into the throes of war, NACA and Langley began recruiting African-American women with college degrees to work as human computers. Six months later, after the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the U.S. First he issued Executive Order 8802, which banned 'discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin' (though it does not include gender). In June 1941, with war raging in Europe, President Franklin Roosevelt looked to ensure the growth of the federal workforce. and they didn't have to pay them very much,' NASA's historian Bill Barry says, explaining the NACA's decision. In 1935, the NACA ( National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, a precursor to NASA) hired five women to be their first computer pool at the Langley campus.

While working six-day weeks at a job demanding 'a large capacity for tedium,' they were still expected to uphold societal norms of being a good wife and mother. Williamina Fleming, for instance, classified over 10,000 stars using a scheme she created and was the first to recognize the existence of white dwarfs. As chronicled in Dava Sobel's book The Glass Universe, these women were every bit as capable as men despite toiling under less-than-favorable conditions. In the late 19th century, the Harvard College Observatory employed a group of women who collected, studied, and cataloged thousands of images of stars on glass plates. Women working as so-called 'human computers' dates back decades before space exploration. It didn't win those categories, but did take home Best Movie at the BET Awards, Outstanding Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards, Best Action or Adventure Film at the Saturn Awards, and other accolades. 21, 2016 Hidden Figures was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Through sheer tenacity, force of will, and intellect, they ensured their stamp on American history-even if their story has remained obscured from public view until now.Įditor's note: After we published this story on Dec. Adapted from Margot Lee Shetterly's book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, the film focuses on three real-life African-American female pioneers: Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who were part of NASA's team of human 'computers.' This was a group made up of mostly women who calculated by hand the complex equations that allowed space heroes like Neil Armstrong, Alan Shepard, and Glenn to travel safely to space.

Hidden colors full of falsehoods