starting with racism, structural racism, critical race theory. These words actually have been weaponized. They are vehicles for propaganda. I think we would be better off if we were more concrete, we talked about real problems, and we actually used a language that got us away from these overused terms that actually don’t mean that much.   From Fahreed Zakaria, Global Public Square, CNN, December 26, 2021

Give your students new perspectives on race relations, on the history of the American Revolution, and on the contribution of the Founding Fathers to the cause of representative democracy. Check out TWM’s Guide: TWO CONTRASTING TRADITIONS RELATING TO RACISM IN AMERICA and a Tragic Irony of the American Revolution: the Sacrifice of Freedom for the African-American Slaves on the Altar of Representative Democracy.

QUICK FACT:

Today’s, cell phones have more computing power than entire rooms of the digital computers of the 1950s and 1960s.

The increases in funding for the sciences that followed Russia’s launch of Sputnik in 1957 were felt in many areas of science. This writer’s father-in-law was a poorly paid professor of biochemistry in the early 1950s. After Sputnik in 1957, his pay and status “skyrocketed” along with those of other scientists in academia.

Have your students read 1.5 pages on what Katherine Johnson wrote about her family’s commitment to education and their personal response to the Dred Scott decision of 1857. Click here for the reading in Word format.

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The “Hidden Figures” Film by Ted Melfi Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

In the film “Hidden Figures,” Langley’s offices are segregated by race and gender. The African-American female computers work in a separate office from the white female computers and the white-male NASA Task Group. The set design of the offices reflects racial and gender segregation with the unequal treatment and opportunities afforded to different groups based on race and gender, particularly black women being segregated from white men and women.

The office for the African-American female computers is located in a separate building from the main offices and is referred to as the “colored computers” room (Haryanti et al., 2019, p. 7). Further, Haryanti et al. (2019) state that the room is small and cramped, with desks next to each other. The office is shown to be poorly lit and needs an upgrade in amenities and equipment like the other offices. The African-American female office needs an upgrade since it is not respected and is equipped with fewer resources and opportunities than its white counterparts.

The white female computers work in a separate office from the African-American female computers and are also segregated from the white-male NASA Task Group. Their office is larger and more spacious than the African-American room, but it still needs to be more modern and well-equipped than the white-male NASA Task office. This is evident when Dorothy says that “…quite a few women are working in the Space Program, sir” (Haryanti et al., 2019, p. 6). White female computers are shown to be more privileged than African-American computers, but they are still not treated as equals by the white-male NASA Task Group.

The white-male NASA Task Group works in a separate office from the white and African-American female computers. Their office is much larger and more modern than the other offices and is equipped with the latest technology and amenities (Haryanti et al., 2019). The set suggests that the white-male NASA Task Group is Langley’s most respected and valued group and is given the best resources and opportunities.

In conclusion, the set design in the film “Hidden Figures” effectively reflects the racial and gender segregation at Langley during the period depicted in the film. This set design effectively highlights the unequal treatment and opportunities afforded to different groups based on race and gender, particularly black women being segregated from white men and women. It highlights how discrimination and bias manifest in the physical space and how it impacts the opportunities and resources available to different groups.

Haryanti, R. S., Kuncara, S. D., & Valiantien, N. M. (2019). Discrimination towards African-American women as portrayed in the hidden figures film . Jurnal Ilmu Budaya. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2024, January 19). The “Hidden Figures” Film by Ted Melfi. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-hidden-figures-film-by-ted-melfi/

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IvyPanda . 2024. "The “Hidden Figures” Film by Ted Melfi." January 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-hidden-figures-film-by-ted-melfi/.

1. IvyPanda . "The “Hidden Figures” Film by Ted Melfi." January 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-hidden-figures-film-by-ted-melfi/.

Bibliography

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Hidden Figures

67 pages • 2 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 3

Chapters 4-7

Chapters 8-13

Chapters 14-19

Chapter 20-Epilogue

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race is a 2016 nonfiction book by Margot Lee Shetterly. Shetterly grew up in Hampton, Virginia, where her father worked at Langley Research Center, on which the book is centered. Thus, she knew firsthand both the story and many of the people involved. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the business school at the University of Virginia. The book won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and Shetterly won the 2017 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Nonfiction. Hidden Figures was made into a film, which also came out in 2016.

The story focuses on four African American women as examples of the many such women who worked at Langley. The title is a play on the meaning of the word “figures” in the sense of both people and numbers. Each was largely hidden from the public view: Most people think of white male astronauts when they think of NASA , and the countless mathematical calculations that lie behind the agency’s accomplishments are known only to specialists. Shetterly’s goal is to make known the stories of women like those she was acquainted with growing up.

With a mandate to desegregate the federal workforce for the war effort during World War II, more opportunities became available for African Americans. Likewise, because so many Black and white men were away fighting the war, women had greater access to employment than ever before. Dorothy Vaughan was the first of the main characters hired as a mathematician by Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (later Langley Research Center). She was one of the female African American “computers” (as they then called people who did calculations) who made up the West Computing area. She eventually rose to become head of the area for nearly a decade before it was closed.

Mary Jackson began working for Dorothy in 1951. After a couple of years, Mary joined an engineering group and would go on to become an engineer. Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson joined West Computing two years after Mary, but soon joined the Flight Research Division, leading to a distinguished career that directly contributed to the space program in the 1960s. The flight trajectories she calculated were used for Project Mercury and the Moon landings of 1969 and subsequent years. Finally, Christine Darden was hired by NASA in 1967, worked in sonic boom research, and went on to earn her PhD. Each found success by persevering in the face of direct and indirect discrimination based on both their race and gender.

In addition to the careers of the four women profiled, Shetterly tells of their personal lives—the struggles they endured on the road to success, their community involvement, and the times in which they lived. The last becomes a thread in the book, as Shetterly weaves her tale of NASA with one outlining the development of the civil rights movement. By comparing their respective trajectories in 20th-century history, she shows how the latter influenced the former and their narratives merged into one.

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By Margot Lee Shetterly

Hidden Figures: Young Readers Edition

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — Hidden Figures — Hidden Figures: Thesis Statement

Hidden Figures: Thesis Statement

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Published: Apr 29, 2022

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