“Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly

I am not embarrassed to admit that when I was in high school I used to fall asleep during math. It was always right after lunch, the room was warm, and the minute the teacher started talking my head began bobbing. The only math I ever loved was geometry because I was quite good at making shapes and angles by wrapping colored rubber bands around nails hammered into a square board. But alas, I always knew I was not destined to be a math wizard like the women in “Hidden Figures.” I read the book by Margot Lee Shetterly because my mom told me to, and then I saw the movie. Both are very different but in their own ways each is brilliant. The book places the stories of many women working at NASA into a big historical context, while the movie focuses narrowly on the stories of three women who carpooled together. So while the book reads more like a university textbook, the movie offers an up-close-and-personal slice of what these women’s struggles were all about. I loved both because they compliment each other so well. The story of the African American female mathematicians who helped NASA enter the space race depicts not only the history of racism but also how women persisted through the ranks of a male dominated workforce. You wouldn’t think a story of this magnitude would have taken this long to come to light, but the truth is that before Shetterly’s book historians only thought a few black women were involved. It turns out there were hundreds. I suggest reading the book first and then seeing the movie. This sequence ensures that you will cry throughout the film as I did. The stories of the three women in the movie are groundbreaking and you just can’t help but tingle with goose bumps of pride and joy that they persevered and changed the world with math.  Quoting my favorite line from the movie, “ And yes, they let women do things at NASA and not because we wear skirts, but because we wear glasses!” To purchase this book on Amazon click here.