The #1 New York Times bestseller The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians
at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space--a
powerful revelatory history essential to our understanding of race discrimination and
achievement in modern America. The basis for the smash Academy Award-nominated film starring
Taraji P. Henson Octavia Spencer Janelle Monae Kirsten Dunst and Kevin Costner. 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.
Suddenly these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills and they
answered Uncle Sam's call moving to Hampton Virginia and the fascinating high-energy world
of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Even as Virginia's Jim Crow laws required them
to be segregated from their white counterparts the women of Langley'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. Starting in World War II
and moving through to the Cold War the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race Hidden
Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan Mary Jackson Katherine Johnson and
Christine Darden four African American women who participated in some of NASA's greatest
successes. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges forged
alliances and used their intellect to change their own lives and their country's future.
-WINNER OF ANISFIELD-WOLF AWARD FOR NONFICTION -WINNER BLACK CAUCUS OF AMERICAN LIBRARY
ASSOCIATION BEST NONFICTION BOOK -WINNER NAACP IMAGE AWARD BEST NONFICTION BOOK -WINNER
NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE COMMUNICATION AWARD
