Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
by Margot Lee Shetterly
Buy on AmazonThe phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner. Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation.…
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"The names Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan were never taught in any of my history classes. Hidden Figures introduced me to these “human computers” — two of the many African-American women who helped the U.S. win the “Space Race” in the 1960s. When I finished the book, I was left with a feeling of deep gratitude to author Margot Lee Shetterly for researching and telling these previously untold stories. The book is being adapted into a film — premiering in January — and perhaps these women will finally claim their hard-earned place in American history."
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