Our class went to see the film, Hidden Figures,….. Below are excerpts from diary entries written by fourth graders from the perspectives of one of the three women in the film: Katherine Johnson— mathematician/astrophysicist Mary Jackson— engineer Dorothy Vaughn— manager, learns to program Alden: “Today I had another hard day at NASA. They moved me to the a position in the office where the white people work. …In the 1960’s there is so much segregation. With everything! …It is especially hard in Virginia no matter what the law is.” Alex: “…It is tough being a black girl in 1961. Not many white people respected me or the way I felt like I should be respected. It felt like no one listened to me sometimes, they just wanted me to leave them alone because of how I look. I go to the library and can’t get the book I want because of my skin color. It is not fair.” Asher: “…Because I am black I do not get the same rights of white people. This is making me really mad because my skin color should not change the way people treat me. When I take the bus to work I have to sit in the back of the bus and to me I am equal to the whites who sit in the front of the bus. Everyday I have to use separate bathrooms and water fountains and that makes me feel like I am too different and I cannot fit in. When I am at NASA and working in my office I do not like that is is segregated. I do not hate white people, why do they hate me?…My life is full of challenges but I like to overcome them.” Avery: “…As a women and being African American I would never, we would never, be looked at like a white man or women. I would always be picked last for everything compared to a white man or women. Also when I am compared to a white man or women and the person who was picking knew me, the white man or women would try to cheat their way. I kind of felt like they wanted me to mess up when they crossed out the stuff that I was reading. The last challenge that I am going to mention to you diary is that it is such a challenge to have to run half a mile to the bathroom. And then my boss gets mad at me and I have to stay late. Well I got so mad. He finally asked me, “Why are you gone so for 40 minutes every day?” So I told him or yelled it to him. Now there aren’t any more signs that say “Colored Only” or “Whites Only.” Crosby: “…People segregated my bathroom which makes it far away and then my boss yelled at me for being away for 40 minutes a day just for going to the bathroom. When I walked into the place where I was going to work everybody stared at me and after the first day I can’t drink coffee. Every time I finish one project I have to start all over again from changes they make in the briefing room….It has not been easy getting to this day as African American women but I have thrived.” Ezra: “…My job at NASA is to make math calculations to help the rockets go into space and land safely…When I was a kid I was always good at math. When I started working as a mathematician at NASA I was really happy…until I had to go to the bathroom…Also, in the room where I was working there was a coffee machine for all the white people, but only a coffee pot for me…with no coffee in it!!!” “In my free time I go to church and spend time with my family and friends. Sometimes I go over to Mary or Dorothy’s house, or they come over to mine. No matter what, I LOVE hanging out with them….Mr. Harrison had put me back in the west area because the computer could do all the calculations in a split second, but when John Glenn said that if he got the calculations from me he would feel more safe. When I okayed the calculations everyone was happy and John Glenn got into space.” Gia: “…Here at NASA, I am a calculator. I get all the calculations done for the spacecraft launches. Sometimes, I feel like I am not being appreciated enough, but then again, I am a negro woman in the 1960’s, so chances of being appreciated are almost at a 40% chance of being successful.” “I have a tough life. The negro women’s bathrooms are all the way in the West Area Computing Section, which is where I get most of my work done. My boss can be very hard at some points in the day, so I have to be very careful around him.” “Whenever I have to go home, I take Dorothy’s car, and so does Mary. Once, we almost got towed. A police officer came over, but luckily our jobs (actually, our NASA ID tags) saved us. He even offered us a ride!” Jade: “My name is Katherine Johnson. My job is mathematician/astrophysicist of NASA. I used to be Katherine Goble. I also used to work in the West Area Computing Section. I got a technical promotion to the Space Task Group. As an African American woman, I had a few difficulties in my life. There were NO colored bathrooms in the building where I newly worked, everyone except for one person was a man but everyone in the place was white. They acted weird around me. I’m the same though and will always know that. Also outside people still treat African Americans the same so there are still protests and sit ins. Anyway I’m happy NASA finally launched someone (John Glenn) into space.” Kieran: “It’s hard being segregated from all the whites and not being allowed to be equals with them. I want to take classes to become an engineer but the classes are in a white high school. I’m going to have to go to court to get the classes. I got a seat in the court and soon I will be going to court. The redstone rocket is not yet ready for launch. It needs something else to hold the heat shield in place other than the bolts. But I can’t be an engineer and work on the stuff that I want without attending those classes.” “When I’m not at work I’m at home with my son and my daughter and my not very supportive husband. I take the children to church on Sunday. Dorothy and Katherine are my best friends and it is nice to hang out with them. We eat food, chat, and get Katherine engaged.” Laiali: “I work at NASA in the West Computing Group. I calculate math for the launch and landing of rockets. I do important work at NASA. John Glenn made sure I checked the math for his landing. I double-check and make my calculations.” “I feel honored, but lots of people don’t think I should have the job. And I was privileged to work on the assignment. I follow the rules, go to the colored bathrooms yet still I get in trouble. White men and women were giving me a hard time getting comfortable with the job, I had to do everything different than white people, work harder than white people-especially before John Glenn’s flight and landing.” Lorenzo: “…It is hard being an African-American. My friend, Mary, is an engineer but had to stop when the NASA team said, you don’t have the degrees to be an engineer, so you have to go to this school. The school is an white only school. …Dorothy said I was the best at math, so, now I am an Astrophysicist. I like my job it is hard, and I am probably the best at math in that room. Off to the moon we go!” Makeda: “…I worked in the West Area Computing Room with all the other colored computers at NASA. Recently I got an assignment to work on the capsule that will hold one of the astronauts going into space. I would love to be an engineer but to be an engineer at NASA requires to take a whites only night class at an all white high school.” “The sixties is a segregated time and I am sure we can get past that. But for now I have to go to court just to take night classes at a high school. Of course that means the high school is segregated but it is also the only way for me to become an engineer at NASA. And since that is what I really truly want to be I will make sure that judge uses his mind and uses it well so I can go to those night classes. Because if I was a white man I already would be.” “I love spending time with my kids and husband Levi but sometimes he just gets too worked up about how I’m never home. I’m sad to say he’s right but it’s what I have to do to support my family and I can’t stop now because NASA still needs to put a man into space. I also am determined to stop all this nonsense segregation.” Margot: “…It’s so maddening, all the segregation. I almost didn’t get into school because of it. And sometimes white police officers stop us on the side of the road for no particular reason and I have to be cross with them. We never do anything bad on a daily basis and they stop us, and question us like they would never do to a white man or woman. Sometimes I just need to have fun and cool off. Maybe crack a few jokes that’ll make Kat and Dorothy laugh.” “I was so determined to get into that all-white school. I didn’t stop. I argued with the judge until he said I could go to the night classes. I am not stopping until I get my degree and become a successful engineer. If white men can do it, a black woman-the complete opposite-can do it too.” “…Change happened when I got up the courage to go to that judge and fight for me to go to school. I’d like to become an engineer (so much) and that’s not going to happen without change. Some of it happened when Kat’s boss, Mr. Harrison took down all the signs in every building so that the bathrooms were not segregated. Now that’s what I call integration.”   Miles: “I was so scared when John Glenn finally started to land. I was a big part of this and I didn’t want to be the one who messed it up. It turns out my calculations were correct and they orbited the first man into space. I had to calculate the numbers and where he was going to land and how fast he was going to be going. That is a big part of it. I guess I was misjudged just because some computer was “ better than me.” “I was also misjudged by my race and gender. I was not allowed in the boardroom because I was a woman. But it turns out that I was a big help and I saved John Glenn. If I hadn’t been there John Glenn might have crashed and died.” Nate: “I’m so happy I worked at NASA. I worked as an engineer. I’m so proud. We got a man into space I hope we can get another man into space soon. I feel like I did an accomplishment. I got to be one of the first African American woman to be an engineer….After all I had to do, I find it worth it – all the hardships that I faced. But I managed to get through.” “It was nice to go to church on Sundays instead of working. At church they told us we did a good job and they said our names in church. It’s nice to look back at what changed in my life…I hope it made people think that you can’t take no for an answer. Being a woman of color really made things harder. If I was not black I could have easily gone to a white only school to become an engineer.” Romy: “I am Katherine Johnson I work at NASA an important space company. At NASA I am a computer. Since I was little I have always been very talented with math and numbers. Some challenges I have faced in my life are people misjudging me because of my skin color and my gender. …The way I would described myself would be (not to brag): smart,funny, caring and most of all, I am very determined.” Sam: “Dear diary, My name is Katherine, I am a mathematician and an astrophysicist. I work at NASA. I make sure rocket ships get into the air safely by using my math skills. I’m confident about getting my math right. I always try to be nice to people who are not my skin color even though they are usually not nice to me.” “In Virginia there are lots of protests because it’s a segregated state. Since it is segregated not everyone can do what they want to do. I do not feel very comfortable in this state but I like my job here at NASA. I got better at math and geometry by working hard and being confident.” Yves: “My job is to calculate the things needed for a spaceship to get into orbit. I help the other people at NASA and double check their work. After the Friendship 7 landing I could now be part of the control room where people can check on the astronauts and see how the spaceship is doing. John Glenn trusted my calculations more than the computer.” Zen: “Dear Diary, I’ve been working as a supervisor with all of my ladies of the West Computing Group. The IBM 7090 DPS the big computer that can process 24,000 problems in a fraction of a second which is amazing. All of us are supposed to run this machine and program all of the calculations that NASA needs. I love my job right now and I think NASA needs me. They couldn’t figure it out themselves so I had to break in and fix it. They weren’t too mad… I guess.” ]]>