Hidden Figures

About this book

The #1 New York TimesbestsellerThe phenomenal truestory of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuelsome of America's greatest achievements in space--a powerful, revelatory historyessential to our understanding of race, discrimination, and achievement in modernAmerica. The basis for the smash Academy Award-nominatedfilm starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, KirstenDunst, and Kevin Costner.Before John Glennorbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicatedfemale mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules andadding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, andastronauts, into space. Among theseproblem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated toteaching math in the South's segregated public schools, they were called intoservice during the labor shortages of World War II, when America's aeronauticsindustry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, theseoverlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and theyanswered Uncle Sam's call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Even as Virginia's JimCrow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, thewomen of Langley's all-black "West Computing" group helped America achieve oneof the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in theCold War, and complete domination of the heavens. Starting in World WarII and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the SpaceRace, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden, four African Americanwomen who participated in some of NASA's greatest successes. It chroniclestheir careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliancesand used their intellect to change their own lives, and their country's future.-WINNER OFANISFIELD-WOLF AWARD FOR NONFICTION-WINNER BLACK CAUCUS OF AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION BEST NONFICTION BOOK-WINNER NAACP IMAGE AWARD BEST NONFICTION BOOK-WINNER NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE COMMUNICATIONAWARD