![]() ![]() As research becomes more specialized, it makes sense for computers to specialize as well, joining engineering teams so their math is more accurate for specific experiments. Research becomes more experimental after wartime pressures lift, and in 1947, an American aircraft breaks the sound barrier. Vaughan works at the NACA for seven months before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and when WWII ends, she keeps her job at Langley, unlike many women across America. ![]() The computers do long, complex equations by hand, supporting engineers who are trying to improve aircraft. ![]() One of Vaughan’s fellow West Computers, Miriam Mann, steals the “COLORED COMPUTERS” sign from their segregated cafeteria table, a small act of protest until Langley stops replacing the sign. At Langley, attitudes toward the computers range from friendliness to hostility, with most engineers ambivalent-as long as computers can do math, they’re useful, white or black. Restaurants that won’t serve Dorothy Vaughan will happily serve Germans from the POW camp in the area. When Vaughan arrives at Langley, overcrowding and Jim Crow laws have tensions running high, as the American Negro is conflicted in their search for the “double V” (victory abroad, over the Axis powers, and victory at home, over racism and inequality). Vaughan is a hardworking, frugal, brilliant high school mathematics teacher, mother of four (and later more), who applies to the job at Langley after seeing Butler’s multiple flyers for the position. Langley creates the “West Computers,” named for their segregated space in the West Area, and hires (among other mathematicians) Dorothy Vaughan. Shetterly knows many of these women and their families personally, and as she digs deeper into their stories, she discovers that there are hundreds upon hundreds of them, largely forgotten by history.īlack women were first hired at Langley during the height of WWII, when the NACA personnel manager at the time, Melvin Butler, faced enormous pressure to keep Langley properly staffed during wartime. Hidden Figures opens with a prologue in which the author, Margot Lee Shetterly, outlines her research into the women-particularly black women-who worked as “human computers” at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, from the 1940s on. This guide follows Shetterly's example, using the terms that Shetterly includes where she includes them. "Negro." "Colored." "Indian." "Girls." Though some readers might find the language of Hidden Figures discordant to their modern ears, I've made every attempt to remain true to the time period, and to the voices of the individuals represented in this story. Hidden Figuresbegins with the following author's note from Shetterly: ![]()
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