Hidden Figures: Young Readers Edition

Dorothy had a lot to learn when she began work at the Langley Laboratory. She had never flown in a plane before and had no idea how they worked. The laboratory offered a series of classes to turn “women math teachers into crack junior engineers” (51). Dorothy took classes after work two nights per week. She learned the basics of aerodynamics and received hands-on training in the wind tunnels where experiments on airplanes were conducted. 

The experiments in the wind tunnels generated “lots and lots of numbers” that Dorothy and the other computers analyzed (54). These experiments informed the production of the planes produced in America and used in World War II. The computers’ work was “essential but largely uncelebrated” (56). Most of the time, their contribution was forgotten unless the numbers were wrong. However, some projects were so important that everyone was celebrated, and Dorothy knew that her work supported the war effort. She found the job more interesting and stimulating than she had imagined.

Dorothy loved her job, but her demanding schedule made it difficult for her to return home, and she missed her children. Her employment with the laboratory was temporary due to the war, and she didn’t know if she would be offered a permanent position. However, Dorothy was committed to her life in Hampton, so she signed a lease on an apartment in the African American neighborhood of Newsome Park. A year after she had begun working at the Langley Laboratory, she finally brought her four children to live with her. Her husband continued to travel for his work, visiting when he could. 

In 1945, much of the economy in southeastern Virginia “was built around the business of war” (60). Nearly half of the population worked for the government, so when World War II ended on August 14, 1945, big changes came to Hampton Roads. Many workers were laid off, and many women were given “pink slips” that terminated their employment. The push to hire African Americans that began during the war was halted, and many employers returned to pre-war policies of hiring only white people. Dorothy was worried about her future at the laboratory, but her family had adjusted to Newport News and felt at home there.

Dorothy and her husband didn’t see each other often, but their family continued to grow with two more children. She made good money working at the laboratory but still had to make sacrifices to provide for the family, such as making her own clothes and eating leftovers after dinner to be sure that her six children had eaten enough. The economy in southeastern Virginia stayed strong thanks to a post-war boom in the defense industry. The airplane remained an important part of the United States’ economy, and Dorothy was offered a permanent job at the laboratory with a promotion to shift supervisor. 

Men and women were still treated differently in the laboratory. The female computers often worked on assignments that were just numbers with no context, and even though their contribution was essential, their names rarely appeared on the final research report. Engineers “assumed” that female computers didn’t care about receiving credit for their work. Sometimes, however, if an engineer was impressed by a computer’s work, he would invite her to work in one of the wind tunnels, giving the computer the opportunity to understand the work better and specialize in a specific subfield. 

At the laboratory, male and female employees alike dreamed of building an airplane that could fly faster than the speed of sound. A team, including two women from the white group of East Computers, went to the Mojave Desert to test high-speed flight. To break the sound barrier, the plane had to move at a speed called “Mach 1,” and in 1947, this record-breaking feat was achieved. The two female computers were celebrated for their contribution and promoted to junior engineers, an “extraordinary achievement” for women.

Back in Langley, Dorothy Vaughan’s boss fell ill several times and finally had a mental health crisis, leaving the division without a manager. Dorothy was named the section’s temporary head, a role that she held for two years before she was officially named the “head of West Area Computers unit” (74). She was the first African American woman to hold a management role in the laboratory.

Chapter 10 introduces the text’s second important human computer, Mary Winston Jackson, who began working in the West Area Computing pool in April 1951. Mary grew up in Hampton, Virginia. She graduated high school with honors and studied math and physical science in college. After graduation, she became a teacher but soon had to return home to care for her sick father. Mary was a woman who “did things her own way” (77), like choosing to wear a short white dress with black sequins on her wedding day. 

After World War II, Mary had a son and stayed home while her husband worked. Mary stayed active in her community and enjoyed working with her local Girl Scout troop. She encouraged the girls to dream big and not let “their dark skin, their gender, [or] their economic status” limit them (79). 

After the war, tensions grew between the United States and the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union was reported to have a more advanced aeronautic program than the United States thought, the NACA received funding to expand its research. Breaking the sound barrier was no longer enough; engineers wanted to create planes “with no speed limits” (81). This meant that the laboratory needed to hire more computers, and Mary Jackson came to work for Dorothy Vaughan.

Meanwhile, the fear of Communism was spreading, and the American government worried about Soviet spies. The same day that Mary Jackson began working at the laboratory, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted of being spies and sentenced to death. Much of the work at the Langley Laboratory was secret, and the FBI began interviewing employees.

President Harry S. Truman wanted to fight Communism by showing that American democracy was “the best system in the world” (84). However, Black and white people were still not treated equally. The president desegregated the military to support the United States’ vision of freedom and equality and insisted that each federal department maintained “a work environment free of discrimination” (84).

While the African American computers in the laboratory were still technically segregated, they often went to other parts of the campus to work on projects. The women were committed to fighting discrimination by doing “their work as well as they possibly could” (85).

One day, working on the East Side, Mary Jackson asked her white coworkers where the bathroom was. They laughed at her, wondering “how would they know where to find” the “colored bathroom” (86). Even though Mary was used to “[n]egotiating racial boundaries,” she was furious that she still had to do so in a place “dedicated to scientific and rational thought” (87). As she angrily returned to West Computing, she met the assistant section head of one of the wind tunnels. Even though Mary was usually “careful” when she spoke to white people, she was honest with the engineer about the incident that had upset her. The engineer respected Mary and her work and offered her a place on his team. 

Mary accepted his offer and began working in the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, testing airplanes that were meant to fly faster than the speed of sound. She loved seeing the real-life aspect of her calculations and took pride in her job. When she received an important assignment, she stood by her work, even though her manager insisted that the numbers were wrong. When they discovered that he had given her the wrong numbers to begin with, Mary’s coworkers respected her expertise and “presence of mind” (91).

Chapter 12 introduces Katherine Goble, who came to work at NACA in 1952. Like Mary and Dorothy, Katherine was a schoolteacher. She enjoyed her work, especially the opportunity to support African American students. Her father was excellent at math, and Katherine inherited his knack for numbers. At 14 years old, Katherine graduated high school. She attended West Virginia State Institute, where she moved through the math courses so quickly that the professors designed additional advanced courses. Her professor wanted her to pursue graduate studies in math, but as an African American woman, Katherine wouldn’t have many opportunities to become a mathematician. Instead, she became a teacher.

One day, the president of her college came to her with a special offer. Because there were no graduate programs for Black students in West Virginia, the existing graduate schools were forced to integrate. Katherine was one of three “unusually capable” candidates who was asked to desegregate West Virginia State College. She enrolled in classes and found that instead of discrimination, her “greatest challenge” was finding a math course that taught her something new.

When Katherine and her husband learned that they were having a baby, Katherine left school to focus on her family. Learning about the job at the Langley Laboratory reminded Katherine of her dream of becoming a mathematician. She applied and was hired in 1953. When she started work, Katherine was surprised to discover that her boss, Dorothy Vaughan, was her former neighbor. She enjoyed working for Dorothy and was soon sent off on an assignment with the Flight Research Division. 

Katherine was excited to be working closely with engineers. However, when she arrived in the new building and sat down next to a white man, he looked at her and immediately walked away. Katherine wondered if it was because she was Black, or because she was a woman, or because she was a “subprofessional,” or if the man had meant nothing by the action. The lines between Black people and white people were “fuzzy” at Langley, and this made some situations difficult to navigate. Katherine and the other Black women responded with “charm,” always ensuring that they made a good impression. Eventually, Katherine and her new coworker became great friends.