The Struggle of African American Women Against the Double Discrimination Revealed in Hidden Figures

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THE STRUGGLE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN AGAINST THE DOUBLE DISCRIMINATION REVEALED IN HIDDEN FIGURES

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

By TIARA IKA PUTRI CHRISTIANINGRUM Student Number: 144214021

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2018

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THE STRUGGLE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN AGAINST THE DOUBLE DISCRIMINATION REVEALED IN HIDDEN FIGURES

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

By TIARA IKA PUTRI CHRISTIANINGRUM Student Number: 144214021

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2018

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

Genius Has No Race

Strength Has No Gender

Courage Has No Limit.

- Margot Lee Shetterly

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For My Incomparable Supporting System

My Parents

And

My Friends

in the Hope for a Better Future

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to send my deepest gratitude to the Lord,

Jesus Christ, for His unconditional blessing during my ups and downs of writing this thesis. I also would like to express my greatest gratitude to Elisabeth Arti

Wulandari, Ph.D., my advisor, for her guidance, constant reminder, and insightful ideas that helped me improve my thesis. Without her help, I would not be able to finish the thesis on time. My gratitude is also addressed to my co-advisor Dr.

Gabriel Fajar Sasmita Aji M. Hum., for his suggestion and revision of format that enrich my study.

Moreover, I thank my Daddy for his patience hearing my problems during the process. I am mesmerized that he always motivates and reminds me to finish my thesis even if he himself is trapped in the health problem and financial crisis. I also thank my mother for her deepest love that always supports me emotionally and raises me up when I do not believe in my own capability to finish this thesis.

My thanks also go to the endless support and inspiration of my brothers and sisters from EDS Sanata Dharma, Syantikara, PM GKSBS Yogyakarta,

PWCY and Beswan USD. Last but not least, I also thank my special ones who are always with me during the catastrophe: Soecipto Family, Three Musketeers,

TETRAD, Intan, Om Ando, Gres, Sita, Hendra, Festy, Moore, Aan, Amel and

Clara I am more than blessed to be surrounded by those people who also spread a positive mind and soul. See you on top fellas!

Tiara Ika Putri Christianingrum

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ...... ii APPROVAL PAGE ...... iii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ...... iv LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ...... v STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ...... vi MOTTO PAGE ...... vii DEDICATION PAGE ...... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... x ABSTRACT ...... xii ABSTRAK ...... xiii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………….. 1 A. Background of the Study ...... 1 B. Problem Formulations ...... 4 C. Research Objectives ...... 4 D. Definition of Terms ...... 5

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE...... 7 A. Review of Related Studies ...... 7 B. Review of Related Theories ...... 11 1. Theory of Character and Characterization ...... 11 2. Theory of Setting ...... 12 3. Theory of Discrimination ...... 13 a. Theory of Racial Discrimination ...... 14 b. Theory of Gender Discrimination ...... 16 4. Theory of Black Feminism ...... 18 C. Review of Related Background: Women and Minorities involvement in Space Exploration, NASA ...... 20 D. Theoretical Framework ...... 23

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY………………………………………………… 25 A. Object of the Study ...... 25 B. Approach of the Study ...... 27 C. Method of the Study ...... 27

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS…………………………………………………………. 30 A. African American Women’ Experiences of Double Discrimination ...... 31 1. African American Women’s Experiences of Racial Discrimination ...... 31 a. Limited Access to Facilities ...... 31

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i. Limited Access to Educational Facilities ...... 32 ii. Limited Access to Public Transportation ...... 35 iii. Limited Access to Housing ...... 37 iv. Limited Access to Restaurant ...... 38 v. Limited Access to Offices’ Facilities ...... 39 b. Underpaid Salary ...... 42 c. Accusation of Black Empowerment Advocate ...... 43 2. African American Women’s Experiences of Gender Discrimination ...... 45 a. Limited Access to Education ...... 45 b. Minimum Access for Career Advancement ...... 46 c. Minimum Acknowledgment and Appreciation in the Work Place ...... 49 B. African American Women’s Responses of Double Discrimination...... 52 1. Excelling in What They Do Through Hard Work ...... 53 a. Limited Access to Educational Facilities ...... 57 b. Minimum Acknowledgment in the Work Place ...... 58 c. Limited Access to Job Advancement ...... 59 d. Accusation of Black Empowerment ...... 60 2. Playing the System and Working Against the System ...... 60 a. Limited Access to Educational Institution ...... 63 b. Limited Access to Office’s Facilities ...... 65 c. Minimum Appreciation and Acknowledgement in the Work Place ...... 66 3. Ignoring the Discrimination and Focusing on the Good Fortune ...... 68 a. Limited Access to Facilities ...... 68 i. Limited Access to Public Facilities ...... 68 ii. Limited Access to Office’s Facilities ...... 70 b. Limited Access to Career Advancement ...... 70 4. Inviting Others to Join the Fight ...... 72 a. Limited Access to Career Advancement ...... 72 b. Minimum Acknowledgement in the Workplace...... 75

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ...... 77

REFERENCES ...... 81 APPENDICES ...... 83 Appendix 1 ...... 83 Appendix 2 ...... 89

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ABSTRACT

CHRISTIANINGRUM, TIARA IKA PUTRI. (2018). The Struggle of African American Women against Double Discrimination in Hidden Figures. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Sanata Dharma. Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race portrays the discrimination that African American women face in the Unites States of America society. This thesis is aimed to reveal the struggles of African American women against the double discrimination in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Black feminism as an approach in this thesis argues that social change toward race and gender equality could be accomplished with a continuous spirit to fight against the double discrimination specifically in the NASA during the Cold War era. In this thesis, the researcher has 2 main questions: (1) What are the double discrimination experienced by the African American women in Hidden Figures? and (2) How do the African American women fight against the double discrimination in Hidden Figures? The researcher applies a library research to answer the questions. The theories, historical context, studies from books and credible sources in the internet. The researcher uses 4 theories in this thesis. First, the theory of character and characterization was used to examine the major characters and their interaction with other characters their surroundings. Second, the theory of setting was used to examine the setting of time (during 1940s until 1960s) and the setting of place (NASA) in relation to the issues that became the focus of the study. Third, the theory of racial and gender discrimination answered the first question in the problem formulation about double discrimination. Fourth, the theory of black feminism answered the first and second question about the double discrimination and the struggles of African American women. To understand the historical context, the researcher uses two articles written by Marie Lathers and published by Feminist Studies, Inc. and written by Kim Mcquaid from Cambridge University. The result of the research in Hidden Figures shows that African American women faced double discrimination in race and gender. The racial discrimination is shown in the form of getting limited access to facilities, underpaid salary, accusation of black empowerment. The gender discrimination is shown in the form of limited access to education, minimum access for career advancement, and minimum appreciation and acknowledgment in the work place. This research also depicts how the African American women resist through covert and overt resistance in order to uphold freedom and justice that they deserve. African American women respond to the double discrimination by excelling in what they do through hard work, playing the system and working against the system, ignoring the discrimination and focusing on the good fortune, and inviting others to join the fight. Keywords: black feminism, double discrimination, hidden figures

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ABSTRAK CHRISTIANINGRUM, TIARA IKA PUTRI. (2018). The Struggle of African American Women against Double Discrimination in Hidden Figures. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma. Hidden figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race menggambarkan tentang diskriminasi yang terjadi dalam masyarakat yang diskriminatif di Amerika. Skripsi ini bertujuan untuk menunjukan bentuk perjuangan wanita Afrika-Amerika melawan diskriminasi ganda dalam National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Feminisme kulit hitam sebagai pendekatan yang digunakan dalam skripsi ini, membuktikan bahwa perubahan sosial terhadap diskriminasi karena gender dan ras dapat tercapai dengan adanya semangat yang berkelanjutan untuk melawan diskriminasi ganda terutama pada NASA saat era Perang Dingin. Dalam skripsi ini, peneliti memiliki 2 rumusan masalah: (1) Apa bentuk diskriminasi ganda yang dialami wanita Africa-Amerika dalam buku Hidden Figures? dan (2) Bagaimana wanita Afrika-Amerika berjuang melawan diskriminasi ganda dalam buku Hidden Figures? Peneliti juga mengaplikasikan riset perpustakaan untuk menjawab rumusan masalah. Teori-teori, konteks sejarah, dan studi dikumpulkan dari buku dan sumber terpercaya dari internet. Peneliti menggunakan 4 teori dalam skripsi ini. Pertama, teori karakter dan karakterisasi digunakan untuk mengobservasi karakter utama dan interaksinya dengan lawan karakter dan sekitarnya. Kedua, teori latar digunakan untuk mengobeservasi latar waktu ( sekitar tahun 1940an hingga 1960an) dan latar tempat (NASA) yang terkait dengan isu yang menjadi fokus dalam penelitian ini. Ketiga, teori diskriminasi ras dan gender menjawab rumusan masalah yang pertama mengenai diskriminasi ganda. Keempat, teori feminisme kulit hitam menjawab pertanyaan pertama dan kedua mengenai diskriminasi ganda dan perjuangan wanita Afrika- Amerika. Peneliti menggunakan 2 artikel untuk mengetahui lebih dalam mengenai konteks sejarah. Artikel yang pertama ditulis oleh Marie Lathers dan dipublikasikan oleh Feminist Studies, Inc. dan artikel kedua ditulis oleh Kim Mcquaid dari Universitas Cambridge. Hasil penelitian dari buku Hidden Figures menunjukan bahwa wanita Afrika-Amerika menghadapi diskriminasi ganda dalam hal ras dan gender. Diskriminasi ras ditunjukan dalam bentuk keterbatasan mengakses fasilitas, gaji yang minim, dan penuduhan aktivis wanita Afrika- Amerika. Diskriminasi gender ditunjukan dalam bentuk keterbatasan akses pendidikan, minimnya perkembangan karir, serta minimnya apresiasi dan pengakuan dalam pekerjaan. Penelitian ini juga mengungkapkan cara wanita Afrika-Amerika melawan diskriminasi melalui perlawanan yang tersembunyi dan terlihat untuk menegakkan kebebasan dan keadilan yang pantas mereka terima.Wanita Afrika-Amerika menanggapi diskriminasi ganda dengan meningkatkan performa mereka melalui kerja keras, memainkan sistem dan melawan sistem yang diskriminatif, mengabaikan diskriminasi dan fokus ke masa depan yang baik, serta mengundang aktor lain untuk bergabung dalam perjuangan melawan diskriminasi ganda. Kata Kunci: black feminism, double discrimination, hidden figures

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of Study

In this modern day and age, discrimination still happens everywhere. It is not only in the superficial level but more complex and out of reach from the hand of authorities. Minorities are often vulnerable to the discrimination such as what happens to African American community in United States especially the women.

From time to time, African American women are the ones who suffer a lot from this toxic nature of society. As explained in The Dictionary of Feminist Theory by

Maggie Humm, the combination of racism and sexism has severely limited the progress of African American women, which is proven by the fact that they are still discriminated against due to their color and gender (1995, p. 230-231).

From World War II, the discrimination experienced by the African

American women did not stop only in the domestic level, but to the extent of getting job vacancies. Even though President Franklin Roosevelt had signed the

Executive Order 8802 since 1941 to ban race discrimination in defense industries and civil service jobs, practically, it was still rarely enforced. The whites mostly ignored to hire African Americans until they were forced to hire them due to the exhaustion of the white labor supply. In this case, African American women were the fragile actors who had to face the oppression of the white supremacy and the patriarchy capitalism in the society (Executive Order 8802, 2016, para. 1&2).

Considering the high resemblance between literature and human nature, literary works play a prominent role not only as a social contract which rooted in

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mere ideas and imaginations, yet it is a social reality which presents the state of things as they are, rather than as they are imagined to be. According to M.H.

Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Harpham in A Glossary of Literary Terms, literature is taken from the Latin litteraturae which means as writings (2012, p.199).

Literature is aimed to designate fictional and imaginative writing such as poetry, prose, fiction and drama (2012, p.199). Furthermore, literature has an objective to also designate other writing including but not limited to philosophy, history or even scientific works (2012, p. 199). In this sense, literature reflects the society, its good and ill. It represents the ills of society including their evil discrimination toward African American women. Alice Walker, Barbara Smith, Audrey Lorde and Angela Davis are some of the great researchers who can portray the cruel realities where women from minorities have to struggle fighting for their right and equality to be upheld. They portray the ironic discrimination through their literary works like book, film, and even on a piece of poem.

In portraying the society, book as one of the literary works plays a prominent role to construct or deconstruct the existed value in society. There are two types of book, fiction and nonfiction book. According to Merriam Webster in

Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature, fiction is literature created from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation. It includes a novel, short story or novella (1995, p. 414). On the contrary, nonfiction book is literary works that are based mainly on fact rather than on imagination, although they may contain fictional elements for example essay and biographies (1995, p.815).

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In this study, the researcher analyzes Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race is nonfiction book by Margot Lee Shetterly. Hidden Figures is specifically categorized as biographical book. As stated in Cassel’s Encyclopedia of World Literature by

William Morrow and Company Inc., biography is a branch of history. Its purpose is to relate, as faithfully as possible, the life of individual (1953, p. 72). As also mentioned in A Glossary of Literary Terms by M.H. Abrams and Geoffrey Galt

Harpham, biography is defined as the history of particular person’s lives (2009, p.25). They also further explained that the name connotes a relatively full account of person’s life, involving the attempt to set forth character, temperament, as well as the subject’s activities and experiences (2009, p. 25). As the result, as a biography, Hidden Figures has the importance to send the narrative to the society that discrimination is still happening in the real life especially in the job field and it is still an urgent issue to be talked about.

Hidden Figures tells about African American female mathematicians who worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the Space Race. This work is important for society because the idea of struggles and double discriminations revealed in this book is relatable to the current nature of this world, including Indonesia where women from minorities still undergo numerous discrimination and oppression from the majorities. Same goes to African American women. They still experience the education inequality, lack of female labor participation in the market, or even many African American women are still under represented politically. Besides, this work is also important

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to give people more knowledge and awareness regarding the current sexism and racism due to the severe double discrimination now on. Furthermore, the researcher prefers to choose nonfiction book rather than the fiction book due to the lack of nonfiction as the object of thesis study in our English Department.

Many students are less exposed to the nonfiction book especially biography, as consequently they rarely choose it as the object of their study. All in all, through this study on the nonfiction book, Hidden Figures, the researcher wants to enrich the development of nonfiction book as the object of study in English Letters

Department.

B. Problem Formulations

Based on the background of the study, the problems of this study are formulated as follows:

1. What are the double discrimination experienced by African American women

in Hidden Figures?

2. How do the African American women fight against the double discrimination

in Hidden Figures?

C. Research Objectives

As objective of this study, the researcher wants to portray the double discrimination experienced by African American women in the Hidden Figures which are the discrimination because of gender and race. The researcher also wants to show how the discrimination exists to the African American women in

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the form of internalized and institutionalized discrimination in NASA. By showing the double discrimination, the researcher wants to give the clear understanding to the reader that the discrimination to minorities is still an urgent issue. The researcher also wants to enrich the reader knowledge that discrimination is not only happen in the domestic life but extended to the workplace.

Besides, through portraying the struggle of African American women, the researcher wants to show how the African American women can cope up with the condition. The researcher also shows those how hard the African American women can fight for the equality of their race and gender during Cold War era in

NASA. Thus, this portrayal of struggle can give a clear understanding to create an organic change not to discriminate the minorities as an individual and as a part of society.

D. Definition of Terms

There are 2 prominent terms which become the main focus of this study.

The first term is black feminism. As stated in The Dictionary of Feminist

Theory by Maggie Humm:

Black feminism is the theory of Black-defined women’s struggles. Black feminism argued that meaningful change of social order which repress both men and women could be accomplished by building coalitions between women of colour and progressive movement. (1995, p. 25)

Black feminists like Barbara Smith, Angela Davis, and Alice Walker create theories which cater Black women’s interests. Black feminist, then, examines the boundaries of sisterhood with white feminists in order to deal with the deep rooted

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contradiction in gender, race and class within a toxic nature of society (1995, p.

25).

In comparison to the feminism as a whole, black feminism has different objectives. Feminism in general only covers the white women’s experiences which are assumed to represent all women’s experiences. Meanwhile, black feminism focuses more on the experience of Black women experiencing the unconscious racism of the society’s language and assumptions (1995, p. 25-26).

The second term is discrimination. As defined by Maggie Humm in the book entitled The Dictionary of Feminist Theory, discrimination is the unfavorable treatment of women based on the patriarchal belief that women posses undesired (1995, p.67). In that sense, women get the crude treatment because of the fallacious belief that perceive women as an object and less inferior in compares to men.

In relation to black feminism, black feminists acknowledged that there is a presence of double discrimination, racial discrimination and gender discrimination. Angela Davis said that any struggle against sexism must be allied to the struggle against racism (1995, p. 230-231). As stated in the book Feminist

Theory and Literary Practice by Deborah L. Madsen, double discrimination describes the oppression of individual both as a woman and as a member of ethnic minority (2000, p. 218) .

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter consists of four main parts. The first part reviews the related studies which include related thesis and essay. The second part is a review of related theories applied in this study, which are the theory of character and characterization, the theory of setting, the theory of black feminism, the theory of racism and the theory of sexism. The third part is a review of the related historical background of the literary work, which is the history of Cold War between US and Russia, the women involvement in the Cold War, and women participation in the field of science during the Cold war. The last part is the theoretical framework which explains how the researcher applied the theories to the literary work.

A. Review of Related Studies

Hidden Figures is a new non-fiction book which pictures a lot about the struggle of African American women in response to the double jeopardy in Space

Task Group, NASA. In this thesis, the researcher compares this study with another three studies. However, the researcher only finds other studies which have the same topic and approach because there is not yet study who analyzes the same work, Hidden Figures.

The first related study I reviewed here is an undergraduate thesis entitled

“Afro-American Women Struggle against Racial and Gender Discrimination in

Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Bernadeta Rosa Boru Ambarita in

2004. Ambarita’s study analyzes the struggle of African American women against

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the discrimination. In order to analyze the work, Ambarita examines the female characters in the novel that undergo the discrimination because of their race and gender. She, in addition, also examines how these women respond to those discriminations during the era of slavery. The researcher agrees with Ambarita’s study related to African American women:

As women, they are placed under men’s position and men’s power. On the other hand, as black women, they are treated unequally and discriminated by white people. Black women, in general, have to face racial and gender discrimination in their life (Ambarita, 2004, p. 2).

The researcher also agrees with Ambarita’s observation on the classes in

American Society and how these classes affected the discrimination experienced by African American women:

There are two classes in American Society; the first is white people, which are divided into white males and females. The second is black people. Thus, black women have to face double pressures. They are placed in the second class, that is black people and as black women they are included in lowest class after black male (Ambarita, 2004, p. 2). The second related study I reviewed is entitled Identifying Links of

Discrimination Related to Race, Gender and Class conducted by Jacqueline De

Hon from University of Louisiana at Monroe. Her study was written in 2002.

Hon’s study portrays how racism, sexism and classism are interconnected elements that exist to the minority under the majority oppression. In her study,

Hon examines the underlying ideology that affects the discriminations. She finds out that there are four core factors influencing the ongoing discrimination which are religious, social, cultural and political control. The researcher agrees that these controls come from the patriarchal and imperialist ideologies as stated in Hon’s study.

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Furthermore, Hon also finds out that these discriminations then result in denial of education for all, denial of equitable wage-paying employment, denial of health care, and the use of violence to control people. She also portrays the severe discriminations to minorities, such as in getting proper education. Her study shows that the wealthy and powerful are educated, others get nothing.

The third related study is entitled Slave of Slave No More: Black Women in Struggle by Frances M. Beal, written in 1981. Beal’s study observes the struggle of African American women in response to the worst oppression and exploitation in the capitalist patriarchy era. The researcher agrees with Beal’s argument that the African American women can endure to this cruel atmosphere:

As a black, she has had to endure all the horrors of slavery and living in racist society; as a worker, she has been the object of continual exploitation, occupying the lowest place on the wage scale and restricted to the most demeaning and uncreative jobs; as a woman she has seen her physical image defamed and been the object of the white master’s uncontrollable lust and subjected to all the ideals of white womanhood as a model to which she should aspire; as a mother she has seen her children torn from her breast and sold into slavery,… (Beal, 1981, p.16) Beal’s study then also examines the history of women resistance toward the oppression. It also mentions several prominent figures like Harriet Tubeman,

Sojourner Truth, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Fannie Lou Hammer and

Unita Blackwell who braved attack and died in their fight to gain the right to vote.

The figures who are mentioned in Beal’s study are the one who played an important role in bringing the consciousness for the whole nation.

Furthermore, the researcher also agrees on the types of African American women’ reactions being explained in Beal’s study, which are accommodation and

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resistance. As stated in Beal’s study, African American women who fall to accommodation’ category are the ones who believe in the impossibility of change in chauvinistic men or who promote separatist theories to others (Beal, 1981, p.22). These African American women do recognized and acknowledged that the society is oppressive, however, they are not willing to alter the condition. They tend to separate from that society and go away (Beal, 1981, p.22). In contrary,

African American women who recognized and acknowledged that the society is oppressive, however they will fight in action to make changes, falls into resistance category. They will fight for any means possible to fulfill the demand of the society like economic equality and political right as citizen.

All in all, this study is different in comparison to the three related studies.

This study focuses specifically on the struggle of African American women who work in Space Task Group, NASA. It also examines the double jeopardy of racial and gender discrimination to African American women which are extended in their workplace. It also then observes the participation of women especially

African American women involving on science field in the era of 1960. In analyzing the work, the researcher examines the struggles and double discrimination revealed through the three major characters and the setting.

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B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

Author may convey to his/her reader about the personality of the people he/she writes through character. Character is a prominent element in the literary work like in drama, prose and such. Character has a significant role to help the readers understand the literary work.

According to M.H. Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Harpham in A Glossary of

Literary Terms Fifth Edition, characters define as the person represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as possessing particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it and from what they do.

(Abrams, 2012 , p. 46). If the story seems so credible and “true to life” we can know that the character act in a consistent manner and the author provides them with motivation which is a sufficient reason to behave as they do (60).

Meanwhile, characterization is a presentation in literature of fictitious people whose composite physical description, attitudes, motives, and lifelike enough for the reader to accept as representing real people (Longman, 1989, p.44).

Based on M. J. Murphy, Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to

English poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students, there are 9 ways used by author in making the characters understandable to the reader’s ears and mind. There are personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past

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life, conversation of others, reactions, direct comment, thoughts and mannerism

(Murphy, 1972, p. 161-173).

Some authors do not make use one method exclusively, yet they may blend the methods skillfully. Others prefer some of these ways to others. As an example, an author may favor dialogue relative to direct description. As consequence, the method which each author used cannot be generalized.

The researcher uses the theory of character and characterization in order to present the African American women who experience the double discrimination in NASA during the Cold War. Specifically in this study, the researcher uses personal description, past life, reaction, thoughts, and mannerisms in understanding more the character and characterization of African American women in Hidden Figures. The African American women in Hidden Figures are represented by 3 major characters which are Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Goble

Johnson, and Mary Jackson.

2. Theory of Setting

Setting is also another essential element in literary work. Setting is the environment (including physical place, historical period, ambience and cultural class) of a literary work. The Greek term opsis (scene) describes the physical manifestation of the place in which the action occurs; a general setting creates the entire frame of work, and specific setting are attached to the various episode within the work (Longman, 1989, p. 276-277). In this thesis, the theory of setting is important to emphasize the historical context of the study and to give the

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exclusivity to the thesis about the double discrimination that happen in NASA during the Cold War era.

Based on M. J. Murphy, Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to

English poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students, there are three points to consider as far as setting is concerned: time, place and atmosphere. The setting of time divided into 4 types which are present time, past time, future time and no specific time. The setting of place is divided into 3 types which are familiar place, unfamiliar place and imaginary place. Furthermore, setting of atmosphere can be defined as the general feeling that is conveyed to the reader such as gloomy, somber, terrifying, evil, cheerful, happy, pessimistic, sordid, and optimistic

(Murphy, 1972, p.141-146).

In this study, the researcher specifically uses 3 types of setting. First is setting of past time, because Hidden Figures is the portrayal of African American oppression in 1960 era. Second is setting of familiar place, because, Hidden

Figures takes placed in the real city in United States. Third is setting of atmosphere which aims to reveal how the atmosphere signifies the resistance of

African American women against double discrimination.

3. Theory of Discrimination

In the book entitled The Dictionary of Feminist Theory by Maggie

Humm, discrimination is the unfavorable treatment of women based on the patriarchal belief that women posses undesired (1995, p.67). Women are labeled as less inferior individual compares to men, thus they are discriminated in lots of

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form. In black feminism, black feminists acknowledged that there is a presence of double discrimination, racial discrimination and gender discrimination. a. Racial Discrimination

Racial discrimination is an evil chain that already existed for years. It demonizes the minorities under the oppressor power. Racial discrimination has significance in humankind history. As stated in Race and Culture: A world view by Thomas Sowell, racial, ethnic and cultural differences among people play a major role in the events of our times, in countries around the world, and have played a major role with the long history of human race. As consequence, racial discrimination is closely related to race and racism.

As stated in L.C. Dunn in Race, Science and Society, a race is a group of inter-marrying individuals, a population, which differs from other populations in the relative commonness of certain hereditary (1975, p.41). On the other words, race is formed with a group of individual who has the relationship in the bond of marriage and share the common traits. In this sense, the members of a particular race may have a commonness and similar characteristic because they inherited from the same ancestors.

Different races may have a perspective and prejudice to others’ merit based on their race. This attitude leads to the racism. The term racism itself emerged in 1940. Ruth Benedict defined it as the dogma that ethnic group are condemned by nature to congenital inferiority and another group is destined to congenital superiority (2004, p.329). As consequence, the race which is the majority of a nation tends to feel the sense of superiority over another and

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misused in to oppress the minority and vulnerable ones. Some social sciences then agree that racism has two main dimensions:

that of ideology had racism as its basic concept; whereas the study of the psychological dimension was organized around the concept of prejudicial attitudes; and the analysis of the behavioral dimension used the concept of discrimination to examine social relations (2004, p.349).

Moreover, the deep rooted belief of racism is the cause of racial discrimination. People in majority feel that they are superior over another minority and vulnerable one. According to Donald Light in Sociology, racial discrimination refers to the act of disqualifying and mistreating people in the basis of their groups (1975, p.352). Based on the book entitled Encyclopedia of race and ethnic studies, racial discrimination operated in the group basis; it works on the perceived of attributes and deficiencies of groups, not individualized characteristics (2004, p. 345). They judge others solely on the membership of race group. Furthermore, racial discrimination often uses derogatory label like “kike” or nigger to the denial of access such institutional spheres as housing, education, justice and such (2004, p.345). As a result, racist is related to the belief and racial discrimination is related to the action.

There are three forms of racism as stated in Using Critical Theory: How to Read and Write About Literature by Lois Tyson:

1. Institutionalized racism---a racism supported by society institution, such as educational system, the judicial system, the entertainment, fashion industries, law enforcement policies, labor practices and housing regulation. 2. Internalized racism---the acceptance of belief pressed upon them by racist America that they are inferior to whites, less worthy, less capable, less intelligent, or less attractive. 3. Intraracial racism---discrimination within the black community, against thosedarker skin and more African feature, such as hair texture

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and the shape of the lips and nose. This racism is the result of internalized racism (2011, p. 212).

Meanwhile, according to Roth in the International Encyclopedia of

Ethics, there are two types of racial discrimination:

1. Legal Discrimination---the treatment of law toward the citizen which is unequal. 2. Institutional Discrimination---the unequal treatment based on the race in social custom. The institutional discrimination includes segregation between race, redlining by financial institution, and the continuous practice of low-paying job experienced by the minority group member (1996, p. 232).

Racism may lead into the segregation. Segregation is a condition when people from different race and ethnics group are separated socially and physically by social custom or by law. Usually, this segregation makes the minority get unequal public facilities like school, health care and dwelling place. For instance,

African American people are not allowed to dwell in the housing complex of white people. b. Gender Discrimination

Gender discrimination is closely related to patriarchy and sexism.

Patriarchy is based on sexism, which is belief that women are innately (that is, by nature) inferior to men: less intelligent, less rational, less courageous, and so on.

People who have a sexism belief will follow the traditional gender role---men are decision maker and women are dutiful follower. Men superiority dictates the way women think and behave in many field including but not limited to business, politics, education. Though the term sexist is often used to express patriarchy belief, the term really applies to any person who holds sexist belief as well as to any practice, policy and custom that disadvantaged women.

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To oppose sexism, feminists have made numerous attempts like to differentiate the sex---our biological make-up as female or male and gender---as our cultural programming as feminine or masculine. According to Maggie

Humm’s Feminism A Reader, gender is culturally shaped of attributes and behavior given to the female and male.

In most of the societies, the gender differences may create an assumption that women position is inferior in compare to men. As stated in Culture and

Society by Merril and Elderdge, men are assumed to be naturally imperious, dominate, aggressive, and generally fitted to wrestle with the complex affair of the world. In contrast, women are assumed to be constitutionally timid, submissive, gentle, and temperamentally unfitted to cope with the life outside the home (1952, p. 162). Women capability is solely limited to the home and family.

For many years, women have experienced oppression by the men’s domination. Women are the object of men desire. Montagu also adds that men had been dictatorial, unfair, and quite unkind to women. They made women as their slave, housekeepers, economic advantages, and sexual convenience.

In relation to the idea of sexism, the superiority is determined by the biological structure. The majority beliefs that women are weak and men are strong from the assumption based on the biological function (1953, p. 38). This structure then leads to the gender discrimination. Women are burned with numerous limitations and exposed in the lack of opportunities to enhance their skill and intelligences.

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Gender discrimination has placed women in lower position than men.

Women are only the object to support men in social, political, and economic activities. Women do not have a right to own the property right, nor have a say in election. According to Jo Freeman, Women: A Feminist Perspective, a husband had the right to collect and use his wife’s wages, to decide their children education, and religious, and to punish his wife if she displaced him (1975, p.

113). In the family spectrum, women have lost their say and freedom, their sole role is to nurse their children and husband. (Montagu, 1953, p.127).

4. Black Feminism

According to Maggie Humm, in Feminism A Reader, Black feminism alert us to the ethnocentricity which informs feminist work which depicts African

American women as a victim but not as a wise women (1992, p. 122). This concept which makes the need of Black women is not represented in the white feminism. E.g. an African American woman‘s family and labor market experience might shape her economic quality and purchasing power, and often than the family might be a source of succor and collective support (1992, p. 122).

As consequence, in 1970, when there was a feminist demand on abortion, it was not suddenly addressed the demand of black women also, because family in black society and black women play a prominent role as the supporting system (1992, p.122). As the result, black feminism emerges in order to fight for the need and demand of black women which lately is not being catered by white feminism. The core theme of Black feminism is about sharing history of struggle, gaining of

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theory from everyday action and experience and the sense of community is not a fragile concept, yet a source of care and emotional strength (1992, p. 122-123).

The primary theoretical concept explored by Black feminism: the critique of mainstream feminism by women of colour in terms of the historical relationship between white feminism and racism, the theoretical focus upon activism (by women of colour) versus self-aggrandizement (by white class feminists) and the consequent aim of redistributing cultural power equitably rather than struggling for creased access (by white women) to the existing power hierarchy (Madsen, 2000, p.213).

In analyzing the struggle and double discrimination in Hidden Figures, the researcher decides to specify black feminism by Angela Davis in her work

“Women, Race and Class” which published in 1981. The reason why the researcher used black feminism concept from Angela Davis is because she presents the how gender, race and class are interconnected to the suffering and discrimination which are experienced by black women especially in the job field.

Angela Davis was a member of black liberation movements in the 1960 and 1970 (Civil Rights and the Black Panthers). In her work “Women, Race and

Class”, Davis points out that black women suffers from the double discrimination in economic production that force them to have a low paid job and mistreatment in the workplace. Davis also took a historical research into black women slave roles to actively fight against white oppression. Davis then argued that black women empowerment must come from the activism which connected middle class and working class black women together (Humm, 1992, p. 128).

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In “Women, Race and Class”, Davis also portrayed that the slave system defined Black people as chattel. They were perceived as the labor unit as long as the slaveholders were concerned. Moreover, even though Black women got the benevolent from the concept of motherhood, Davis examined that they were stereotyped as the typical female slave closely related to a house servant like cook, maid and mammy for the white (1992, p.130). In other words, this concept also explains why black women hard to get a promotion in career and get low paid job because there is a deep rooted stereotypes comes from the toxic society. They are never been seen as an equal human being.

C. Review Related Background: Women and Minorities involvement in

Space Exploration, NASA

Space age was an important era about the rise of affirmative action toward women and minorities. It was the same era of the cold war between USA and USSAR. USA as a superpower country, which concerned about its development of military, technology, science including the space exploration, but ironically just left behind its crucial issue related to the exclusion of women and minorities in NASA. As consequence, in understanding more the historical context about the issue of women and minorities in NASA, the researcher summarizes two supported articles. The first article is entitled “No Official

Requirement: Women, History, Time, and the U.S. Space Program” written by

Marie Lathers and published by Feminist Studies, Inc. The second article is entitled “Race, Gender, and Space Exploration: A Chapter in the Social History of the Space Age” by Kim McQuaid from Cambridge University.

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As stated in the article “No Official Requirement: Women, History,

Time, and the U.S. Space Program”, feminist argued that “gender” has massively discussed in the 1970s even until 1990s era. Liberal feminist wanted to write women in history, discover and acknowledge the “forgotten women” and their contribution, due to the fact of the constant and frequent denials in NASA.

History of women in the Space work is not only an accomplishment, yet a distinct history that connect the relationship among gender, chronological time, and the very notion of history (1st Article, 35)

However, those women had to face numerous obstacles. The double discrimination of racial and gender is a crude obstacle for women and minorities to resist in the NASA. US Astronaut Corps excluded women before opening up to women and minorities (Article 2, 406). As consequence, there are a scarcity of female and minorities also participating in science and engineering field. During the Cold War Age, NASA mostly hired Caucasian and male. As quoted in article entitled “Race, Gender, and Space Exploration: A Chapter in the Social History of the Space Age” (2007, 409), A Warton School reported of 1966 noted that black were excluded from the industry until the end of World War II. There was also no black in military aviators, blacks just took the brooms, whites build airplanes.

Even worst, 25 years later, only a third of 1 percent managers and seven-tenths of

1 percent of “professionals” in aerospace companies providing data were African

Americans. Eight and 14 percent of workers who had taken place in semiskilled and unskilled labor were blacks. Moreover, in 1966, 20 percent of janitors were

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black. In contrast, office and clerical staff were not even 2 percent of African

Americans, and skilled workers were just below 3 percent (2007, 409)

Furthermore, women also experienced even more crude treatment.

Women were not normally admitted to technical schools or to undergraduate or graduate training in engineering and physical sciences until the late 1960s. Female engineering Ph.D.s, were under 4 percent of the total twenty-five years after sputnik and twenty years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In that year, females

Ph.D.s were 40 percent in biology, 50 percent in social sciences and humanities.

Not only the gender barrier, but racial barrier also existed in that era. African

Americans received only 2 percent of doctorates in all fields of science and engineering in the 1990s. They got 5 percent of bachelor degrees in aerospace, electrical, or mechanical engineering in 2002, compared 3 percent of total in 1980

(2007, 410). As the result, trained minorities and women who came to NASA were rare and late. From 1958 to 1970, 2 and 3 percent of the female technician and engineers NASA were hired. NASA had only 146 females employed at professional grades of GS-12 or above when it had 35,000 civil services in 1964.

By the 1970s, women also benefited from such legal shift, “Second-Wave” of feminism. There was a group like the Women’s Equity Action League joined the NAACP Legal Defence Fund and others which against federal contractors. By

1972, Congress had further extended the scope of affirmative action including but not limited to NASA, in order to obey the same civil rights in employment rules as private cooperation and governments (2007, 411). Unfortunately, middle managers at NASA headquarters refused to do anything about affirmative action.

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NASA kept hiring fewer minorities and women than any other agency in executive branch (2007, 414). NASA could not simply ignore the law, it had then

5,6 percent minority and 18 percent female employees in 1973 in compare to the government average of 20 percent minority and 34 percent female. However, there were only 310 who were in science and engineering and just four were in the highest civil service grades from 4.432 females at NASA (2007, 416).

At the end women have been refused twice over: as neglected by history, they have waited patiently yet struggling wholeheartedly in order to achieve the equality with men. As neglected by the concept or discipline of history, they have been relegated to origin or chronology stories that less prioritized them. Without the contribution of several prominent black female figure like Ruth Bates Harris and Harriett Jenkins, America’s human space program would filled with all-male and all-white. Even it would have taken significantly longer time than it seems, twenty or twenty five years it did take, finally the affirmative action met successes to enhance the racial and gender equality in NASA (2007, 433-434).

D. Theoretical Framework

In this study entitled The Struggle of Afro-American Women against the

Double Discrimination Revealed in Hidden, the researcher focuses on how the double discrimination of gender and race was experienced by African American women and how the African American women resisted from double discrimination in Cold War era. In consequence, to guide the analysis process, the researcher applies black feminism approach and other supported theories which

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are theory of character and characterization, theory of setting, racial discrimination and gender discrimination. Moreover, the researcher also specifically used black feminism by Angela Davis.

In order to answer the first problem on how the double discrimination exist and affect African American women’s life, the researcher uses the theory of character and characterization, the theory of setting, racial discrimination and gender discrimination. The researcher uses racial discrimination and gender discrimination to analyze the types of discrimination and the way it happened in

Hidden Figures. To reveal the double discrimination in the book, the researcher uses the theory of character and characterization, focusing on the personal description, past life and reaction, thought and mannerisms. The researcher uses the theory of character and characterization to observe and analyze the major characters in Hidden Figures which are Katherine Johnson, Marry Jackson, and

Dorothy Vaughn. Besides, the researcher also applies the theory of setting specifically to setting of past time, setting of familiar place and the setting of atmosphere to reveal the double discrimination which African American women continuously undergo.

On answering the second question about how the African American women struggle against race and gender discrimination, the researcher applies the theory of character and characterization, the theory of setting and black feminism by Angela Davis. The researcher uses black feminism from Angela Davis in the article “Women, Race and Class” in 1981 because Davis points out that black women aggrieve a double jeopardy in economy when racism and sexism combine

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to downgrade black women to the bad treatment in the job field and low paid job which has a relevance with the focus of the study examining the double discrimination in workplace specially in Space Task Group, NASA. The researcher finds out how African American women struggle against the double discrimination through examining the major character and the setting in Hidden

Figures.

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

In this thesis, the researcher chooses Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race as the object of study. Hidden Figures is a non-fiction book written by Margott Lee Shetterly, a book which inspired the film from twentieth century FOX “Hidden Figures” by

Theodore Melfi. It also then became one of New York Time bestseller book in

2016.

The researcher uses the first version of Hidden figures which is published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2016. Besides this version, Hidden Figures also first published in United States by William Morrow, an imprint of Harper

Collins Publishers in 2016. Then the William Collins paperback edition is published in 2017. Hidden Figures which consists of 23 chapters tells us the untold story of African-American women who helped America win the space race with Russia during the Cold War. It is the phenomenal true story of African

American female mathematicians at NASA struggling to make a calculation which bring man to the space. Hidden Figures pictures the double jeopardy, sexism and racism, toward African American women. Moreover, it portrays in a credible way, how these African American women fighting against those discriminations until they win the freedom they deserve.

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In this study, the researcher specifically focuses on the three major characters of African American women in NASA which are Katherine Johnson,

Marry Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughn and the setting of time (1960) and place

(NASA) to analyze the double discrimination and the African American women struggle in 1960 era.

B. Approach of the Study

In analyzing Hidden Figures, the researcher applies Black Feminism approach. As stated in Black Feminist Criticism by Arlene R. Keizer, black feminism examines the text that portrays the cruel reality experienced by African

American women in modern era. As Keizer says:

Black feminism approach champions the idea of self-determination and economic empowerment, the struggle against the physic pain of racism and sexism, the possibility of coalition across the lines of race, gender, sexual orientation and class, and black women’s passionate and persistent strategies of self-formation, self-recovery and self expression revealed (1989, p. 155).

In other words, black feminism highlights the obstacles to the process of African

American women which are fighting for their freedom to actualize themselves.

Beside, black feminism approach is also appropriate in examining the cases on the physical and physiological oppressions experienced by African American women in context of white supremacist domination and their African American patriarchy system (Keizer, 1989, p. 155).

In relation on Hidden Figures, Black feminism plays a prominent role as an appropriate approach to figure out any details in Hidden Figures regarding the

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double jeopardy and struggle experienced by the African American women specifically in the workplace of Space Task Group, NASA.

C. Method of the Study

This study applies a library research as the method of the study. In doing the research, the researcher used written sources as the data. The theories, historical context, studies are collected from books and credible sources from internet like a journal from Jstore. The primary source is the book Margot Lee

Shetterly’ Hidden Figures. Moreover, to analyze the work, there are some books used as the secondary sources. Some of them are M.J. Murphy’ Understanding

Unseen: An Introduction to English poetry and the English Novel for Overseas

Students which contains the theory of character and setting, M.H. Abrams’

Glossary of Literary Terms which defines specifically the term of character, characterization and setting, Deborah L. Madsen’ Feminist Theory and Literary

Practice which explain the context of Black feminism and the way to apply it in literary texts. Furthermore, the researcher also uses the two articles to understand the historical context about the issue of women scientist in NASA. The first article is entitled “No Official Requirement: Women, History, Time, and the U.S. Space

Program” written by Marie Lathers and published by Feminist Studies, Inc. and the second article is entitled “Race, Gender, and Space Exploration: A Chapter in the Social History of the Space Age” by Kim Mcquaid from Cambridge

University.

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In order to conduct the research, the researcher did several steps. First and foremost, the researcher decided the literary work to be analyzed and the focus of the topic. Second, the researcher did a close reading of the literary work.

Third, the researcher collected the related theories, related studies and any other references which helped to examine the work. Forth, the researcher wrote any details related to the discrimination and the struggle of African American women from Hidden Figure. Fifth, the researcher answered and analyzed the work by applying the theories. The theory of character and characterization was used to examine the major characters and their interaction with other characters their surroundings. The theory of setting was used to examine the setting of time (1969) and the setting of place (NASA) in relation to the issues that became the focus of the study. The theory of racial and gender discrimination answered the first question in the problem formulation about double discrimination. The theory of black feminism answered the first and second question about the double discrimination and the struggle of African American women. Last but not least, the researcher drew the conclusion from the analysis of the work.

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CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

In this chapter, the researcher analyzes the two problems mentioned in the beginning of the chapter. The analysis is divided into two parts. In the first part, the researcher analyzes how the double discrimination which is experienced by African American Women in Hidden Figures. In the second part, the researcher analyzes how the African American women fight against the double discrimination in Hidden Figures.

A. African American Women’ Experiences of Double Discrimination

A biography, Hidden Figures portrays how African American women experience the double discrimination during Cold War era. The setting of this book takes place in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Although in that era, women already involve in the workplace, but they still get discrimination, especially the colored women. The prospects for an African American woman in the field could be viewed only dismal (Shetterly, 2016, p. 74). As consequence, African American women face the double discrimination because they are colored (racial discrimination) and because they are women (gender discrimination) (Humm, 1995, p. 230-231). The double discrimination exists in all spectrums of African American women, including but not limited to, educational system, public facility, and extended to the workplace. In this book, the experiences are presented through the three major female characters, which are Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson and Mary Jackson.

Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson and Mary Jackson are the female mathematician who works in NASA. During the cold war era, they are discriminated because of their race and gender, however, they are privileged and liberated women at the same time. Those African American women are come from an educated family that concern in education when most of African Americans are not well-exposed with education. Moreover, they also start their

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career to be a teacher in the African American school because they do realize that it can advance their race. In the private life, those African American women can manage their families well. Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson and Mary Jackson are all married. In an era when intraracial discrimination still existed, they are free to a great extent to advance their career because their husbands support them to do so. Even though they have to struggle to manage their family time and the working time, but they can handle it well because their family support them wholeheartedly. As the result, in this analysis, the researcher wants to focus more on the institutionalized and internalized discrimination rather than the intraracial discrimination because it is not being emphasized in Hidden Figures.

1. African American Women’ Experiences of Racial Discrimination

As stated in the previous chapter, based on Encyclopedia of Race and

Ethnic Studies, racial discrimination operated in the group of basis; it works on the perceived of attributes and deficiencies of groups, not individualized characteristics (2004, p.345). Based on Using Critical Theory: How to Read and

Write about Literature by Lois Tyson, racial discrimination can be categorized into three forms which are institutionalized, internalized and intraracial racism. In this analysis, the researcher focuses more on the institutionalized and internalized racism done by society to African American women. In Hidden Figures, the racial discrimination is emerged and shown in access to facilities, salary and prejudice of being a communist. a. Limited Access to facilities

Enjoying the facilities is the basic need of every citizen regardless their skin colour, gender, social status, religion and any background. People should

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have the right to access the facilities because they pay the same amount of tax and contribution to their government. Access to facilities is so important for people because it has a high resemblance with their self-actualization and self- determination as a human being. However, in Hidden Figures, it is shown that

African American women still get the crude discrimination because of their race.

They get discriminated racially through the limitation, prohibition and segregation of the facilities in educational institution, public transportation, housing, restaurant, office toilet and cafeteria.

i. Limited Access to Educational facilities

In the access to education, African American women have experienced a segregated school with a different educational system and facilities during 1900s.

Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Goble and Mary Jackson had attended a black school. Dorothy was graduated from the Beechhurst School, a consolidated Black school which located around the corner from West Virginia University, the white university (Shetterly, 2016, p. 12). Katherine was studied at White Sulphur school, the only children’s school in the area for African American and also Mary who also studied in Phenix High School which are also a black school.

The high school was off-limits to the city’s Negro’s children, who were still sent to Phenix High School, “inadequate gymnasium and library”, and to demand that the city “terminate the ‘undemocratic and expensive dual system’”

(2016, p. 142). This segregated educational institution is the form of institutionalized discrimination in educational facilities. It is also a form of legal discrimination that is being legalized by the government and ruled by the law. The

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segregated school has forced Dorothy, Katherine and Mary to experience unequal and injustice treatment in education. It forces them to be placed as the second class society by giving them the less qualified education system and facilities. It is also a portrayal of the real nuance in United States during 1900s where African

American children have to be placed in the cruel condition of segregated school.

Even the government is willing to pay the additional money for the dual system because of the deep rooted racism toward African Americans.

Besides the segregated school, African Americans also have the segregated laboratories and scientific collections, libraries and museums. Those facilities are either completely closed to African Americans or are only partially opened and on humiliating terms (2016, p. 74). Katherine Goble has experienced it when she wants to continue her study in West Virginia University’ 1940 summer session.

As Katherine walked out of the door on her last day at the Morgantown high school, her principal, who was also an adjunct professor in West Virginia State’s math department, presented her with a full set of math reference books to use at the university, a hedge against any “inconveniences” that might arise from her need to use the white school library (2016, p.75). This quotation shows that in 1940, the library is still segregated; the access of book is also still limited. It disables the African American women like Katherine to access the white books. This institutionalized discrimination is such an unfair treatment for Katherine as an African American woman. She has the limited book to absorb for her knowledge because of the segregated school. This racial discrimination experienced by Katherine also portrays the condition in 1940

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where most of African Americans still leave behind in compare to the whites because they have a very limited platform to accelerate their intelligences.

In 1936, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, led by Charles Hamilton

Houston, successfully argued the Supreme Court to require the school either to provide the African American student to have separate but equal education program or allow them to integrate in white school (2016, p. 75). Thus in 1940,

Katherine is allowed to enroll in West Virginia University which is a white school. Unfortunately, on her first day, she already gets a savage treatment from her white classmate. The one classmate who protested her presence employed silence rather than epithet as a weapon (2016, p. 75). This quotation shows that the treatment which is done by Katherine’s friend is a form of internalized discrimination. The silence protest done by her classmate is unreasonable, it is only driven from the whites’ deep rooted hatred which values Katherine as less capable, less worthy and less intelligent because of her race. Although she has not known Katherine yet, as long as she knows Katherine as an African American, the prejudice stands still.

The segregation stuff is not only experienced by Katherine Goble, it is also experienced by Mary Jackson. Mary starts her career as a teacher and as a leader for African American scout. Her aims to advance the race trigger her to have the insatiable desire to share. However, the ugly truth makes her angry that even in the scout organization, they are separated.

Serving as the leader of Girl Scout Troop No. 60, now one of the largest minority troops on peninsula, was always at the top of Mary’s list of volunteer activities. However, she was becoming impatient with the

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segregation that mandated a separate council for black scouts, and she began campaigning for one organization overseeing all the scouts (2016, p. 198).

This discrimination also put African American society as the second-class of society. The discrimination of the African American scout is a form of institutionalized discrimination because it is supported by the state. The discrimination perceives African Americans as less intelligent, less skillful and less capable than the whites, thus the state separate the council and forbid the to join the discourse there. ii. Limited Access to Public Transportation

As citizen, African Americans also get a racial discrimination to access the public transportation. They have the right to enjoy those facilities because they have contributed the same amount of tax to the government. However, the reality shows poles apart. They still get unequal treatment in return. On the first day of

December 1943, Dorothy Vaughan experienced a segregated bus. The bus is separated into two sections, white and black. She steps behind the Colored line on the Citizen Rapid Transit bus and headed to her first day of work at the Langley

Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (2016, p.36). There is colored line that separates the seat of passengers. As described by Dorothy Vaughan in her experiences, there is also an additional rule in the segregated bus.

Whites entered and exited from the front of the bus and sat in the white section in the front. Blacks were supposed to entered and exit from a rear door and find space in back, behind the Colored line; they were also supposed to yield seats to white patrons if the white section was full. Black actually entered through the front door and had to push through a line of white patrons in order to get to the black section. A shortage of conductors at the rear door and find a line of white patrons in order to get to the black section (Shetterly, 2016, p. 30).

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From this quotation above, the segregated bus is also a form of institutionalized racial discrimination. Besides, this racial discrimination also categorized as institutionalized discrimination because it is ruled under Jim Crow transportation laws. Besides, it also symbolized that blacks are the second class of society; black people have to obey white people no matter what. The fact that the blacks have to surrender their seats also means that as citizen their freedom is not fully obtained to enjoy the public facility just like the white citizen. Same goes to Dorothy

Vaughan’s experience on segregated bus, Katherine Goble also experience the same way. In 1937, newly graduated from West Virginia State Institute, Katherine applies a position at the Marion school in Virginia side of the border (2016, p. 69).

Upon entering Virginia, she and the other black passengers, who had been interspersed with the whites throughout the bus, were ordered to move to the back. A short time later, the driver evicted the black passengers, announcing that the service wouldn’t continue into the town’s Negro area. Katherine paid a cab to take her to the house of the principal of the Marion school, where she had arranged to rent a room (2016, p.70) Moreover, from the quotation above, the order of their section is also symbolized the superiority of the white. Black must sit at the back section while the white in the front section. The white is considered more superior to the black. The service of the bus is also not inclusive to all layer of society, to African Americans. The driver’s refusal to take Katherine to the African American area is a symbolized the white society rejection in that era to integrate with African Americans that taking the African Americans to their area is a shame.

The segregation in the bus is not a simple matter, it is a complex one.

Although African Americans try to defend themselves against the racial

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discrimination by opposing the segregation, ironically, they will be discriminated and oppressed further by the authorities. In the 1940s, the violence toward black passenger also happens. Though it is not directly experienced by Dorothy

Vaughan or other major female characters in Hidden Figures, the researcher finds this event important because it is an urgent issue during 1940s and has the similarity with Dorothy experience in the segregated bus. Black caught sitting in the white section of buses and trolleys, no matter how crowded, were subject to fines. More than a few violators were dragged off city buses, some beaten by police (2016, p. 31). This event indicates that the treatment of the authorities to the African Americans is still savage, inhuman and unjust. Fine and sentences become the consequences for them who are brave enough to oppose the government, though fighting against for the equality is the right thing to begin with. This treatment makes the African American people in this era become the most vulnerable actors in the United States.

iii. Limited Access to Housing

Besides the public transportation, the United States also separates housing for the whites and the blacks. Between 1940 and 1942, the region civilian population explodes from 393,000 to 576,000 and that is before accounting for the tenfold increase in military personnel, from 15,000 to more than 150,000 (2016, p.

28). In order to alleviate the shortage of homes for the war workers, the federal government develops housings in the East End of Newport News. Then, migrants queued up to rent 5,200 prefabricated demountable homes, 1,200 black houses in

Newsome Park and 4,000 white houses in the Copeland Park (2016, p. 29). This

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segregated residence continues and experience by Dorothy Vaughan when she starts her work at Langley in 1943.

Dorothy Vaughan arrived in Newport News on a Thursday and started work at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory the following Monday. The personnel department maintained a file of available housing for new employees, carefully segmented by race to establish “congenial connections” and “avoid embarrassment” (2016, p. 29).

This quotation explains that Dorothy Vaughan has experienced institutionalized discrimination in the form of segregated residence. Through the separation of dwelling place, Dorothy Vaughan is valued as the second-class society who is not equal to interact with whites in the same neighborhood. Even worst, this segregation is supported by the Department where Dorothy works. It is so ironic when the professional job field which has full of intellectual minds is being overshadowed by the racism and sees the black as a shame. In this sense, the segregation also leads to another form of racial discrimination which is the internalized discrimination. The whites inherently have a hatred of blacks because of their race. By placing the black employees like Dorothy in the separate house it shows that African Americans are different, they have a different capability and intelligent. Becoming their neighbors downgrades the white social class to the lowest level. Thus, being their neighbor brings nothing, except shame and regret.

iv. Limited Access to Restaurant

Also in the same year 1943, the system still keeps African American race at the bottom of American society with the deep rooted hatred. That year, Dorothy

Vaughan gets another racial discrimination when she wants to eat in one of the restaurant in Newport News. Restaurants that refused to serve Dorothy Vaughan

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had no problem waiting on Germans from the prisoner-of-war camp housed in a detention facility under the James River Bridge in Newport News (2016, p. 33).

This is a proof that institutionalized racial discrimination still happening. This rejection to Dorothy Vaughan is also categorized as internalized discrimination because the owner of the restaurant simply rejects her because of her race. In this sense, there is unequal treatment from the restaurants because they less prioritized their own citizen than the foreigners (the Germans). It is ironic for the United

States that fights for equality in other countries but cannot solve their own racial issues. This event has ripped Dorothy Vaughan’s dignity as an individual, as people and as the American society. v. Limited Access to Office’s Facilities

Working in NASA as the computers or mathematicians is a very good

African American job for Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Goble and Mary Jackson.

However, it does not mean that they are not discriminated. Ironically, in that place where the shrewd met, the racial discrimination still exists even more. The office where the research takes place is segregated. The East Side is for the whites meanwhile African Americans work in the West Computing. This institutionalized discrimination also indicates that as African Americans, they deserve to get the second-class in the workplace because they are assumed to be less capable, less intelligent and inferior. This segregation of office also results in the ignorance of the white employees in the East Side. Many white laboratory employees, particularly on the East Side, have not known that an all-black

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computing group existed (2016, p.87). This thing normally happens because

NASA remains its African American employees isolated in the West Side.

Inside the office, African American women also experienced the racial discrimination in the form of the segregated toilet and cafeteria. Toilet is the primary facility that the office must provide to their employees regardless their race, gender, religion and nation origin. However, the toilet is segmented into white and black toilet. This segregated toilet is experienced by Mary Jackson. On such occasion, two years after Mary joined West Computing, in 1953, Dorothy

Vaughan sends Mary to the East Side on a project alongside with several white computers. And that is where the racial discrimination begins.

“Can you direct me to the bathroom?” Marry asked the white women. They responded to Mary with giggles, how would they know where to find her bathroom? The nearest bathroom was unmarked, which meant it was available to any of the white women and off-limits to the black women. There were certainly colored bathrooms on the East Side, but with most black professionals concentrated on the West Side, and fewer new buildings on the East Side, Mary might need a map to find them. Angry and humiliated, she stormed off on her own to find her way to her restroom (2016, p. 108). This quotation proves that the toilet remains segregated for black and white. The segregated toilet is a form of institutionalized discrimination because it is supported by the institution of NASA. The giggles from the white women implicitly tell Mary that there is no toilet for colored women. From the author’s direct comment, the researcher also examines that the author wants to emphasize the difference and inequality of black and white by using the italic in the words they and her.

At the beginning, in fact, she didn’t even realize the bathrooms were segregated. Not every building had a Colored Bathroom, a fact that Mary

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Jackson had discovered so painfully during her rotation on the East Side. Though bathrooms for the black employees were clearly marked, most of the bathrooms—the ones implicitly designated for white employees – were unmarked (2016, p. 129). The fact that the toilet for African American employees must be marked as

“colored bathroom” is emphasizing the inequality between black and white. It is shown the inferiority of black employee as a second-class in the society and not as professional as the whites even if they are smart enough to be worked in NASA.

Furthermore, the segregation in the office experienced by African

American women are also shown through the emerged of “colored” sign in the cafeteria. During the lunch hour, all of the employees sit together as a habit, however, for the employees in the West Computing, it is by mandate. This labeled seat in cafeteria is experienced by all of west computers including Dorothy

Vaughan, Katherine Goble and Mary Jackson.

A white cardboard sign on a table in the back of the cafeteria beckoned them, its crisply stenciled black letters spelling out the lunchroom hierarchy: COLORED COMPUTERS. This was the kind of garden variety segregation that over the years blacks had learned to tolerate, if not to accept, in order to function in their daily lives (2016, p. 43). The sign in the cafeteria is also a form of institutionalized discrimination done by

NASA. It is a proof that the law explicitly discriminates the African American women. Though they work together in NASA with the same purpose to bring man to the moon, they are still degraded by the whites, they are unable to compete the whites, because they are kept in the separate place to eat. Then again, this form of segregation is a form that highlighting the social class of African Americans to be the bottom in American society.

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b. Underpaid Salary Having a well-paid salary is the right of every employee who has devoted their time, mind and energy in their work places. Regardless their job, everyone should be appreciated. Moreover, being a teacher during 1939 is a good job because it triggers the generation to expand their knowledge and enhances their critical thinking to be innovative. In contrast, African American teachers’ salary was modest. As experienced by Katherine Goble, she has worked for two years as a teacher in Marion and she only earned $50, less than $65 the state paid similarly trained white teachers (2016, p. 70). This discrimination is an institutionalized discrimination because it is supported by the educational institution. It is also an ugly truth that African American teacher have to bear. The gap of salary is far below the white’s salary even their work is equally the same. Even worst the black teacher and her colleagues, including the principal, makes less money than the school’s white janitor (2016, p. 70).This fact shows that not only underpaid,

African American teacher’s salary is worse than the white’s janitor salary. Even the African American good job as a teacher cannot equal the white blue collar job as a janitor.

The savage practice of underpaid salary is also experienced by Dorothy

Vaughan. In the summer 1943, Dorothy jumped at the chance to head to Camp

Pickett to earn extra money during the school break because her job as a teacher is not enough to support her living.

Nationally, Virginia’s white teachers ranked in the bottom quarter in public school salaries, and their black counterparts might earn almost 50 percent less. Many black teachers in the South gave lessons in one- or two- room that barely qualified as buildings. Teachers were called upon to do whatever was necessary to keep the schoolhouses clean, safe and

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comfortable for pupils. They shoveled coal in winters, fixed broken windows, scrubbed dirty floors, and prepared lunch (2016, p. 11).

This unjust practice of low-paying job has trapped the African Americans into the cycle of poverty because there is no incentive to upgrade their standard of living.

It also symbolizes the extension of slavery era between black and white. Through the underpaid salary, there is a continuous oppression done by the white. They have to work way harder than the white teacher as experienced by Dorothy

Vaughan. They work double role to be a teacher and a janitor at the same time with the very minimum salary to support their living. 40 cents an hour Dorothy

Vaughan as a laundry seeker even bested what she earned as a teacher (2016, p.

11). This condition leads the African Americans to be powerless that they do not have bargaining position in compares to the white. This fact brings the African

Americans to the bottom of American society that they will never be equal with the white because there is no catalyst to do so. c. Accusation of Black Empowerment Advocate During the late 1940 until 1950s, there is a communist propaganda emerged in United States. People live in insecurity that everyone can be a communist. The wide-spread insecurity also affects the employees at Langley.

Quietly, some laboratory employees complained about the “New York communist people” and the “practically impossible New York Jews” recruited to work at

Langley (2016, p. 102). Ironically, the employee who is accused as the communist is an African American.

Around the same time, Dorothy Vaughan’s relative, Matilda West, possibly the black computer accused of disloyalty, was fired from her job at the laboratory. West was an outspoken advocate for black empowerment and one of the leaders of the local NAACP (2016, p. 102).

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Matilda West accuses as a communist because she is also an advocate of black empowerment. Although this expeltion not directly experienced by Dorothy

Vaughan, yet Matilda West still has a relation with Dorothy. During the late

1940s until 1950s, the progressive idea brought by black empowerment which are racial integration, civil rights and gender equality are a thread for the traditional value of America which is the white supremacy. Thus, any kind of value which opposes the traditional value of America will be accused and equalized with being a communist. The accusation of Matilda West also has a possible impact to

Dorothy Vaughan.

It was a dismissal that would shake West Computing to its core, with possibly career-damaging implications for Dorothy Vaughan as well The Red scares and Communist hysteria of the late 1940s and early 1950s destroyed reputation, lives, and livelihoods, as Matilda West’s situation proved. The fear of communism was a bonanza for segregation like Virginia senator Harry Byrd. Byrd painted the epithet “Communist” on everyone and everything that threatened to upend his view of “traditional” American customs and values, which included white supremacy (2016, p. 102-103).

This event has accused the African American women as the communist even without any evidence at all. Dorothy is almost accused as the communist because she is the relative of Matilda West and she is a black mathematician who also works in the West Computing (2016, p. 102). The practice of internalized discrimination that experienced by Dorothy and her friend leads to the unjust treatment. Dorothy is being labeled as disloyal employee who is equalized to be a communist. Matilda also loses her job as the source of her living. The expeltion of Matilda West has hampered her purchasing power to fulfill her daily needs.

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2. African American Women’ Experiences of Gender Discrimination

In addition to experiencing racial discrimination, African American women also face discrimination because of their gender as women. Based on

Maggie Humm’ Feminism A Reader, gender discrimination is defined as a mistreatment because of the belief that women are by nature inferior to men: less intelligent, less rational, less courageous. Moreover, as stated in Culture and

Society by Merril and Elderdge, is a concept where men are assumed to be naturally imperious, dominate, aggressive, and generally fitted to wrestle with the complex affair in the world. In temperamentally unfitted to cope with the life outside the home (1952, p. 162). This sexist concept has trapped women to actualize themselves in the society. The toxic constructed belief has forced most of them to get discriminated over years because of their gender. In Hidden figures, the gender discrimination emerged in many ways including access to education, job strata, acknowledgement and appreciation in the job field. a. Limited Access to Education

Education is the powerful catalyst for individuals to upgrade their life in a form of financial capacity and the competency in the job field. Moreover, education also triggers the advancement of the country in science and technology.

Especially during the Cold War era, education is urgently needed to better the human power in order to compete with Russia in the Space Exploration.

Nevertheless, accessing the education still becomes the big barriers for African

American women. Besides experiencing the segregated schools, as women, they also have to face another discrimination of enrolling an engineering major in the

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University. This dilemma is experienced by Mary Jackson in 1958 when her new boss Kaz Czarnecki suggests her to enroll in the laboratory’s engineer training program (2016, p.143). Czarnecki sees Mary’s competency in doing her job as a computer. He sees that Mary more than capable to be an engineer because she previously has graduated from two rigorous majors at the same time, math and physics. However, the gender discrimination in the United States has hardened

Mary’s dream to be an engineer.

Most of the country’s top engineer schools didn’t accept women. Kitty O’Brien Joyner, the laboratory’s first female engineer from the time Pearl Young left until the middle of 1950, had been forced to sue University of Virginia to enroll in school’s all-male undergraduate engineering school in 1939. As for black female engineers, there weren’t enough of them in the country to constitute a rounding error (2016, p. 144).

This fact shows that the gender discrimination is evil and unjust for women. The prohibition of enrolling the engineer degree is a form of institutionalized and also legal discrimination because it is supported by the educational institution and the law. This discrimination perceives women as less intelligent than men because the engineering major is so hard and the women may not able to withstand the pressure, thus no chance at all for women. Even without seeing the competency of the women, this sexist condition has labeled women with the absolute decision that they are less capable and less intelligent to men. b. Minimum Access for Career Advancement

During 1930s, men powers have been absorbed into the military services, thus the labor market start to employ women, liberating women from their domestic life. At Langley, they start to employ female computer in 1935 and qualified African American women start to be hired in 1943 (2016, p. 4 & 6). This

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condition gives women a brighter chance to prove their talent and credibility as women. It gives women platform to exercise their skill in order to compete with men. However, the fact that the women get the better job does not mean that the discrimination is not exist. The discrimination is extended from the domestic life to the workplace. For African American women, working with their male co- workers is the hardest. As experienced by Katherine Goble when she is being rotate to Building 1244, she has to face the sexist manner through the look and gesture from her male engineer.

The room hummed with pre-lunch activity as Katherine surveyed it for a place to wait for her new bosses. She made a beeline for an empty cube, sitting down next to an engineer, resting her belongings on the desk and offering the man her winning smile. As she sat, and before she could issue a greeting in her gentle southern cadence, the man gave her a silent sideways glance, got up, and walked away (2016, p.123). The departure of the engineer is so painful for Katherine. She starts her day with a good intention to give a warm greet to him, yet it is only one-sided greet. The engineers just ignore her than walk away. This manner shows an internalized discrimination because Katherine is a woman, thus the man looks down to her.

Bemused, Katherine considered the engineer’s sudden departure. The moment that passed between them could have been because she was black and he was white. But then again, it could have been because she was a women and he was a man. Or maybe the moment was an interaction between a professional and sub professional, and an engineer and a girl (2016, p. 123).

Furthermore, the engineer’ response to Katherine also portrays the job hierarchy in NASA. Women like Katherine Goble are hired as computer because they are considered as less professional than the men counterparts. Men are hired to be engineer because they are more professional, more capable than women.

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In the job desk of women and men, there is also a stratum. As computer or mathematician, Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Goble and Mary Jackson are obliged to wait for the men direction. On the other hand, as male engineer are given a role to lead the direction of the research.

Women were “supposed” to wait for the assignments from the supervisors, and weren’t expected to take the lead by asking questions or pushing for plum assignments. Men were engineers and women were computers; men did the analytical thinking and women did the calculations. Men gave the orders and women took notes (2016, p. 181).

Waiting is so tiring especially without any clarity and certainty at all. However, this is done by Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Goble and Mary Jackson as computers, they have to wait the engineer direction, process and calculate the numbers with the lack of context about the plane. Women are also prohibited to asking question and opinion related to the research. In this sense, the freedom of speech and expression have been limited or even oppressed. Women have the very limited chance to have self-actualization in order to improve the research.

It was the engineer who determined what problem to investigate, designed the experiments, and defined the assignments for the mathematicians. Engineer gave direction to the craftsmen who made the wind tunnel models and to the technicians and mechanics who manipulated the models. (2016, p. 144).

From the quotation above, the researcher infer that the sexism has determined and dictated the gender role that male engineer is the commander and female computer is his follower, man is the leader and woman is his follower who only keep silence and waiting for his command. The man can freely command the women. The researcher analyzes the command and job desk of man is a form of

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oppression to woman, a force that no matter what happened, woman must follow man as the one who have more intelligent and dignity in compare to woman.

c. Minimum Acknowledgement and Appreciation in the Work Place

Working and being a part of NASA with the Space program is the prestigious career for African American women. When most of women in the

Cold War era still trapped in the blue collar job as maid, laundry sorter and such,

Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Goble and Mary Jackson can prove their intelligent through being the female mathematician in NASA, working surrounded by male engineers with the most wide-awake minds ever. Ironically, those women still get a mistreatment from their male co-workers. They still get the lack of acknowledgement and appreciation as the qualified individual, and as the agent that give the same level of contribution in the Space Exploration research.

Being able to be accepted in NASA is actually a solid proof that they are more than qualified. Nevertheless, sometimes, their capability is still question, and they get less acknowledgment to have an intelligent mind. This situation is ever experienced by Mary Jackson when she is moved to the Four-by-Four-Foot

Supersonic Pressure Tunnel. She was given an assignment by John Becker, the chief of the Compressibility Division.

John Becker gave Mary Jackson the instructions for working through the calculations. She delivered the finished assignment to him just as she completed her work for Dorothy Vaughan, double-checking all numbers, confident that they were correct. Becker reviewed the out-put, but something about the numbers didn’t seem right to him. So he challenged Mary’s number, insisting that her calculations were wrong (2016, p.115).

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John Becker’s reaction to challenge Mary’s number is a form gender discrimination that perceived woman as the less intelligence individual. He even insists that the calculation must be wrong. In this sense, John Becker has degraded

Mary’s dignity as the professional mathematician in NASA. He also has emphasized Mary’s inferiority. He does not want to acknowledge Mary’s because there is the internalized belief that woman is less capable and less intelligent to solve the complex problem.

Moreover, women also get lack of acknowledgement in the research report. Getting one’s name in the research report is necessary first step in the career of engineer. For women, it is a significant and unusual achievement. Once the women can get the name written in the research report, their intelligent and capabilities are publicly acknowledged. However, this acknowledgment is rarely happening to a woman. Even a woman who had worked closely with an engineer on the content of a research report was rarely rewarded by seeing her name alongside his on the final publication. They were women, after all (2016, p. 83).

No matter how hard Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Goble and Mary Jackson to be close with the engineer, their names are still not written in the research report.

This discrimination has downgraded women to be less qualified and subprofessional individual.

Besides that, editorial meeting is an important meeting to decide the direction of the research. The individuals who join that meeting will be considered as brilliant individuals because they contribute directly to the research. As the one with a high merit and curiosity, Katherine wants to join the meeting so thus she

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can contribute more to the researches. She believes that she has the right to say as a freedom of expression, expressing her own opinion. However, the engineer’ response is savage.

“Why can’t I go to the editorial meetings?” she asked the engineer. “Girls don’t go to the meetings”, Katherine’s male colleague told her. “Is there a law against it?” Katherine retorted. There were laws restricting her ability to apply for a credit card in her own name, because she was a woman. But no law applied to the editorial meeting (2016, p. 179).

Even there is no written law ban her to enter to the editorial meeting, the men do, they make their own rule. The act for not allowing Katherine to enter to the room simply because of her gender is a form of gender discrimination by back lashing the freedom speech and expression that each individual must have regardless the gender. The deep rooted sexism influences the engineer to value women as an outsider, less intelligent than they are. Any of her opinion is perceived as less contributive to the research.

Besides getting the minimum acknowledgement, African American women also get minimum appreciation in the form of underpaid salary. It is experienced by Katherine Goble at the middle of 1953, she is assigned temporary to work in the Flight Research Division under the supervision of Henry Pearson.

However, after several months, Katherine temporary assignment in Flight

Research Division was starting to look permanent with the minimum wages and promotion. With the successful completion of the trial period should make her eligible for promotion from the entry level of SP-3 to SP-5, with the raise that accompanied it (2016, p.125). However, she does not get the right and appreciation that she deserves.

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Despite the relatively large group of women now working at the center, most female technical professionals, black and white—even someone as gifted as Katherine Johnson—were classified as mathematicians or computers, ranked below engineer and paid less, even if they were doing the same work (2016, p. 197)

This fact proves that appreciation in a form of salary still lack even Katherine deserve to pay as proportional as her work. It also shows gender discrimination in an institutionalized form because it is supported by the institution. This underpaid salary experienced by Katherine Goble represents the condition of African

American women in that era. This discrimination is so cruel because it traps the women in the same level of job career and salary. Through giving the underpaid salary, it exploits women mind, time and energy as an employee. It also downgrades women credential as a professional employee, limit their power to develop themselves as individual because they never get the promotion and salary that they deserve. Without enough salary and promotion in job, those women will always be left behind in their career path in compare to the men.

B. African American Women’s Responses to the Double Discrimination

Being African American and women are a long journey of fighting.

Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine G. Johnson and Mary Jackson are struggling against the chronicle discrimination and oppression by the whites and men. Female characters in Hidden Figures have experienced the practice of double discrimination in many spectrums of life. They cannot get the right that they deserve like getting proper education, entering engineering major, getting a well- paid salary and acknowledgment and enjoying the freedom of speech and

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expression in the work place. However, in this analysis, the African American women’s response toward the double discrimination is intertwined. It is so difficult to tease them out because the responses toward the racial discrimination are usually the responses to the gender discrimination. As African American women, they have two visible identities that cannot be separated which are the identities of being women and being African Americans. The struggles of African

American women are represented by three major characters in Hidden Figures,

Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson and Mary Jackson. The responses to the double discrimination are shown in a form of excelling in what they do through hard work, playing or working against with the system, ignoring the system and inviting others to fight with them.

1. Excelling in What They Do through Hard Work a. Limited Access to Educational Facilities The practice of double discrimination has placed African American women into limited access of educational facilities like the segregated school, library, and museum. For years, African American women are perceived as an inferior and submissive to the whites in many ways. They are placed in the lowest class of the society. The limited access to the educational facilities is the concrete proof how hard these women have to deal with the toxic nature of society. To compete with the advancement of the whites, they have to work twice or even three times harder with the privileged whites. The African American women response the limited access to educational facilities is also through education.

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They expand their knowledge in school and college in order to get a proper degree and treated equally by the whites.

Living in a segregated school and educational institution is not a piece of cake. They have to fill their brain with the limited resources of education because of the segregation. Instead of giving up with the reality, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary

Jackson, and Katherine Goble have struggled so hard to influence what they did control: pushing their children to excel in their segregated schools and getting them into college (2016, p. 185). They do believe that through bettering their generation by enforcing them to study in segregated school will alter their destiny to not being downgraded by the power houses, the whites. This response shows a form of covert resistance because they are not directly approaches the authorities to change the rule of segregation, yet they struggle by their own in the segregated school in order to get the proper degree later on.

African American women also fight against the limited access to educational institution by being a teacher. They do believe that teacher is a prominent figure to excel the race. Katherine Johnson, as African American women have been a full-time wife and mother for the last four years, she still carefully seeks for teaching certificate. In 1937, newly graduated from West

Virginia State Institute, eighteen-year-old Katherine applied for a position at the

Marion school, which was just on the Virginia side of the border (2016, p. 69). In this sense, even in the black community, motherhood is an important valued that should be maintained, she has to work double role to be as a career women to excel the race and face the racial discrimination. Katherine enjoyed teaching. She

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felt a keen sense of responsibility to instill not just book knowledge but discipline and self respect in her students (2016, p. 119). She does understand her role as the agent of change for her race and gender as an African American woman. When she is teaching at Marion, she meets Dr. Davis the president of her alma mater.

Through her hard work, Davis picks Katherine to enter West Virginia. He also gives her some math references book because the books are only provided in the white libraries. In this sense, Katherine response to the discrimination in limited access to educational facilities is an overt resistance because she is not insisting the authorities to integrate the educational institution yet she works harder to enjoy the facilities in the white educational institutions.

Working in education field as a teacher is not only done by Katherine

Johnson but also Mary Jackson. As a woman with analytical bent, she starts to undergo a double degree with two rigorous majors, mathematics and physical science. She then uses his degree to work as a math teacher at Negro High School in Maryland (2016, p. 95). During her working as teacher, she also faces abundant of obstacles. She ever gets rejected from teaching in one of Hampton’s public

Negro elementary school because her sister has employed there. Due to the ups and downs of her life, Mary Jackson finally accepted as the a secretary and bookkeeper for the King Street USO in 1943 because of her excellent organizing skills, fluency with number and extraordinary typing skill (2016, p. 95).

Besides, working as a teacher, Mary also dedicates herself as the leader of Bethel AME’s Girl Scout Troop No. 11. She is so loyal in scouting, she trains

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the girls wholeheartedly. She does that as a form of respect to God and proliferation of education to the black community.

Their dark skin, their gender, their economic status—none of those were acceptable excuses for not giving the fullest rein to their imagination and ambition. You can do better—we can do better, she told them with every word and every deed. For Mary Jackson, life was a long process of raising one’s expectation (2016, p. 98).

Even skin color, gender and financial capability may be the excuse for most of

African American women to fight, but it is not for Mary Jackson. This quotation indicates that her on fire spirit triggers her to do all things at all cost. She also responds her unprivileged life as an African American woman who always be the victim of double jeopardy by keep improving herself as a teacher and proliferating the education in wherever she works with the optimistic mind. As the result, she can create an organic change in the society one day.

After a couple of years, her ambition and loyalty goes on the right track and rewarded as well. When Levi turned into four, Mary Jackson filed an application with the Civil Service, applying both for clerical position with the army and as a computer at Langley in January 1951, (Shetterly, 2016, p. 98).

With Mary abilities, she would be of better use as an NACA computer than as a military secretary. After three months at Fort Monroe, she accepted an offer to work for Dorothy Vaughan (Shetterly, 2016, p. 99). This quotation indicates that Mary has proven to the world, that she is not less intelligent than the whites, not less capable and also not less professional. It shows a covert resistance to the discrimination. She proves that she as equal as the whites. She then starts to works in NASA and being a part of United States history, sending a man to the moon.

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b. Minimum Acknowledgement in the Workplace

Being African American women, it is hard to obtain a good job.

Moreover, working in NASA as the female computer is a very good job from

African American women during 1940s. However, the practice of gender discrimination is still experienced by them. As women, they get lack of acknowledgment and appreciation in the job field. Though the women who have worked in NASA are qualified individuals, yet sometimes their intelligent and capability is still questioned by the engineers. When Mary works with John

Becker, a brilliant engineer in NASA, she is insisted to calculate a wrong number.

Under this circumstance, Mary feels being downgrade as the less intelligent individual, she is not acknowledged to be the credible individual. She then struggles to make sure the number and recalculates it.

She and her division chief went back and forth over the data, trying to isolate the discrepancy. Finally, it became clear: the problem wasn’t with her output but with his input. Her calculations were correct, based on the wrong numbers Becker had given her. John Becker apologized to Mary Jackson. The episode earned Mary a reputation as a smart mathematician who might be able to contribute more than just calculations to her new group (2016, p. 115).

Mary is trying so hard to check and recheck again the data with her division chief.

She does realize that the shame because of the wrong data will not only affect her credibility but all women as the computers in NASA. After a long process of struggles in recalculating the data, it is proven that Mary’s calculation is correct, yet Becker has given her wrong numbers. In this sense, Mary has successfully proved that her credibility is not questionable anymore. Mary Jackson also brings a victory because she faces the brilliant John Becker. Through her success in

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calculating the number, she proves that women are not less intelligent than the men. Consequently, Mary is not only get the acknowledgment from John Becker as the intelligent mind, yet all female computers perceive her as their hero. c. Limited Access to Job Advancement

In the prestigious office like NASA, the discrimination in a form of job strata still exists. The job of engineer is entitled to men, while the job of mathematician or computer is entitled to women. This stratum happens also because of the sexist mindset that valued women as less capable, less intelligent and less professional than the men. Thus, engineer downgrades the job of mathematician and computer as the less professional job.

Most engineers were also good mathematicians. But it was the women who messaged the numbers, swam in the numbers, scrutinized the numbers until their eyes blurred, from the time they set their purses down on the desks in the morning until the time they put on their coats to leave at the end of the day. They checked each other’s work and put red dots on the data sheets when they found errors (2016, p. 115).

The quotation above shows how the mathematician like Dorothy Vaughan,

Katherine Goble and Mary Jackson struggle to calculate the numbers, and do their tasks at all cost. They accept that there is a job stratum, but the way they still devoted their energy and mind in their work proves that they are the qualified one.

The job strata cannot define their intelligent and capability as the employee.

The standards upheld by the women of the West Computing set a floor for the possibilities of a new generation of the girls with a passion for math and hopes for a career beyond teaching. Just as the original NACA- ites would forever hold on to their identities as members of that venerable organization, the black women would always feel an allegiance to West Area Computing, and to the women who led it to its final day, Dorothy Vaughan (2016, p. 172).

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Through the collective effort of Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Goble and Mary

Jackson in their job has a greater good benefit. Their best quality of working has set a standard that aims to empower other woman that have a strong passion in math and physics. Their struggles that have done by them create a hope for women that they can have a higher dream, more than being a teacher. d. Accusation of Black Empowerment Advocate

United States has a communist hysteria during the late 1940s until the late of 1950s. This event is impacted the ones who champion the ideas that opposes the government which are racial integration, civil rights and gender equality.

Matilda West, the advocate of black empowerment becomes the object of accusation. It destroys her lives, reputation and livelihood. Dorothy Vaughan also gets the possibility of career damaging implication because she is a black computer who also works in the West Computing (2016, p. 102). Dorothy also

Matilda West’s relative, thus she is suspected to be the communist. Dorothy’s response toward the discrimination is not explicitly stated, yet the researcher considers that Dorothy does not show any “radical” action.

West was an outspoken advocate for black empowerment and one of the leaders of the local NAACP. The NAACP wasn’t included on the government list, but it had long been a target of the Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy. With the Rosenberg trial casting a shadow on the NACA and its security practices and with the agency’s growing budget requests under the microscope of Congress, the lab’s administrators may have decided that having a “radical” black computer on staff was a headache they just didn’t need.

This quotation above shows that the laboratory accuses the one who considers being a “radical” or explicitly opposes the government by being an advocate of black empowerment. The fact that finally Dorothy is not being accused shows that

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she does not doing any “radical” action or being an advocate of black empowerment. Dorothy advances her race and fights the gender equality by excelling her merit and career. It takes Dorothy two years to earn a full title of the section head (2016, p. 92). Although during the process she faces many challenges like the skepticism from her boss about her quality, yet at the end the history proves that there is no one better qualified for the position than Dorothy Vaughan

(2016, p. 92).

In three years at Langley, Dorothy Vaughan had proven to be more than equal to the job, handling off error-free work to Merge Hannah and Blanche Sponsler and managing the constant deadlines with ease, garnering “excellent” rating from her bosses (2016, p. 81).

Her effort in the job field send a narrative to her surrounding that she is more than qualified to be accepted there. She also proves that she is as capable and as professional as other men and white employees. Through her performance, she also indirectly becomes the role model of other African American women to work beyond the limitations. In this sense, Dorothy Vaughan has empowered African

American women without being an advocate of black empowerment.

2. Playing the System and Working against the System a. Limited Access to Educational Institution

During 1950s, the access of education is still limited for women. Not all major is opened for women. This is because of the sexist belief which perceives women to be less intelligent and less capable than men. As experienced by Mary

Jackson, she is in troubled when she wants to enroll the engineering major

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because the engineering class is only opened for men. Then she makes a move to give a petition in the legal basis.

For Mary, differential equations were the first step. Actually, it was not that simple. The first step was to get permission to enter Hampton High School. If Mary had applied for a job as janitor, the doors to the school would swing wide open. As a professional engineer-in-training with a plan to occupy the building for the nefarious purpose of advancing her education, she needed to petition the city of Hampton for “special permission” to attend classes in the white only school (2016, p. 144).

Through Mary’s response against the discrimination by sending the petition, it shows Mary’s stance to strongly oppose the discrimination in educational institution. This response is an overt resistance because Mary takes an action through sending the petition. She moves to the extent of the legal basis because the discrimination is supported by the law. Mary has to pass several bureaucracies in order to give the petition. It is kind of hard, but Mary still keeps struggling because she is not only struggling for herself, but the advancement of all women in education as well.

She would let nothing—not even the state of Virginia’s segregation policy—stand in the way of her pursuit of the career that had rather unexpectedly presented itself to her. She had worked too hard, her parents had worked too hard; a love of education and a belief that their country would eventually heed the better angels of its nature was one of their great bequests to their eleven children (2016, p. 144).

This quotation shows that behind Mary’s struggle to fight against the gender discrimination is supported by her strong believe and determination. Her unstoppable ambition and insatiable desire to upgrade her career makes her do anything possible to open the engineer class for women. Her loyal and devotion to education makes her so on fire to fight for education. Thus Mary’s action and

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response to the discrimination shows that she is working against the system which limits her to advance her degree in engineering major.

The City of Hampton granted Mary the dispensation. The pass gave her access to the classes, though it did not make them broadly available to others. Whether pain securing the permit exacted, it was more than offset by the victories lying in wait. She began her coursework at Hampton High School in the spring of 1956 (2016, p. 145).

Finally, with the ups and down of her struggle, her petition finally accepted, the government opens the “special class” in white only school and male only major.

This victory is not only benefited Mary, but also the glory for African American women. She earned her engineering title through hard work, talent, and drive, but the opportunity to fight for it was made possible by the work of the people who had come before her (2016, p. 198).

Moreover, Mary Jackson also experienced another discrimination in educational institution when she becomes the leader of Girl Scout Troop No. 60, which is one of the largest minority troops on peninsula (2016, p. 198). The segregated council for African American girl irritates her ear and triggers Mary to do an action. She then makes a campaign to unite the girls’ scout council.

Mary lobbied to send her young assistance Janice Johnson, who had developed into a capable right hand and a leader in her own right. This would be Janice’s first time in an integrated setting—her first time away from her hometown, in fact—but Mary believed she would be up for the challenge and find it in an invaluable experience (20016, p. 198).

Mary also struggles through lobbying Janice Johnson to attend in the integrated council. Janice Johnson is the first timer to join the integrated council. It must be hard because she has to join the discourse with the white. However, Mary has a strong faith that any experience that Janice gets from the council will be life-

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changing experience and benefited her and the community as a whole. It must be impossible for the ordinary people to change the discriminatory regulation, yet it is so possible for Mary because she has a hope and strong determination. Mary works against the system of white supremacy which creates the segregated council for African Americans. It shows an overt resistance because Mary is actively doing an action and has an attempt to alter the status quo. Because of her hard work to campaign the integrated council, finally, the state agrees to integrate the council. b. Limited Access to the Office’s Facilities In the workplace, there are the segregation of toilet and cafeteria. The toilets of African Americans are labeled as the colored toilet, while the toilets for the whites are unmarked. This discrimination is experienced by Katherine during her work in the Flight Research Division. At first, she still uses the unmark toilets, because she thinks that those toilets are opened for everyone. However, as the times goes by, she just realizes that the toilets are segregated for African

American people.

As far as Katherine was concerned, there was no reason why she shouldn’t use those as well. It would be a couple of years before she was confronted with the whole rigmarole of separate bathrooms. By then, she simply refused her habits—refused to so much as enter the Colored bathrooms. And that was that. No one ever said another word to her about it (2016, p. 129).

Katherine then is being confronted to use the colored toilet only. In order to struggle against the segregated toilet, Katherine rebels by showing her refusal to change her habit to keep using the unmark toilet. Katherine has the bravery to take a risk of using the unmark toilet. She opposes the discriminatory rule in the

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workplace and because of her strong willingness, the other employees give up to confront her again. This response is categorized as covert resistance because

Katherine doing her habit just to make herself better and equal to the white women. She does not show any further respond to change the policy of the segregated toilet. Through doing this habit to use the unmark toilet, Katherine also plays the system there. Her habit is a form of mock to the discriminatory rules in

NASA that cannot rule over Katherine.

Besides the segregation in toilet, African American women also face segregation in the cafeteria. The sign of “Colored Computers” are only in West

Area Cafeteria, which means that African American women cannot eat aside in the seats with Colored Computer’s sign. This policy also limited the right of

African American women to fully enjoy the office facilities. It is also indicates the discrimination that categorizes African Americans as the second-class in the workplace. The practice of discrimination do irritates and suffers Katherine as well as other African American women. However, instead of staying in silence,

Katherine does another fearless action.

She also made the decision to bring a bag lunch and eat at her desk, something many of the employees did. Why should she spend the extra money on lunch? It was more convenient as well; the cafeteria was just far enough from her building to have drive, and who wanted to do that? And it was healthier too, what with the temptation of the ice cream that the cafeteria sold for dessert. Of course, for Katherine Goble, eating at her desk also had the benefit from removing the segregated cafeteria from her daily routine, another reminder of the caste system that would have circumscribed her movements and thought (2016, p. 129-130). Katherine’s action to ignore the rule and eat her meals at her own desk indicates a form of refusal and resistance to the racial discrimination by the whites. Her

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respond shows that she wants to be acknowledged to be equal to the whites because many employees also do the same thing. They can eat their meals wherever they want. Her refusal to the rule also shows that Katherine does not want to be perceived as inferior and second-class employee, because she also contributes the same things thus she deserves the same facilities. Katherine always bear in her mind that once they got to the office, “they were all the same”

(2016, p. 182). Her response also shows an overt resistance because she only wants to make herself better and actualize herself as her will. She does not actively ask the authorities in her office to change the segregated cafeteria.

Moreover, it also shows that Katherine plays with the existed system, the discriminatory rule. She mocks the rule by ignoring the rule and brings the lunch box to her desk. c. Minimum Appreciation and Acknowledgement in the Workplace

In respond to the lack of appreciation of salary, the African American women struggle at all cost in altering the situation. As experienced by Katherine that Henry Pearson does not gives her a well paid salary, Dorothy Vaughan as

Katherine’s supervisor takes an action to fight for Katherine salary.

“Either give her a raise or send her back to me,” Dorothy said to Henry Pearson, sitting upstairs in his office in 1244. A Langley engineer in the old style, Pearson had graduated from Worcester Polytechnic in Massachusetts and started work at the lab in 1930. He was a keen golfer, a horn-rimmed glasses wearer, the epitome of the New England WASP. Pearson was not a big fan of women in the workplace. His wife did not work; rumor had it Mrs. Henry Pearson had been forbidden by her husband from holding a job (2016, p. 126).

From the quotation above it also shows that Henry is not a big fan of women and also does a sexist action to his wife that prohibits his wife to work. Same goes to

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what he does to Katherine. He less appreciates her because she is a woman. This discriminatory act triggers Dorothy Vaughan to strongly opposes him to give

Katherine a rise or he has to send back Katherine to Dorothy.

Fearless as she was, Dorothy would have approached Henry Pearson even if she weren’t a manager, but the official title of section head lent her additional authority. It put her on equal footing with the other female supervisors and—theoretically, at least—with men of the same rating, and it afforded her a degree of center-wide visibility (2016, p. 126).

The fact that Dorothy is not a manager does not make her feel inferior to fight for the right that her employees deserved. She puts herself as equal as Henry Pearson.

In this sense, Dorothy opposes the discrimination by refusing the prejudice as an inferior individual. Through insisting to Henry Pearson, Dorothy has proven that she has a power to actively oppose the gender discrimination. She shows her strong attempt to work against the system. She does not want to be oppressed by getting the minimum salary. Dorothy’s response also shows an overt resistance because she does a further action to change the system by insisting Henry

Pearson.

The meeting between Dorothy Vaughan and Henry Pearson ended as they both knew it would, with Pearson offering Katherine Goble a permanent position in his group, the Maneuver Loads Branch, with a corresponding increase in salary. Dorothy’s insistence also had a collateral effect: one of the white computers in the branch, in the same limbo position as Katherine, had herself gone to Pearson to petition for a raise. The white woman’s request had fallen on deaf ears. The rules are the rules, Dorothy reminded Henry Pearson. Dorothy wielded her influence to win promotions for both Katherine and her white colleague (2016, p.126).

From the quotation above, Dorothy’s action to fight for the rise of salary has given a greater good impact. Her action has empowered not only African

American women but the white women to struggle for the rise of salary, and to

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stand up when women are being oppressed by the male engineers. Furthermore, the engineers who worked for Henry Pearson realized soon after Katherine Goble took a seat at her desk in 1244 that their new computer was a keeper, and they had no intention of sending her back (2016, p. 126). It shows that Dorothy struggle as a woman has brought a victory to the improvement of appreciation.

Moreover, African American women also get minimum acknowledgement in the workplace. Their capabilities and intelligent are not acknowledged that they cannot enter to the editorial meeting where the direction of the research comes from. In respond to this discrimination, Katherine does a fearless response by keep questioning the male engineers. “Why can’t I go to the editorial meeting?” Katherine Goble asked again, undeterred by the initial demurral. She always kept up the questioning until she received a satisfactory answer. Here request were gentle but persistent, like the trickle of water that eventually forces its way through rock. The greatest adventure in the history of humankind was happening two desk away, and it would be a betrayal of her own self-confidence and of the judgment of everyone who had helped her to reach this point to not go to the final distance (2016, p. 181-182).

This quotation shows that Katherine is triggered to enter to the editorial meeting because editorial meeting is a prominent place for an individual to make a great contribution during the cold war. She also looks back to other African American women who put their hope to Katherine to reach the final point, to be a part of editorial meeting members. Thus she makes a fearless decision to insist the male engineers to enter to the editorial room. From her response, it shows that

Katherine does an overt resistance to the discrimination because she keep questioning and insisting the male engineer to alter the status quo, to allow women to enter the editorial meeting. Her response also shows that she works

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against the system that prohibits women to contribute in the editorial meeting because she strongly opposes the system.

As much as anything, she asked with confidence in the ultimate decision. “Let her go,” they finally said exasperated. The engineers just got tired of saying no. Who were they, they must have figured, to stand in the way of someone so committed to making a contribution, so convinced of the quality of her contribution that she was willing to stand up to the men whose success—or failure—might tip the balance in the outcome of the Cold War? (2016, p. 182).

After long process of struggle, she finally makes it happen. She gets the triumph over the system. In 1958, Katherine Goble finally made it into the editorial meeting of the Guidance and Control Branch of Langley’s Flight Research

Division, soon to be renamed the Aerospace Mechanics and Space

Administration. Now, she was going to come along with the program (2016, p.

182). Katherine struggles has shown to the world that woman are also capable to contribute in the research and those contributions have to be acknowledged by the male engineers.

3. Ignoring the discrimination and Focusing on the Good Fortune a. Limited Access to the Facilities i. Limited Access to Public Facility African American women experience the limited access to the public facilities like the public transportation, housing and restaurant. The public facilities are segregated for the African Americans. For instance, inside of the bus, there are two sections, the back section is for the African Americans and the front section is for the whites. In respond to the discrimination in the bus, Dorothy Vaughan does a response. On the first day of December 1943, as the leaders if the United States, Great Britain, and Russia concluded a conference in Tehran in which they planned a summer 1944 invasion of France—an operation that

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would be known to history as D-Day—Dorothy Vaughan stepped behind the Colored line on the Citizen Rapid Transit bus and headed to her first day of work at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (2016, p. 36).

From this quotation it shows that Dorothy does a passive resistance to the discrimination. It also shows that she does a covert resistance because she does not insist to the government to remove the colored line. She also ignores the discrimination in the public transportation and just focuses on the good fortune of working at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.

Besides Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Goble also experiences the discrimination in the bus. She gets unequal treatment from the driver in the bus when she wants to go to Virginia.

Upon entering Virginia, she and the other black passengers, who had been interspersed with whites throughout the bus, were ordered to move to the back. A short time later, the driver evicted the black passengers, announcing that service wouldn’t continue into the town’s Negro area. Katherine paid a cab to take her to the house of the principal of the Morion school, where she had arranged to rent a room.

From this quotation, it shows that Katherine does not oppose the discrimination.

She does a passive resistance to the discrimination. Instead of refusing the eviction, Katherine pays a cap. It shows also shows a covert discrimination because she does not insist the driver to give an equal treatment, yet she can deal with the unequal treatment of the driver. Her response shows that she prefer to ignores the discrimination and focusing more on her determination to excel the race by becoming a teacher in Morion school.

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ii. Limited Access to Office’s Facilities In respond to the limited access of office facilities in a form of segregated toilet and cafeteria, Katherine also does another response besides playing with the system. She does an uncommon action which makes her African American friends called her as a weirdo. She didn’t close her eyes to the racism that existed; she knew just as well as any other black person the tax levied upon them because of their color. But she didn’t feel it in the same way. She wished it away, willed it out of existence in as much as her daily life was concerned. She had taken the long road to Langley’s Flight Research Division, but she knew with a confidence approaching 100 percent that she had arrived at the right destination (2016, p. 131).

From this quotation, it is shown that Katherine sees that the discrimination because of her race burdening the African Americans. Most of African Americans are forced to use the colored toilet and eat in the colored cafeteria because the rules ask them to do so. Many African American women also feel uncomfortable working in NASA because of the crude discrimination. However, instead of following the rule and get burdened, Katherine just ignores it and enjoys her life.

She does a silent resistance. She does not want to take revenge. Her response shows that she wants to ignore the segregation and focus more on the gratitude of working in NASA. She wants to keep her positive mindset to the discrimination because she realizes that the discrimination cannot equal her dream to work in

NASA. Thus, she does not want anything to hamper her way to work including the discrimination.

b. Limited Access to Career Advancement Women also resist from the internalized discrimination in the job field.

The internalized discrimination places women as the computer or mathematician

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and men as the engineer. Thus, women face lots of obstacles when they want to advance their career because the male engineers always look down their capability. As experienced by Katherine when she is moved to the Flight

Research Laboratory, she gets discriminated by the sexist look of the male engineer.

Bemused, Katherine considered the engineer’s sudden departure. The moment that passed between them could have been because she was black and he was white. But then again, it could have been because she was a women and he was a man. Or maybe the moment was an interaction between a professional and subprofessional, an engineer and a girl (2016, p. 123).

At first, Katherine feels down because of the internalized discrimination. The internalized discrimination has reminded her about the job strata that the engineer must be a man and the computer is a woman. She feels so inferior because regardless how good the position as the computer, she is still a girl. However, her response to the engineer is changed when she realizes her father’s word.

But Katherine Goble had been raised not just to command equal treatment for herself but also to extend it to others. She had a choice: either she could decide it was her presence that provoked the engineer to leave, or she could assume that the fellow had simply finished his work and moved on. Katherine was her father’s daughter, after all. She exiled the demons to a place where they could do no harm, then she opened her brown bag and enjoyed lunch at her new desk, her mind focusing on the good fortune that had befallen her (2016, p. 124).

Though her response, it indicates that she resists from the gender discrimination through ignores it and creates a positive mindset to the engineer. She focuses more on the gratitude that she already gets a very good African American women job which is a female computer. In this sense, Katherine already shows a passive resistance. She does not perceive it as a sexist look but she just think that the

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engineer only want to she does not want to take it as a serious matter and she just want to focus on her work. She ignores the situation that brings a negative impact to her performance at the work place. Ignoring the sexist look is one of her strategy to deal with the discrimination.

4. Inviting Others to Join the Fight a. Limited Access to Career Advancement In NASA, African American women have a difficulty to advance their career. The women are placed as the computers or mathematicians and the men are placed as the engineers. This job stratum makes women get the unequal treatment in doing their work. They have to work until their eyes get blurred then only waiting for the engineer instruction. This phenomenon may burden most of computer but unlike Katherine Goble. Once she crossed the threshold of Building

1244, she entered a world of equals, and she refused to behave in any way that would contradict that belief (2016, p. 135). She does not want to stay away with the engineer because of the oppression. Because of this action, other African

American employees find out that Katherine is so weird.

It was a part of her nature that some of the other black employees at Langley found mysterious, even vexing. How could she be so dismissive of the racism in their workplace, however passive, when her very entry to the laboratory had been under segregated circumstances? Katherine Goble’s genuine comfort with the white men she worked allowed her to be herself with them, no mask required (2016, p. 135).

From the quotation above, it shows that Katherine does not care about the discrimination done by the engineer. Most of African American employees perceive that Katherine doing a passive action by being so dismissive. In contrary,

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Katherine is actively struggling against the job strata by engaging with the engineer, having a critical discourse with them.

She and the engineers had a long conversation about it, talking about the matter forthrightly rather than avoiding it the way a driver swerves to keep from hitting a fallen tree in the road. Perhaps as much as Katherine’s expectation that she should be treated as the equal of the engineers she worked with was her willingness to treat them as equals— to acknowledge that their intellect and curiosity matched hers, that they were bringing to the professional relationship the same sense of fairness and respect and goodwill that she was—that paved the way for her ultimate success (2016, p. 135).

From this quotation, it shows that Katherine struggles against the job hierarchy by proving herself to be equal with the engineer. She works as close as possible to the engineer. She keeps showing her curiosity on asking a critical question or suggestion to the research. In this sense, Katherine shows that women are as curious as the men, as intelligent as the men, and as professional as the men.

Katherine’s response shows that in order to get the equality of job advancement, she invites the male engineer as her allies to fight together. Unlike most of African

American computers, Katherine does not perceived men as her enemies, she does not blame men for the discrimination. She believes that men are only the product of discriminatory systems which are white supremacy and patriarchy. Even if working with the male engineers bring a cost that she has to be downgraded at first, however, her response to invite the male engineer leads to the respect and triumph to better her career advancement at the end.

For a long time, African American women get a limited access to the career advancement in NASA because they have a limited access to be exposed with the information. The majority of African American women usually trapped

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in the black job like being a maid or a housekeeper. Thus, as the African

American women, she feels the moral responsibility to help her student to be exposed with the information in Langley.

Mary made every effort to bring students from Hampton’s public school and from Hampton Institute into the Langley facilities for tours, to get an up-close and personal look at engineers at work. She organized an on-site seminar for career counselors at Hampton Institute at Langley. If she got word that Langley was hiring a new black employee, she went out of her way to make phone calls to find him or her a place to life, just as she had done when she was secretary of the King Street USO (2016, p.197).

Mary shows her struggle to the discrimination by doing a covert resistance that she does not insist the government to provide a platform for the African

Americans in excel their career, yet Mary is the one who gives her student the exposure to excel their career in the future. Furthermore, Mary’ struggles also invite other white women to join her fight.

When Mary asked Emma Jean to participate in a career panel in 1962, organized by the local chapter of the National Council of Negro Women, she readily agreed. An all-black group of junior high school girls paid close attention to Mary and Emma Jean’s joint lecture, entitled “The Aspects of Engineering for Women” (2016, p. 197).

Mary’s response to invite Emma to join the fight shows that she does not perceive the white women as her rival, she only perceives them as the product of white supremacy. Emma just like Mary Jackson has become an engineer in 1958 (2016, p. 197). Mary’s good intention to make a progress for the student also has triggered Emma to join the fight with Mary. Emma also thinks that the issue of gender equality in the job field brought by Mary is an interesting topic to be talked about to the girls. Their collaboration then creates a great impact to the girls.

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Their appearance together in front of the group—Mary, petite and black, and Emma, white and nearly foot taller—made as powerful a statement on possibilities of the engineering field as their actual presentation. Not only did the girl receive firsthand evidence that women could succeed in a traditionally male field; in Mary and Emma collaboration, they saw that it was possible for a white workplace to embrace a women who looked like them.

From this quotation, it shows that the joined allies between Marry and Emma can make a great empowerment to the girls that becoming engineer is the right for everyone. Their response also shows that women can work beyond. Women can work in the field of the male dominated job field. Through their empowerment, it also shows that women are not less than men, women are as brilliant and capable as the men if they have the strong willingness and efforts to pursue the career as engineer.

b. Minimum Acknowledgment in the Workplace Women also face a hardship to be acknowledged in the research report. It is because women are forbidden to enter to the editorial meeting where the ideas come up. Though female computer have worked as hard as the male engineer, the credit still goes to the engineer.

It was a concept easily grasped, empirically proven, but far from simple to execute: if a woman wanted to get promoted, she had to leave the computing pool and attach herself to the elbow of an engineer, figure out how to sit at the controls of the wind tunnel, fight for the credit on a research report. To move up, she had to get as close as she could to the room where the ideas were being created (2016, p. 166).

From the quotation above, it infers that in order to get the credit of the research report, the women have to work with the engineers and be close with them.

However, in order to be worked with the engineer, the women have to work three

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times harder than staying in the west computing pool. It is only a fearless and strong woman like Katherine that can overcome the catastrophe. In 1959,

Katherine accepts the offer of Ted Skopinski to do the report on Azimuth Angle.

During the process of doing the report, Ted Skopinski says to Henry Pearson that

Katherine has the right to get credit of the report, because she has already done most of the work anyway (2016, p. 191). Katherine’s response shows a covert resistance because she does not insist the engineer to raise the acknowledgment to herself, yet she works with the engineer to prove her credibility step by step. In this sense, Katherine does not perceive men as her enemies, she perceive the men as her allies. She believes that men are only the product of discriminatory systems which are white supremacy and patriarchy. Thus, her action to work along with the male engineer is also a form of invitation for the men to fight together.

“Determination of Azimuth Angle at Burnout for Placing a Satelite over a Selected Earth Position” went through ten months of editorial meetings, analysis, recommendations and revisions before publication in September 1960—the first report to come out of Langley’s Aerospace Mechanics Division (or its predecessor, the Flight Research Division) by a female author.

It is in Friday after Thanksgiving 1959, Katherine shows to the world that she as the women are able to go beyond, to be the first women whose name is written in the report. Katherine is the one who is willing to take risk of being shamed and downgraded by the male engineer. However, through her struggle, Katherine proves to the world that women deserve to get the acknowledgment because they are as equal as the men, as professional as the man.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

The thesis examines the racial and gender discrimination experienced by

African American women as portrayed in the book. The racial discrimination is shown in a form of limited access to facilities, the minimum salary and the accusation of Black Empowerment Advocates. During 1940s, African American women are discriminated racially through the limitation, prohibition and segregation of the facilities in educational institution, public transportation, housing, restaurant, office toilet and cafeteria. As experienced by Dorothy

Vaughan, Katherine Goble and Mary Jackson, they only have limited sources to expand their knowledge because they are in the segregated educational facilities.

In the workplace, those women are also downgraded to be the second class of society because they face the crude discrimination in a form of segregated cafeteria, segregated toilet, and less appreciation or acknowledgment toward their hard works. As explained in the analysis, during the communist hysteria in 1940s until 1950s, Dorothy Vaughan and her relative, Matilda West is accused as the communist because she defeats the black empowerment. This form of false accusation can be seen as a form of racial discrimination because black empowerment is a thread for the traditional value of American society which is the white supremacy.

Besides the racial discrimination, African American women also experience discrimination because of their gender. The gender discrimination

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shows in a form of limited access to education, minimum access to career advancement, minimum appreciation and acknowledgement in the job field. In

1958, Mary Jackson faces a catastrophe to enter the engineer class because she is a woman. The engineering major is only opened for men because they are valued as more intelligent and capable than women. In the career advancement, as computer or mathematician, Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Goble and Mary

Jackson are obliged to wait for the men direction for the research because men are perceived as typical leaders. Furthermore, women are also less appreciated and acknowledged in the research report even if the contribution that they do to make the report is equally the same with the men. Katherine is not allowed to enter the editor room simply because of her gender. This is a form of gender discrimination because they perceived that she may not contribute any significant to the research.

Katherine Goble also gets minimum appreciation in the form of underpaid salary when she is assigned temporary to work in the Flight Research Division under the supervision of Henry Pearson. As consequence, the gender discrimination shows that women is perceived as less intelligent, less professional and less capable human being because of the patriarchy system in United States.

The women’ responses toward the double discrimination are intertwined.

The researcher decides to intertwine the responses because as African American women, they have two visible identities which cannot be separated between one another. Their responses to the racial discrimination to the large extent are also the response to gender discrimination. The African American women responses are shown in 4 forms which are excelling in what they do through hard work, playing

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or working against with the system, ignoring the system and inviting others to fight with them. The researcher categorizes the response in convert and overt resistance. One of the examples of covert resistance is when Katherine rebels by showing her refusal to change her habit to keep using the unmark toilet. This resistance only aims to make herself better without showing any further response to change the policy of segregated toilet. On the other hand, the overt discrimination is shown when Mary sends a petition to the court to get the permission on entering the engineering major. This resistance aims to change the discriminatory rules. From the women’s responses to the double discrimination, the researcher concludes that the major character use a soften way by not being an advocate of black empowerment. None of them use the “radical” way because any kind of critics or idea that strongly oppose the government is condemned.

All in all, this book has a benevolent to shows that the double discrimination is a toxic cycle from time to time that has trapped women and minorities to actualize themselves. The double discrimination has labeled women and minorities to be inferior individuals in the society that they cannot be contributive in the science field. However, this book proves that African

American women are not inherently inferior and brainless. As long as there is a platform for them in science field, they can get the triumph over the crude double discrimination. Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Goble Johnson and Mary Jackson are the real figure and also a solid proof that African American women are capable to work in the science field. They can be the prominent figures behind the success of John Glen. They also prove that as women and as African American

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people, they are as genius, as courageous and as professional as the white males.

As the result, this book has a greater good benefit to the reader in order to send a narrative and empowerment that women and minorities can go beyond the limit if they have a strong willingness and hard work to pursue their dream.

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REFERENCES

Abrams, M.H. & Geoffrey Galt Harpham. (2012). A Glossary of Literary Terms Ninth Edition. Boston: Michael Rosenberg.

Ambarita, Bernadeta Rosa Boru. (2004). Afro-American Women Struggle against Racial and Gender Discrimination in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God (Undergraduate Thesis). Universitas Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta.

Beal, Frances M. (1981). Slave of Slave No More: Black Women in Struggle. The Black Scholar, 12(6), 16-24. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41066851

De Hon, Jacqueline De. (2002). Identifying Links of Discrimination Related to Race, Gender and Class. Race, Gender & Class, 9(3), 139-158. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41675036

Dunn, L.C. (1975). Race, Science and Society. London: Unesco Press.

Freeman, Jo. (1975). Women: A Feminist Perspective.Mountainview: Mayfield Publishing Company.

Humm, Maggie. (1995). The Dictionary of Feminist Theory Second Edition. Colombus: Ohio State University Press.

Humm, Maggie. (1992). Feminism A Reader. Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheat.

Lathers, Marie. (2007). No Official Requirement: Women, History, Time, and the U.S. Space Program. Feminist Studies, 35(1), 14-40. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40607922

Labrie, Sarah. "Hidden Figures Plot Summary." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 9 Jan 2018. Web. 23 Apr 2018. Retrieved from https://www.litcharts.com/lit/hidden-figures/summary)

Light, Donald and Suzanne Infeld Keller. (1975). Sociology. New York: Alfred A.Knopf.

Longman. (1989). The Longman Dictionary of Poetic Term. New York: Longman.

Madsen, Deborah L. (2000). Feminist Theory and Literary Practice. London: Pluto Press.

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McQuaid, Kim. (2007). Race. Gender, and Space Exploration: A Chapter in the Social History of the Space Age. Journal of American Studies, 41(2), 405- 434.

Merril, Francis Ellsworth. (1952). Culture and Society: An Introduction to Sociology. New York: Prentice-Hall.

Morrow, William. (1953). Cassel’s Encyclopedia of World Literature. Chestnut Hill: Cassel & Company LTD.

Murphy, M.J. (1972). Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.

Roth, John K. (1995). International Encyclopedia of Ethics. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn.

Sowell, Thomas. (1994). Race and Culture: A world view. London: Basic Books.

Shetterly, Margot Lee. (2016). Hidden Figures.London: Harper Collins Publishers.

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britanica. (2016). Executive Order 8802. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Executive-Order-8802/

Tyson, Lois. (2011). Using Critical Theory: How to Read and Write About Literature. Oxon: Routledge.

Webster, Merriam. (1995). Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature. Springfield Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Inc.

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Summary of Hidden Figures

In 1943, in the midst of World War II, the Langley Memorial

Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, VA seeks to hire hundreds of junior physicists and mathematicians to help in the war effort by supporting engineers in performing aeronautical research as part of the National Advisory Committee for

Aeronautics (the NACA). At the time, mathematicians, who are commonly called

“computers,” are almost all women. Further, Jim Crow laws are still in place in the South, which means that Hampton is a segregated place. Langley hires some black female computers, but places them in a segregated office called West Area.

In the summer of 1942, Dorothy Vaughan, a math teacher, is also working in a miltary laundry room in order to earn extra money and to support the American war effort. Married with children, Dorothy comes from a middle class black family, well-respected and well-known by other black families in town. One day she sees an advertisement for jobs at the NACA. She applies, and is hired as a mathematician. She accepts the job, even though it requires her to move quite a distance and be away from her family.

At around the same time, Katherine Coleman is a math major at West

Virginia. She is such an excellent mathematician that she is invited to integrate a nearby university, where she has been accepted into a master’s program in mathematics. She completes the summer session of the master’s program, but then drops out of the program to start a family.

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Meanwhile, Dorothy Vaughan begins work at the NACA. As a black computer, she must work in the segregated West Area Computing room. White computers, run by white Head Computers Margerey Hannah and Blanche

Shopsin, work out of a different office on the East Side of Langley’s campus, called East Area. The black computers, much to their consternation, are also made to sit together in the cafeteria at a table marked with a sign that reads “Colored

Computers.” Nonetheless, the black computers play an important role in helping the engineers at Langley improve American fighter planes and develop ever more powerful bomb payloads.

After the war, Dorothy fears she will be let go by the NACA, but instead she is made a permanent employee in 1946. Even so, she finds it hard to move up the ranks: there are few opportunities available to women, and even fewer for black women. Yet when the Head Computer Margery Hannah gets promoted and

Margarery’s second, Blanche, unexpectedly falls ill and dies, Dorothy is asked to fill the role. For a number of years she serves only as the “acting head” of the

West Area computing division, but she performs so well that she becomes full head of the unit in 1951. That same year, Mary Jackson joins West Computing, working as a computer under Dorothy Vaughan.

Globally, the “Cold War” between the United States and the Soviet

Union becomes more intense. Yet as the United States dedicates itself to fighting the spread of Communist oppression around the globe, many black Americans, including many at the NACA wonder why at the same time the United States perpetuates the oppression of African-Americans on its own soil.

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Yet the NACA, perhaps, offers more opportunities than much of the rest of society. An NACA engineer named Kazimierz Czarnecki invites Mary Jackson to join his research team. Impressed by Mary’s intelligence, he then pushes her to become an engineer. Slowly, but surely, the NACA begins to integrate. That doesn’t mean bias against women and blacks is absent from the organization. It is a place where the chief officer, John Becker, thinks little of accusing Mary of making a mistake in her calculations. But it is also a place where she can use her skills to prove to him that he’d actually made the mistake. Her willingness to stand up for herself inspires other black computers, and shows those in leadership positions that Mary has what it takes to succeed.

Katherine starts work at Langley in 1953, after learning about the job from a relative at a wedding. She joins the Flight Research Division, where she impresses the engineers in the group with her expertise in analytical geometry.

Once again, the NACA proves to be a place where prejudice continues to exist, and yet also a place where it seemingly can be overcome. On her first day in her new office, a white man one desk over stands up and walks away when she greets him. She ignores his rudeness, knowing if she’s going to survive at Langley, she’ll have to be resilient. Two weeks later she and the white man become fast friends, after they discover they are both from West Virginia. Similarly, it is a place where

Katherine’s mathematical skill can get her moved from the computing pool into a group led by the head of the Flight Research Division, Henry Pearson. But

Pearson, while seemingly promoting Katherine, also fails to give her a raise. Yet

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the integration that has already occurred continues to make change, as Dorothy

Vaughan fights to get Katherine the raise she has earned.

Katherine quickly proves herself in her new role. Her first assignment is to solve the reason behind the recent crash of a small propeller plane. Her research helps reveal how turbulence from one plane can affect the flight of another, a discovery that ultimately leads to changes in air traffic regulations. Katherine’s abilities ensure that she is accepted by her white peers, and as she gains this acceptance she starts to ignore the COLORED bathroom signs at Langley.

Meanwhile, the world rapidly changes, both technologically and socially.

Technologically, electronic computers become increasingly powerful (and the

NACA buys its first computer), and in 1957 the Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the first satellite into space. Meanwhile, Civil Rights protests lead to lawsuits which result in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision that bans segregation in all public schools in the United States. Yet despite the ruling, many states, including Virginia, fiercely resist integrating.

These different events affect the black computers at Langley in all sorts of ways.

For instance, Mary Jackson has to fight anti-integration efforts in her question to get continuing education and become an engineer. At the same time, Dorothy starts to realize that her role as a computer is likely to get replaced by the electronic computers.

The launch of Sputnik also kicks off a Space Race between the United

States and the Soviet Union. In particular, the United States ramps up its efforts to develop spacecraft that can send a man into space — an effort given the name

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Project Mercury. (The NACA is also renamed; it becomes NASA.) These efforts offer opportunity, and Katherine, thrilled at the challenge, contributes massive amounts of research to the NACA’s efforts to build a working spacecraft.

However, she is also initially not allowed to attend the editorial meetings where research reports are critiqued before they are published. She persists in her effort to be included, however. Not only does she eventually get to join these meetings, but she also becomes the first woman to publish a research report for the newly formed Space Task Group. NASA also becomes increasingly integrated, even as the regions around Langley continue to fight against desegregation, which creates an odd and frustrating contradiction for NASA’s black engineers and their families.

As time passes, Mary Jackson helps her son win the local soap box derby race, making him the first African-American child ever to do so. Mary is painfully aware any daughter of hers would have been shut out of the competition because of her gender, but is also grateful that the racial barrier, at least, has been broken.

For her part, faced with the rise of electronic computers, Dorothy Vaughan teaches herself the programming language FORTRAN so that she can program the computers that will replace her, thereby saving her job.

Project Mercury progresses, with a launch date in 1961. That same year,

President John F. Kennedy signs an executive order mandating Affirmative

Action employment policies. Even so, the Russians remain ahead of the United

States in the Space Race, and are the first to launch a cosmonaut (Yuri Gagarin) into space. While the United States accomplishes the same feat with John Glenn

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in 1962 (and with Katherine checking the electronic computers calculations for

Glenn’s flight), President John F. Kennedy announces the ambition for Americans to land the first man on the moon.

Katherine Johnson and the rest of the Space Task Group work hard on figuring out how to send a man to the moon. While some black activists protest the mission, angry that poor African-Americans have been neglected while federal money goes to space travel, Katherine, though sympathetic to these arguments, remains dedicated to her scientific mission. In 1969, Katherine and a group of hundreds of other black women watch Apollo 11 land safely on the moon, thanks in part to Katherine’s calculations and contributions. Katherine remembers all the women who helped her get to this point. She dreams of someday calculating the flight trajectory that will send humans to Mars.

(29th April 2018)

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Appendix 2: Margot Lee Shetterly’s Short Biography

Margot Lee Shetterly is a writer who grew up in Hampton and she knows many women figures who play important roles in NASA. She is a daughter of

NASA Research scientists, Margaret G. Lee and Robert B. Lee III. Shetterly is the founder of the Human Computer Project, a digital archive of the stories of

NASA’s African-American “Human Computers” whose work tipped the balance in favor of the United States in WWII, the Cold War, and the Space Race. She is also an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow and the recipient of a Virginia

Foundation of the Humanities. Now, Margot Lee lives in Virginia.

During her eighteen, she was still clueless about the history of her hometown, Hampton. As the time goes by, she was triggered to dig more the place where she lived in for a long time. When she was in visit to the Hampton

University with her husband, her childhood memories called her to go back on the era where she spent most of her time playing with her sibling in the NASA gate, the place where her father worked in. She did remember how the crowds of female computers preparing the calculation to bring the first astronaut to the moon.

Shetterly’s father was among the early generation of black NASA engineers and scientists, and she had direct access to NASA executives and the women featured in the book. She grew up around the historically black Hampton

University, where some of the women in Hidden Figures studied. Along with

Aran Shetterly, Shetterly co-founded the magazine Inside Mexico. She graduated

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from The University of Virginia, is a 2014 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, and recently joined the Terra Alpha Investments advisory board.

Margot Lee Shetterly’ Hidden Figures—a first New York

Times bestseller and inspiration for the first movie in America—is the true story of the black women mathematicians at NASA who helped fuel some of

America’s greatest achievements in space. In talks, Shetterly celebrates these unsung heroes, teasing out issues of race, gender, science, and innovation against the backdrop of WWII and the Civil Rights Era.

(29 April 2018)