Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee ShetterlyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Time and time again we have discovered the integral role of African Americans to America's social, economic, and political development. Here again, is another story investigating their contribution to American aeronautical and space exploration history. Shetterly's excellent work falls into several overlapping categories: biography, women's studies, AA history, and NASA history. Its main characters are the African American women whose tireless mathematical computations helped to further the Space Race.
Though there were dozens of black women who participated in this endeavor, the author does the most in-depth studies of 3 of them: Dorothy Vaughn, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson. Besides discussing their extraordinary accomplishments, Shetterly expertly situates their experiences within the historical context of African American life during the post WW2 era. Thus, she educates the reader of not only, the many obstacles they overcame, but also, the social networks and aspirational communities that supported them.
I give this book 5 stars. As a historian, I appreciate the author's depth of research and ability to incorporate several mini-biographies into a cohesive work.
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