Bibliograph

Hidden figures, the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race, by Margot Lee Shetterly

Type

Label

Hidden figures, the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race, by Margot Lee Shetterly

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-328) and index

resource.biographical

collective biography

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Hidden figures

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

950004289

Responsibility statement

by Margot Lee Shetterly

Sub title

the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race

Summary

Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South’s segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America’s aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Even as Virginia’s Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory's all-black “West Computing” group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens

Target audience

general

Classification