Even as Virginias Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langleys 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. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sams call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Originally relegated to teaching math in the Souths segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when Americas aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. 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. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner. The basis for the smash Academy Award-nominated film starring Taraji P. Book Synopsis The #1 New York Times bestseller The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of Americas greatest achievements in space-a powerful, revelatory history essential to our understanding of race, discrimination, and achievement in modern America.

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly