Yes, there were many “ colored women” who worked essentially as rocket scientists. Even recent graduates from local historically black colleges and universities were considered for the position. Men were off to fight the Second World War, so the United States Government needed women to help on this front. In the 1940’s and 1950’s the precursor to NASA needed human computers to assist with calculations for the burgeoning space program.
Come to think of it, I could say the same thing about 2014’s Black or White since it also featured Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer… While the movie focuses on three main protagonists for dramatic effect ( Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan) and one to appease white guilt (here’s looking at you, Kevin Costner!) the storyline focuses on the power of love to overcome people’s fears and prejudices.
Yes, this paragraph was written for you, Mitch Daniels. It is for these reasons that the movie has an appeal to a wide audience, and is providing a safe-space for those who wish to have a conversation about the difficulties of diverse communities attempting to coexist. Well Hidden Figures is the epitome of this. People talk a lot these days about intersectionality, the concept of intersecting social identities. Just this past weekend, it won four NAACP Image Awards, and it has a very good chance of winning an Academy Award later this month. In fact, the movie is getting rave reviews, and has been nominated for at least 69 awards to date. The movie was better than it should have been. ( Cookie as a rocket scientist? Really?) But I was pleasantly surprised. I had not read the book, and I was somewhat skeptical whether it would be a good film. Over the 2016 Winter Break, I was able to take my three African-American nieces to see Hidden Figures for an early screening at my favorite theater, the ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood. With a complete title of Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, this incredibly-well researched book spans nearly half a century to chronicle the lives of African-Americans in Hampton, Virginia as the United States entered the Space Race.īut the main question I pose today is not “how did they overcome obvious adversity and discrimination to succeed?” but rather “why haven’t I heard about this until now?”
By now, you’re heard of Hidden Figures, a 20th Century Fox biographical drama which follows three African-American women who worked for NASA in the early 1960’s. The movie is based on a book written by Margot Lee Shetterly.
0 kommentar(er)
