Social Justice Event- Hidden Figures

For my Social Justice Event, Kayla and I watched the movie, Hidden Figures at her house. We were able to find the movie on her TV On Demand. It blew my mind at first watching this movie, because I actually got to see from an African American woman's point of view about how times were during segregation in the 1960s. It must of felt so degrading having to work in poorer conditioned facilities and getting paid lower than you deserved. I couldn't even imagine how it felt walking down the streets and getting a dirty look or seeing a white woman hold her children behind her just because she came across someone with colored skin. I noticed throughout the movie how ignorant white Americans were to African Americans, in the work force and society. For example, when Katherine Johnson had to walk about a half a mile during work everyday just to go to the "Colored bathrooms." Another example, was when her friend Dorothy Vaughan went into the library and into the white section in order to find the book she wanted. As she was looking in the aisles she was confronted by a white woman who noticed that she wasn't in the "colored" section. Dorothy Vaughan was then escorted out of the library by an officer all because she went into the white section for a few minutes trying to find a book. Then there was their friend, Mary Jackson, who at first was offered a position to be NASA's first female engineer, but then later was told she had to attend classes at an all white school, in order to get the position. However, one person that really stuck out to me was Al Harrison, a white American, the head of the Task Group for NASA. He wasn't a supporter of segregation, his main goal was to send the astronaut, John Glenn into space. There was a scene where Katherine became fed up with the segregation laws and explained to Harrison why she was never in the office when he needed her because she was always running a long distance to the bathroom. That's when Harrison took matters into his own hands and knocked down the "Colored bathrooms" sign and allowed everyone to use the same bathrooms. Harrison not only recognized Katherine's brilliant mind, he also selected her to be apart of his team for NASA. She was the first African American woman to have her calculations used for the Apollo II mission to the moon and space shuttle. Remember, Mary Jackson? She ended up winning the court date in order to attend the classes and then became the first female African American aeronautical engineer at NASA. Mrs. Jackson also became Langley's Women's Program manager. Lastly, then there was Dorothy Vaughan who became NASA's first African American supervisor and she was the first person to get the IBM to work. This movie is based on the true events on the many accomplishments that these three African American women working for NASA made during a significant mark in history, John Glenn, an astronaut's first launch into orbit. Overall, I learned many remarkable things from this movie, that regardless of your skin color you are able to make a change in society. These three powerful women taught me that as long as you have the will power and never give up, anything is possible.

Three connections to in class readings:

1. McIntosh-  A connection from this movie and her White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack article is the many advantages white people have compared to colored people.

2. Kozol- The poorer conditioned facilities that African Americans had to work in vs. the well-constructed facilities that white Americans had including more bathrooms.

3. Christensen- Paul Stafford deeply believed in white male privilege and felt like his position at NASA was being threatened because of Katherine, who became the brains of their group. Therefore, in the beginning of the film he was making a gender stereotype out of Katherine that just because she was a woman she didn't belong and ended up underestimating her abilities.

Hyperlinks:

1. This is a biography of the real Katherine Johnson.

2. This is a biography of the real Dorothy Vaughan.

3. This is a biography of the real Mary Jackson.

4. This is a link to the trailer of the movie.