
- #KATHERINE JOHNSON NASA WORKER HOW TO#
- #KATHERINE JOHNSON NASA WORKER MOVIE#
- #KATHERINE JOHNSON NASA WORKER FREE#
Johnson's own empowering narrative is complemented by the recollections of her two daughters about their mother's work and insights about how she illuminated their paths, including one daughter's fight for civil rights and another's journey to become a NASA mathematician herself. This inspirational picture book reveals what is was like for a young black mother of three to navigate the difficult world of the 1950s and 60s and to succeed in an unwelcoming industry to become one of the now legendary hidden figures of NASA computing and space research. I am proud to be a part of that growing history along with Katherine.About the Book "NASA computer scientist Katherine Johnson and her two daughters tell the story of how she overcame racial barriers to play an integral role during the American space program's early days"-īook Synopsis A 2021 Publishers Weekly Black History Month pick! History cannot be changed, only learned about. Some real prejudices were worse than that.
#KATHERINE JOHNSON NASA WORKER MOVIE#
But don't judge this movie based on that. Did she run almost a mile to the bathroom? Maybe, maybe not. As a child I remember the black/white bathrooms-not being allowed in Howard Johnson's on the turnpike and going shopping in the department store via the back warehouse door. The portrayal of bigotry and indifference is real. I only wished that those women had been recognized a little sooner for their contributions to the NASA PROJECT. We always laugh and say "We were the first." Because we knocked down those walls of prejudice and differences and created a path for people of all colors to follow. Many of my friends that started when I started, are still in touch. But believe me, I am a living witness at age 67 to recall the bigotry and hatred I once experienced as a young woman 18 years old, only to retire from the company with much respect. This movie may make some people uncomfortable, and perhaps you don't believe it was like that for smart black women, actually any black person. We went to their parties, instead of cleaning up after the parties. We became their bridesmaids instead of their maids. We did end up with white women becoming our best friends. We did earn engineering degrees at night and worked our way up. But over the course of 10- 40 years, we earned that respect. It took years before we were looked at like humans-before people would talk to us, eat at the same lunch table, sometimes they would make us wait last to get on the elevators to go home. To make a long story short, we black women stayed. Of course, I was never paid what she made.
#KATHERINE JOHNSON NASA WORKER FREE#
I had to type for the controller, because of my super fast, error free statistical typing skills while his secretary filed her nails and poured coffee. While whites with less education and less seniority were chosen over and over again over me. I took all of the courses required to get out of the steno pool, but was consistently turned down 10 years trying to become an Accounting Clerk. The same one in the movie! But we had to care for their machines as well as our own.

Shucks, I had to be the best! I was awed to have typed on the IBM Selectric typewriter. Their typing speeds only had to be 45-50 to get in.
#KATHERINE JOHNSON NASA WORKER HOW TO#
The white girls didn't even know how to change the typewriter ribbons. We took it! We were treated like we were from a 3rd world country. But under no circumstances was I going to allow somebody else to take this job away from me. We were laughed at and talked about in front of our faces. It wasn't a rule, but we were shoved to the back. There were no black/white bathrooms, but we were pushed to the back of the line and not allowed to use the mirrors until all the white girls had left the restrooms. But the minute I walked out on the floor, all eyes were on me. I had an academic diploma with business classes as my minor. We all had to have 3.8-4.0 QPA's and be able to type 80-100 words per minute and transcribe at 100 wpm. This was based on efforts from the community to hire black employees.


They came to the black high schools and wanted the top 3 stenographers from each school to apply to their company. I remember in my senior year, Westinghouse Electric was located in a black community but had no black employees. In the late 60's, there were race riots and lots of racial conflicts. I and many other blacks had no knowledge of this crew of women and how they contributed to the NASA project. I was actually a teen when John Glen took his trip into space. I was employed by a major company in the late 60's This movie occurred a little before that.

I'm not much of a movie watcher but was greatly impressed with the movie. My grandson advised me to watch this movie.
