Inside the kit: (8) book copies (1) book club guide
About the Book: From the author’s website
You’ve heard the names John Glenn, Alan Shepard, and Neil Armstrong. What about Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan, Kathryn About the Author: Peddrew, Sue Wilder, Eunice Smith, or Barbara Holley? Most Americans Writer, researcher, and entrepreneur have no idea that from the 1940s through the 1960s, a cadre of African- Margot Lee She erly is the author American women formed part of the country’s space work force, or that this of Hidden Figures: The American Dream group—mathematical ground troops in the Cold War—helped provide NASA and the Untold Story of the Black Women with the raw computing power it needed to dominate the heavens. Mathema cians Who Helped Win the Space Race (William Morrow/ Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black HarperCollins). A 2014 Alfred P. Sloan Women Mathematicians who Helped Win the Space Race recovers the Founda on Fellow and Virginia Founda on history of these pioneering women and situates it in the intersection of the for the Humani es grantee, She erly is the defining movements of the American century: The Cold War, the Space founder of The Human Computer Race, the Civil Rights movement, and the quest for gender equality. Project, an endeavor that is recovering the names and accomplishments of all of the women who worked as computers, Suggested Reads: mathema cians, scien sts and engineers at the NACA and NASA from the 1930s Morgan, George D. through the 1980s. She is a na ve of Rocket Girl: The Story of Mary Sherman Morgan, America’s First Female Hampton, Virginia, where she knew many Rocket Scientist of the women behind the history in Hidden Figures . She lived for many years in New Holt, Nathalia York and Mexico before moving to Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, From Missiles to Charlo esville, Virginia , where she lives the Moon to Mars with her husband, writer Aran She erly. She is a graduate of the Moore, Kate University of Virginia. Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women
.www.hiddentfigures.com/bio Hidden Figures Discussion Questions:
1. What do you take the book’s title, Hidden Figures , to mean? What makes someone a hidden figure? Are there any hidden figures in your life? 2. Are the women who become “girl computers” held to a higher standard? Or do they hold themselves to one? 3. What role did other women play in the success and advancement of the characters in Hidden Figures ? What role could you play to ensure the contributions of women in your circle of influence are encouraged? 4. In what ways does the race for space parallel the civil rights movement? What kinds of freedoms are being explored in each? 5. What practices in our current day remind you of the segregation in the book? Have you been treated unfairly because of your race and/or gender? Have you seen others treated unfairly, and if so, what did you do or say? 6. How were Katherine, Mary, Dorothy, and their co-workers challenged by discrimination? 7. In Chapter 23 we learn that some thought spending money on space exploration was wasteful when there were so many other problems. Do you think the U.S. achieved a balance between innovation in space exploration and advancing the civil rights of all its citizens during this time period? 8. How did the end of World War II change working conditions in the U.S.? 9. What kind of technological advancements occurred as the space race heated up? 10. In what ways did the rise of computing and advancements in computing technology affect the girl computers? 11. Do stories like the ones told in Hidden Figures lead to changes in attitude? Why or why not?