Hidden Figures The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space, including John Glenn's orbit and the Apollo missions. Set against the Jim Crow South and the Civil Rights Movement, the book chronicles the careers of exceptional African-American women, such as Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, who worked as 'human computers' at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, Virginia, starting in World War II. Even while facing segregation and discrimination, these women of the all-black 'West Computing' group used their intellect to provide the vital numbers that helped the US achieve a decisive victory in the Space Race over the Soviet Union. It is a powerful, revelatory history that illuminates a crucial, yet often overlooked, chapter in the history of race, discrimination, and achievement in modern America, chronicling their challenges, alliances, and contributions over nearly three decades.

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