Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures is a 2016 American historical drama film about Black women mathematicians whose work supported NASA during the Space Race.

Katherine Johnson: Katherine Johnson was an American mathematician whose calculations supported NASA’s crewed spaceflights. Taraji P. Henson portrays Johnson, whose trajectory calculations feature prominently in the film.
Hidden Figures (book): Hidden Figures is Margot Lee Shetterly’s 2016 nonfiction book about Black women mathematicians at NASA. The film adapts Shetterly’s account of the women and their work.
Project Mercury: Project Mercury was the United States’ first human spaceflight program, operating from 1958 to 1963. The film follows calculations supporting Mercury missions, including John Glenn’s orbital flight.
Jim Crow laws: Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation and disenfranchisement across the American South from the late nineteenth century into the 1960s. The film depicts segregation shaping access to facilities and workplace life at Langley.
Dorothy Vaughan: Dorothy Vaughan was an American mathematician and NASA’s first Black supervisor, leading a group of human computers. Octavia Spencer portrays Vaughan as she prepares her team for electronic computing.
Margot Lee Shetterly: Margot Lee Shetterly is an American writer whose nonfiction book Hidden Figures inspired the film. Her research supplied the film’s source material and historical subjects.
John Glenn: John Glenn was an American astronaut and politician who became the first American to orbit Earth in 1962. The film dramatizes Glenn’s request that Johnson verify the computer-generated flight calculations.
Racial segregation in the United States: Racial segregation in the United States separated people by race through law, custom, and institutional practice. The film’s segregated workplace and public facilities reflect a broader system.
Mary Jackson: Mary Jackson was an American mathematician and aerospace engineer who became NASA’s first Black female engineer. Janelle Monáe portrays Jackson pursuing the engineering credentials depicted in the film.
The Space Race: The Space Race was the Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve milestones in spaceflight. The film places its characters’ work within the contest that drove NASA’s early missions.

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