Black Women at NASA: The Story of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson

The film’s portrayal of racial struggles at NASA

The film chooses to highlight issues of race in ways that the book does not in an attempt to reflect the struggles that African American women endured in highly-competitive and intense government environment institutions such as NASA. In one of the scenes, Harrison invited his subordinates to provide a solution to a complex mathematical equation, and it was Katherine who ended up developing it (Lee Shetterly 18). Harrison found out the long distance Katherine was forced to walk to access people of color\u2019s bathrooms.\u00a0 He was enraged and sought to abolish the bathroom segregation. The scene provides one of the many women\u2019s collective experiences working at NASA. African American women as presented in the film were intelligent and provided most of the solutions troubled technical teams in the institution. However, due to racial discrimination, they are mistreated and harassed, and most of their work was not recognized (Lee Shetterly 18). However, workers such as Katherine proved that they were equally good at their job and they impressed their White colleagues who were challenged to change their racial mentality. Usually, there were no valid reasons to subject African Americans into a low life by denying them their most fundamental human rights.

The book’s emphasis on sexism and racism

The book highlights sexism and racism as the critical struggles for black women at NASA. Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaugh contributed immensely to the success of the various programs performed by the institution. Dorothy is rightfully denied a promotion since the company was not ready to create positions of power for the black women (Boo 100). Mary was forced to petition a local judge to be granted permission to attend classes in an all-white nearby Hampton high school. Jim Johnson, a national guard, was skeptical about women mathematical abilities. African American women in the book underwent several experiences of discrimination but they did not give up on their careers, and they chose to contribute by their ability to the success of NASA\u2019s missions (Boo 80). Despite segregation, the cohort of black women applied their engineering and math skills to send astronauts and rockets into space and landing them safely on earth. Women were underestimated, and their contribution towards successful missions of the company was a surprise to their white colleagues and employers.

Differences between the film and the book

There are notable differences in the way Jackson, Vaughn, and Johnson explains their experiences in the book and the way they are portrayed in the film. The movie successfully illustrates how the three women diligently overcame barriers to prove their worth. Unlike in the book, the real characters of Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaugh demonstrated how the black women triumphed and persevered in a world dominated by people who looked nothing like them (Boo 83). The white people and primarily men dominated many aspects of American society including mathematics, engineering, and science fields and that was why it was difficult for black women to receive support despite their brilliance. Jackson, Vaugh, and John explain their experiences of sexism and racism as a stumbling block to the success of their careers. Their efforts to shine as NASA computers and engineers by completing some of the complex mathematical problems that led to the successful launch of space programs were not rewarded as their contributions were not recorded. Stafford was solely accredited for creating an equation that helped to guide a rocket to land on earth (Boo 103). Katherine was forced to remove her name from the report, and the incidence is part of the many negative experiences faced by the three women. \u00a0

Works Cited

Boo, Kyung-Sook. “Hidden Figures: Structural Discrimination Hidden Behind Exceptional Figures”. Journal Of American Studies, vol 49, no. 2, 2017, pp. 79-104. The American Studies Association Of Korea, doi:10.22505/jas.2017.49.2.05.

Lee Shetterly, Margot. Hidden Figures: The American Dream And The Untold Story Of The Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win The Space Race. Harperluxe, 2016, pp. 10-19.