![]() In 1951 she became one of NACA's first women section heads as well as the base's only Colored manager.Ī White woman, Margery Hannah, was the head of West Computing and was Dorothy's boss. ![]() She arrived believing she was accepting a temporary job however, her work had become so highly respected that not only was she still at Langley years later, but in 1949, she had been promoted to acting head of the group. She had been recruited to Langley in 1943 from Farmville, Virginia, where she had been working as a math teacher. Vaughan, as I called her at work, was an honors graduate of Wilberforce University with a degree in math. "I'm thrilled to be here and am ready to work."īefore long, I'd learn that Mrs. "My goodness! I've heard so many amazing things about you, but had no idea that the person I've been hearing about was you," I said, recalling our days back in White Sulphur when the girls were little. I turned around to a smiling woman whose right hand was outstretched - the same woman I'd met back in White Sulphur and whose daughter had often sat on my parents' front porch. "Katherine?" A familiar voice from behind me brought me out of my reverie. I'd learn that all of us were known as computers with skirts. Most were White a smaller number were Colored. I knew that the engineers were all men the computers were all women. Long before the electronic device we now know as a computer came into being, "computer" was the job title given to the women who performed mathematical calculations for Langley's engineers. The click, click, click of their fingers running across the ten-by-ten gray manual keyboards of their calculators resonated throughout the room. These were the highly regarded computers I'd been hearing about. Nor were any of them domestics, the job so many Colored women worked in back then. And not one of them was a teacher or a nurse, the professions that were most common for Colored career women. Back then a room filled with so many professional Colored women was a rare sight. All of the women were neatly dressed in blouses and jackets and skirts. Then she opened a door and ushered me in.Īs I stepped into the room, I witnessed something that I'd never seen before: a couple of dozen Colored women sitting at desks, typing on Monroe or Friden desktop calculating machines. My heart beat with excitement as a woman led me over to the Aircraft Loads Building. Katherine Johnson, former NASA mathematician and author of the kids' autobiography "Reaching for the Moon." (Image credit: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing) ![]() Related: How 'Hidden Figures' Came Together: Interview with Author Margot Shetterly I was really excited about this job - and as a mathematician I would be getting paid three times as much as I'd been paid as a teacher. I didn't appreciate her comment, but there was a tightrope I needed to walk. "This is just my first day," I replied, taken aback. ![]() "Don't come in here in two weeks asking for a transfer," the human resources director told me. I was to report to a branch called West Area Computing and would be on probation for six months. Women whose degrees were in other disciplines were hired to be what were called computers. When I arrived at Langley later that morning, I discovered that since I had a bachelor's degree in mathematics, I would be hired as a mathematician. "I don't know, honey, but I know it will be important." The book requires attention and good comprehension skills of solo readers, but the effort will be worth it for older elementary kids who are budding astronomers or just love biographies."What secret project do you think the government will have me working on?" I wondered aloud to Jimmie, who lay awake in bed alongside me. Pages often include several paragraphs, so the text can feel quite dense and slow moving. The book does not explain how Black women came to work at Langley as human computers, which would have been welcome as a part of the historical context. The story doesn't emphasize or ignore the racism and sexism she faced, but emphasizes her brilliance and indispensability to NASA. The timeline focuses on Katherine's early life as a math whiz kid, grade-skipper and her early college admittance, marriage and kids, and impressive career at NASA through John Glen's 1962 orbit of the earth, for which she calculated flight paths. Spreads of illustrator Raúl Colón's trademark brushed-through pictures subtly make Katherine the star with prismatic rainbow dresses, while the men get plain white shirts. This information-rich book with its luminous illustrations tells a compelling story about an important American historical figure.
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