Hidden Figures is about three African American women who work at NASA as mathematicians and how they fight for equal rights in the workplace. Since they are both women and African American, they face a lot of discrimination such as passive comments, people not wanting to touch objects that they, in particular, have used, and of course the fact that segregation was everywhere. Throughout the movie, they present determination and strength to prove themselves equal as women and as African Americans. In the movie, two of the women are promoted to much higher positions whilst one is left as a supervisor of other African American women. In the end, all three main characters are extremely successful and are recognized as brilliant minds. This movie doesn’t relate to beauty/body standards in the media, but it is very empowering to women everywhere. It shows the hardship many women had to face to get to where we are now. We may not be equal in the workplace yet, but this is just the beginning. This made me feel inspired to work for something that I’m passionate about. Something I really liked about the movie was the friendship between the three main character and their personalities. They were each so intelligent and easy to watch that the movie went by very quickly. One line I distinctly remember was “it’s not because we wear skirts, it’s because we wear glasses,” and for some reason, I found that very moving and so did everyone else in the theater. I also found it even more interesting that the movie was based on true events and real people. For the teach-in, I think it would be a good idea to mention the movie, maybe show the trailer to show that women’s equality is just important as realistic neatly standards.

Hidden Figures Cover