Hidden Figures 

by Margot Lee Shetterly is a nonfiction account of the Black women who

worked as human “computers” at NACA and NASA from the 1930s to the 1960s. The
book, published in 2016, chronicles the lives and achievements of three Black women —
Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson, and Mary Jackson — and the racism and gender
discrimination they overcame during World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, and the
Space Race. Critically and commercially successful, Hidden Figures was adapted into an
Oscar-nominated motion picture in 2016. The research accounted for in the book helped
bring the accomplishments of these three previously unknown figures to light.

Summary

Summary: Chapter One: A Door Opens

In 1938, as war in Europe seems increasingly likely, President Roosevelt challenges
America’s aircraft industry to dramatically increase its output. By 1940, U.S. aircraft
production far exceeds that of the Germany or Japan. Government oversight and support
are provided by NACA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Langley Field in
Hampton, Virginia, is home to Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, a NACA facility.
The lab is rapidly expanding its capacity to test new aircraft designs and suggest
improvements to manufacturers. New physical facilities are constantly being built, and
Melvin Butler, the head of personnel, has to hire more and more staff. To support the
engineers, he needs “computers”—human mathematicians who can analyze the
numerical data from wind tunnel tests. In the past few years, this has become a job for
women. They have proven to be good at the work, and because their pay is less than
men’s, Langley saves money.
By 1943, however, Butler is struggling to hire enough women calculators. Two years
earlier, a threatened strike by the railroad porters’ union, led by A. Philip Randolph,
prompted Roosevelt to sign two executive orders to desegregate the defense industry.
Now, Butler is seeing increasing numbers of applications from Black women wanting to
work as mathematicians. We don’t know what Butler may think privately about race, but
whatever those views are, he respects competence and needs all the help he can get.
Given the social rules of the time, a racially integrated workplace is not possible. In a just-
completed building, Butler quietly sets up a segregated workspace for the Black women.

Summary: Chapter Two: Mobilization

By the summer of 1943, American troops have been fighting in World War II for a year and
a half. Camp Pickett, thirty miles from Farmville, Virginia, is one of many training centers
that Black and white soldiers pass through before embarking for Europe. Dorothy
Vaughan, a Black mother of four, is working in the camp laundry. The work is hard, and
the pay, 40 cents per hour, is low for war workers. However, that wage is more than what
Dorothy earns as a high school math teacher during the rest of the year.

Dorothy was born in 1910. A gifted student, she skipped two grades on the way to
becoming high school valedictorian. She studied math in college, and a professor
recommended she go on to graduate school. The Great Depression had begun, however,
and so, to help support her parents, she instead became a math teacher. By 1943, she
had a family of her own and was teaching at Farmville’s Negro high school. In the spring,
she applied for the Camp Pickett job, to earn extra money that would someday help to pay
for her children’s college educations. However, Dorothy felt inspired by a newspaper
article about Black women at Hampton Institute, near the Langley facility, studying to be
engineers. When she saw a notice advertising jobs for women with knowledge of
mathematics to work at Langley, she filled out an application for that job, too.
Analysis: Chapters One & Two
The reductive language of the time appears throughout Hidden Figures, and it mirrors the
reductive manner in which society views women of color. Shetterly uses words like
“Negro,” “Colored,” and “Indian” in the narrative in order to stay true to the era and to
convey societal norms in the United States in the 1940s through the 1960s. These norms
also included referring to grown women as “girls,” and while it was not uncommon for
people to refer to white women as “girls” as well, they might also refer to white women of a
certain status by the genteel title “ladies.” The fact that the Black women in the book
remain “girls” in the eyes of their white peers, despite their advanced education and
professional responsibilities, illustrates that society did not see these women as deserving
of equal status regardless of their accomplishments. 
Referring to the women as “computers” instead of giving them a proper title echoes the
same reductive language as referring to them as girls. While actual computers were in
their infancy during the years that the book details, the employees of NACA and NASA
would have had more exposure to the concept of computing machines than the average
citizen of that time. Referring to the women as “computers” allows their superiors to
simultaneously invest in the accuracy of the women’s computations while viewing them as
less than human. Computers compute and they do so reliably, but they do not make
decisions, inspire a team, or feel human emotions. Equating the women to computers is a
leap in logic that allows others to view them as being separate from and inherently
unequal to them.

Shetterly establishes the theme of overcoming racism and sexism when the protagonists
obtain positions that challenge society’s preconceived notions of what Black women can
achieve. The era following World War II was a period when men held the vast majority of
positions of power in the United States and the prevailing attitude was that African
Americans were unfit for highly skilled jobs. Men in charge of hiring did not look beyond
race, color, and gender in order to find the most qualified candidates to fill open positions.
The fact that the women are successful in obtaining these sought-after positions
foreshadows the obstacles that they will overcome, and the knowledge that their work will
have a lasting impact on military technology highlights how short-sighted these hiring
practices were.

Dorothy’s innate intelligence contributes to her success in achieving her educational

goals, but it is her pragmatism and perseverance that allow her to advance professionally.
Dorothy displays academic aptitude and advanced skills from a young age, but the strong
work ethic that she brings to jobs that are below her skill set and pay grade allow her to
recognize opportunities when they arise and prepare her for the challenges ahead. The
job at Langley is just such an opportunity and, when Dorothy applies for it, she exhibits the
same pragmatism that Melvin does when he adjusts his hiring practices to accommodate
more Black women. 

Farmville’s Negro high school is a symbol of hope. Despite limited opportunities for Black
students, their parents’ decision to send their children to high school illustrates that they
are nonetheless optimistic about their children's futures. Just as Dorothy initially became a
teacher in order to support her parents, the students at the school are also old enough to
work and have the ability to contribute to their families’ income. The confidence that these
parents show in sending their children to high school and sacrificing current opportunities
for financial gain to secure a brighter future for their children signifies that they believe a
better future is possible.

Summary: Chapter Three: Past Is Prologue

At the end of the summer of 1943, Dorothy returns to Farmville to teach. She tutors
struggling students after school and also directs the choir. Then a letter from Langley
arrives, offering her a position through the end of the war. She accepts and leaves for
Langley in November. She will be living too far away from her family to come home on
weekends. Her husband, Howard, is a bellman at luxury hotels. He is also often away
from Farmville, because he travels to where the seasonal work is: Florida in the winter,
Vermont and New York in the summer. Grandparents, and dozens of aunts and uncles,
look after the children when Howard and Dorothy cannot.

The previous year, Howard’s work took him to the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur
Springs, West Virginia. There, the Vaughans became friends with the family of Joshua
Coleman, an older man who shared bellman duties with Howard at the Greenbrier front
desk. Joshua’s youngest daughter, Katherine, was a decade younger than Dorothy, but
her early life followed a similar path: Katherine was smart enough to skip grades in school,
she was very good at math, and she eventually passed up a chance at a graduate degree
in order to raise a family. She would eventually follow Dorothy to Langley.

Summary: Chapter Four: The Double V

The harbor and surrounding land known as Hampton Roads includes the town of
Hampton, the nearby city of Newport News, and several other cities and towns. At the
time of Dorothy’s arrival, the area has been transformed. It was once forests and
farmland. Now it is a major center of war-related industry. Federally funded housing
developments are built, using prefabricated homes, for some of the rapidly growing civilian
population. A Newport News development called Newsome Park is for Black men and
women. Dorothy rents a room there from a Black couple in their sixties, who own a
grocery store and have a large enough home to take in boarders.

Crowded living conditions lead to friction between Black citizens and white
citizens sharing public spaces and public transportation. Hampton Roads has mostly
avoided major outbreaks of violence, but Black Americans across the country are bitter.
They were promised equality after the Civil War, and Woodrow Wilson repeated the
promise during World War I. Yet Black men and women continue to experience what
W.E.B. Du Bois called “double consciousness.” They are expected to join in the fight
against the racist Nazi regime in Europe, but they are expected to endure racism at home
without resisting. Black Americans want to know what they are fighting for. They have
answered their country’s call after Pearl Harbor, but they continue to hope and demand
that their service will be justly rewarded. A letter to the Pittsburgh Courier, a newspaper
for Black readers, urges Black Americans to adopt the double V for a double victory:
victory over enemies both abroad and at home.

Analysis: Chapters Three & Four

Dorothy’s willingness to sacrifice time with her children for her career highlights her belief
that professional success is a crucial component of creating a better future for them. Just
as the parents of her students sacrifice financial gain in the present because they have
faith that education will provide their children with a better life, Dorothy tutors them after
school because she believes the same thing. Her decision to pursue the job at Langley is
a difficult one because it is the first time that she will be away from her children, but she
does so nonetheless as she believes that they too will benefit from her success.

The ambitious goals that Howard and Dorothy set for themselves keep them physically
and emotionally apart, but the fact that the two are able to endure the stress it places on
their relationship illustrates their respect for one another’s ambitions. They are both
focused and determined to actualize their goals, and certain that achieving those goals
will secure a better life for their family. Their strength and determination foreshadow that
they will adapt to this new chapter in their life because they place equal value on the
importance of their own self-worth and the well-being of the family they have built
together.

Shetterly’s use of the past as prologue highlights the importance of family and community.
When the Vaughan’s chance friendship with Joshua Coleman eventually leads Katherine
to follow Dorothy to Langley, it illustrates how necessary social connections can be for
professional advancement. Langley offers Katherine a chance to move beyond the limited
choices available to Black women at the time, and having another Black female friend
working at such an aspirational place provides her with an opportunity that many of her
peers cannot access. Dorothy’s ability to work at Langley is due in large part to the care
that her extended family provides for her children in her absence, and their willingness to
provide this care illustrates the strength of their familial bond.

The physical transformation of the area surrounding the town of Hampton runs parallel to
the path that many African Americans took after slavery ended. Just as Black men
advance beyond their historic roles as agricultural workers in order to serve in the military,
women like Dorothy may advance beyond doing domestic labor as long as their work
serves the war effort. Even in this advanced, industry-focused community, the Black
people who support it must live in segregated housing. It is clear from the hasty way in
which city planners construct these new housing developments that they do not expect
Black citizens to remain in the community once their work is no longer vital to military
success. 

The introduction of the double V foreshadows the personal victories that the book’s
protagonists will achieve as well as the societal changes that will come as a result of the
Civil Rights Movement. The journey that Black Americans take from roles in agriculture to
jobs in industry and back again contributes to the internal conflict, or "double
consciousness," that they endure. The bitterness resulting from the racial divisions and
double consciousness that are a part of daily life will eventually lead Black men and
women to foment the Civil Rights Movement. Just as Dorothy and her peers will fight for
better conditions at Langley, Black people across America will fight for a more just society.

Summary: Chapter Five: Manifest Destiny

The workspace Melvin Butler sets up for the Black women is in Langley’s West Area.
Some of the women working there were featured in the newspaper article that inspired
Dorothy. The Hampton Institute, where the women studied, continues to supply human
computers to Langley. The Institute’s head, Malcolm MacLean, is determined that his
Black graduates will contribute to the war effort. His hosting of racially mixed social events
offends some whites. Langley’s director, Henry Reid, is more cautious, but Margery
Hannah, the white head of West Computing, is openly progressive. Like MacLean, she
treats Black men and women as equals and sometimes socializes with them.

The white women computers work in an East Area building. All workers eat lunch in the
same cafeteria, but the Black women are assigned a separate table, with a sign:
COLORED COMPUTERS. The white engineers that the women work with, especially the
engineers from northern and western states, have a pragmatic attitude about working with
the Black computers. Whatever the men’s views about social mixing, they value good
work and maintain cordial relationships with the women. The Black computers find the
working environment mostly pleasant. A woman named Miriam Mann, however, removes
the insulting cafeteria sign. She continues removing replacement signs until they stop
appearing. A small battle has been won.

Summary: Chapter Six: War Birds

In 1944, Black Americans take pride in the exploits of the Black aviators known as the
Tuskegee airmen. Their plane, the P-51 Mustang, is praised for its reliability and its
performance in aerial combat. The development research for the Mustang was done at
Langley, but workers there are constantly reminded not to talk about their jobs in public or
even at home. If the people in town regard some of Langley’s engineers as “weirdos,” that
is fine, so long as the townspeople do not learn details of what the weirdos actually do.

Langley conducts both actual flight tests of aircraft prototypes, in “free air,” and wind
tunnel tests of models, in “compressed air.” The Sixteen-Foot High Speed Tunnel looms
above the buildings of the West Area. Dorothy and the other computers study engineering
physics and aerodynamics, to understand the calculations they are performing. All of the
testing, plus the purely theoretical work of the “no-air” engineers, goes toward designing
new or improved fighter, cargo, and bomber aircraft. When B-29s bomb Japan, Henry
Reid tells the lab’s employees, from the engineers down to the cleaning staff, that they all
had a part in the mission. Dorothy is helping to make a difference in the war’s outcome.

Analysis: Chapters Five–Six

The cordial way that some of the engineers treat their Black female colleagues
foreshadows the possibility that positive changes will come. While their approach may be
born of the same pragmatism that led to the changes in hiring practices that brought the
women to Langley, the engineers do recognize and respect the women’s contributions.
The engineers’ efforts to make the work environment a less toxic one is a stark contrast to
those who have obvious racist tendencies and continue to replace the offensive sign in
the cafeteria. When the sign ultimately disappears for good, it is another harbinger of the
positive changes to follow.

The incidents surrounding the “COLORED COMPUTERS” sign in the cafeteria highlight
the importance of language in a public forum. Its wording is yet another attempt to
dehumanize the women required to sit at that table, and the capital letters scream for
attention from both the women and their white colleagues. The sign provokes the same
sort of tension seen when Black individuals and white individuals encounter each other in
the shared public spaces outside of Langley. It is never clear who places and replaces the
sign, which suggests that that person might not be so bold as to disrespect the women to
their faces. When Shetterly does name Miriam Mann as the one who removed the signs,
however, it illustrates the importance of her victory over this unjust language and the need
for transparency to bring about social change in public.

The fact that the townspeople refer to Langley personnel as “weirdos” shows that despite
the racial, social, and educational divisions at Langley, all of its staffers are somehow
separate from society as a whole. Because everyone on the team comes from a different
geographical location, their perspectives on racial prejudice vary from one another. This is
a stark contrast to the townspeople who have likely spent their entire lives in the same
area and adhere to more of a group-think mentality with regard to racial issues. Prior to
the war, the region was largely agricultural, and its new emphasis on advanced
technology requires new ways of thinking. The ability of the team at Langley to find
strength in their differences and create a functional work environment underscores the
possibilities of this new thinking, which sets them apart from the less socially and racially
diverse townspeople.