![]() ![]() That time when Mary goes to court to request the right to attend night classes at the local segregated school to become an engineer, arguing to the judge that just like he had been the “first” in his family to become a judge, she was looking to become the “first” NASA woman engineer too.That moment when Katherine finally discloses to her boss (played by an ever-charming Kevin Costner) that her long, daily absences are due to her having to run over 4o minutes across the Langley Center to the only “colored” bathroom, and stands up for herself by denouncing the blatant racism around her, including the dingy coffee pitcher with a “colored” label on it reserved for her.But it’s three of these moments that hugged my Black working woman’s conscience tighter than spandex leggings on a diet cheat day: There were many moments in the movie that grabbed me by the throat, threatening to make me break into the “ugly cry” all over my over-buttered popcorn. Against all odds, Dorothy teaches herself the art of programming, and becomes NASA’s first African-American manager. Dorothy, played by the fabulous Octavia Butler, is a dedicated, generous to a fault, group leader fighting for an overdue promotion, while facing the risk of her entire team being replaced by a new IBM machine. ![]() On the other hand, Mary Jackson, played by Janelle Monae, is one feisty sister battling racist bureaucratic hurdles to become the first NASA woman engineer. As the sole Black woman in the room, she faces blatant discrimination, even as she produces work of outstanding quality. Henson), a mathematics genius in her own right, gets assigned to the illustrious task group in charge of sending the first American man to space. It’s in this highly heated context that Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. was desperate to beat the Soviet Union in the “race to space”. Based on the book of the same name by author Margot Lee Shetterly, it tells of extraordinary willpower by amazing women in the midst of a gut-wrenching struggle.Īs a result of Virginia’s strict segregation laws at the time, African-American women computers worked in their own “colored” building in the reputable Langley Center. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who in the 1950s, literally calculated by hand the launch of astronaut John Glenn’s trajectory into space. The movie recounts the stories of Katherine G. It also accomplished the amazing feat of successfully telling many of our own untold stories… Yet, at the same time, you have this yearning at the pit of your stomach to honor the stories of those who went before you and make them part of your own… And Hidden Figures doesn’t just succeed at making the stories of three pioneering African-American whose work for NASA contributed in several historic space missions part of my own. There comes a point when, as a Black or minority person, you get slightly weary of watching anything reminiscent of your community’s suffering and challenges. I have to say, I was both excited and a bit apprehensive. After weeks of anticipation and Internet-scouring, I finally left the kids with their dad, fixed my ‘fro, and went on a girl-movie-date with my sis-in-law to see “ Hidden Figures“.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |