A Giant Leap For Women

Elizabeth McKenna
Nov 5 · 3 min read

By: Liz McKenna

Hidden Figures is a movie that takes place in Hampton, Virginia in 1961 during the Cold War. This true story revolves around three African American women who work for NASA. Katherine Johnson worked on the Friendship 7 mission, Dorothy Vaughan became NASA’s first black supervisor, and Mary Jackson became NASA’s first black female engineer. These three women helped to break down barriers of space, gender, and race. Hidden Figures tells the important story of these women and how they changed the way African American women are treated in a professional setting.

In the first ten minutes of the movie we are shown the three main characters on the side of the road fixing their car. The women are already running late for work when a cop pulls up behind them, and they immediately stop working on the car and stand up straight. In a stern voice Dorothy states, “Fixing a car isn’t illegal”, Mary in response, “Niether is being a negro.” In this scene the audience is first shown what it is like to be black in the 60’s, and the discrimination they face on a daily basis. The cop is surprised when he finds out the three women work for NASA stating, “I had no idea they hired…”, he suddenly pauses and scans the women then Katherine interrupts, “There are quite a few women working at NASA.” She says this with a little smirk on her face, almost like she’s laughing at the cop for making a fool of himself. At work the “colored” women have to work in a completely different building called the West Wing. Katherine Johnson was the first to leave the building and join an all white male task force to do trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard’s Friendship 7 mission. She wasn’t greeted kindly and everyone stares at her as she walks past. I thought this scene was very powerful because she was the first African American woman to step foot into that room. She proves her skills and shows the men she is capable of anything they can do, if not more. The men are intimidated by her and treat like she is less than, but she doesn’t let that stop her from becoming “indispensable” to mission.

Another stories being told throughout the movie are those of Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan. We see them struggle to be taken seriously at their job and fight to get what is rightfully theirs. Mary had to take high school night classes in order to become an engineer, and she had to make her case in front of a judge. She was granted the right to take the classes, and we see her succeed at something she claimed was “impossible” at the beginning of the movie. As for Dorothy, she was asked to be supervisor of a group of men, but refused unless her girls from the West Wing could come with her. To her surprise they allowed it, and Dorothy not only got herself a better position but 20 other women as well.

In the end, Hidden Figures is an important movie that everyone should see, especially young girls. Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy helped pave the way for other African American women in a professional field primarily made up of men. If it wasn’t for them America may have lost the “Space Race” in the late 60’s. This movie helped to shed light on a story that most people wouldn’t know about. These women should be an inspiration to every little girl out there, and because of this movie that became possible. By telling the story of these women viewers are brought out of the cave, and have to face the discrimination women and African Americans deal with. It’s a story of girl power and for fighting for what’s rightfully yours, but most importantly a story of hope.

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