I went to see Hidden Figures on the Martin Luther King holiday, and it was a perfect way to celebrate. The lines were surprisingly long, the audience diverse – young and old, black and white.
The movie is based on the non-fiction book of the same name written by Margot Lee Shetterly and tells the story of a team of African-American women who provide NASA with important mathematical data needed to launch the program’s first successful space missions. Taraji P. Henson stars as Katherine Gobel Johnson, a mathematician (called a calculator, since there were no machines at that point in time) who calculated the flight trajectories for Project Mercury and the Mercury rockets – a step up from the Redstone rocket which launched Alan Shepard in and up and down trip out of Earth’s atmosphere. Octavia Spencer, who makes me want to hug her in every role she plays, is Dorothy Vaughn, who oversees the group of African American women computers and who teaches herself Fortran, so when the room-sized IBM computer arrives, she is qualified to run it. Janelle Monae plays Mary Jackson, who becomes the first black woman engineer at NASA, despite the obstacles in place to prevent her from getting a degree.
Physicist Katherine Johnson was known for her accuracy in computing celestial navigation, Her technical work at NASA spanned decades during which she calculated the trajectories, launch windows, and emergency back-up return paths for many flights from Project Mercury, including John Glenn’s first mission, the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the moon, the Space Shuttle Program and plans for a Mars mission.
Mathematician Dorothy Vaughn was assigned by NASA to the West End Computers, the segregated group consisting of all-African American women who worked on mathematical calculations by hand using tools to improve accuracy in space flight. She moved into the area of electronic computing when the first computers were introduced at NASA. Vaughan did computer programming, becoming proficient in coding languages, and also contributed to the space program through her work on the Scout Launch Vehicle Program.
Mary Jackson began her career at NASA as a research mathematician, or computer, working under Dorothy Vaughan the segregated West Area Computing Section. She accepted an offer to work in the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, a wind tunnel used to study forces on a model by generating winds at almost twice the speed of sound. Jackson was encouraged to undergo training to become an engineer. Jackson needed to take graduate-level night courses in math and physics, offered by the University of Virginia at Hampton High School, which was at that time white-only. She petitioned the City of Hampton to allow her to attend the classes, and was promoted to aerospace engineer in 1958, becaming NASA’s first black female engineer.
The movie was heart-warming and uplifting, celebrating the overlooked and crucial contributions of these women of NASA at a pivotal moment in our history. Ty Burr, who reviewed it for The Boston Globe, summed up my feelings about it succinctly: “the film’s made with more heart than art and more skill than subtlety, and it works primarily because of the women that it portrays and the actresses who portray them. Best of all, you come out of the movie knowing who Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson are, and so do your daughters and sons.”
Ten stars!!!
I just saw this movie yesterday and I LOVE every moment of it! Not only was it inspiring but it shed light (abet a small one) on the darker side of our country as well. I’m so glad that we’re making so much headway since then. 😀
I was proud of our progress since then, and very proud of the space program. On to Mars!
I am impressed by this women and thank you very much for having written this post.😀
Do check out the movie! They are incredible women!
💐
I didn’t think I’d heard of this film, but as soon as you outlined the plot, I knew I had – and want to see it! Or read the book! Or both! I’m a fan of the uncovering of stories of women in science, however much has to be read between the scarce facts. The people doing the in-between seem in general to underplay the barriers, rather than sensationalise them – I hope that continues, since the underplay is outrageous enough.
This one you will really like, Jemima. And it had humor!
Looking forward to seeing this movie. These women were so smart – it’s great to see them recognized!
Yes, finally. The women’s movement came late to the South,
when it comes here it will be on my list.
And you will really enjoy it!
I will. Next week I hope
Thanks for the preview, Noelle. We’ve read and discussed RISE OF THE ROCKET GIRLS at local book club. Looking forward to watching the movie now! 🙂
It is a bit simplistic, and schmaltzy, and I loved every minute of it!
I have heard very good things about this movie, thank you for your review!
You’re welcome!!
I’m going to see it on Wednesday. Looking forward to it.
Let me know what you think!
Will do😍
Thanks Noelle, for this marvelous review. I had been wondering about this movie. Well done. Hugs.
Thanks, Teagan. Do see it!
Great review thank you. This film achieves what any bio-pic drama can hope for: it offers feel-good entertainment while informing about a remarkable episode in history. Its also part of a wider cultural adjustment to the historical record which is mostly written by men for men. It will take decades to correct the chronicles and show the role of women in its correct light.
Thank you! This is the first movie review I have done, but I liked this movie so much, I had to do it. I do like books and movies about women, especially those who are significant but have gone unnoticed..
Great Review’s Come Check Out Some Of Ours!
http://www.nowthatsamoviereview.com
Happy to do so! Thanks!
That is a thorough review and I also liked this movie
check out my review
https://gesreview.com/2017/02/10/hidden-figures-review/
So nice we agree!
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