The Oscar nominated film (which as of this writing I haven't seen yet) is based on this book.
It is the story of how a group of women, black women, entered the white male dominated engineering field at what would become NASA. The not only had to face the way women were treated as less but also the way black people were kept apart and treated as less than their white counterparts. And they did so with such amazing class and grace.
These women were smart, capable, and pioneers. They worked on projects that in time landed men on the moon. And they neither asked for nor received the much deserved credit they should have been given.
At a time when black Americans were barely afforded an education there were women who excelled in math and science and blazed a trail without knowing they were doing it. When they did realize it they went on to bring along others, inspiring young people to pursue their interests and talents in the fields of math, physics, science, etc.
Shetterly does a great job telling their stories and making them come to life on the pages, even when a lot of the ideas the women were working on made no sense to me. It is shameful that these women aren't better known but thanks to the movie based on the book an interest in them has been ignited and I hope more girls, especially girls of color, find hope in the stories of
Dorothy "Dot" Vaughan
Katherine Johnson
Mary Jackson
Christine Darden
Eunice Smith
And all of the other amazing women who were the first computers
(Finished February 25, 2017)
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