At Langley, the racial barrier was a bit murkier, the walls of separation more scalable.
The laboratory was always a curious outpost in the heartland of Jim Crow. This was a major step forward in her career and a major move toward integration. Charm OffensiveĪlthough Hidden Figures‘ Katherine Johnson had real credentials with her honors degree in mathematics and her teaching experience, she started at Langley with the rank of SP-3: a level 3 sub-professional, the low rank to which nearly all women at Langley were assigned during this era.Īfter just two weeks on the job, Katherine was moved to the Flight Research Division, one of the most important and powerful groups at Langley. As an added bonus, Katherine would be reporting to her old neighbor from West Sulphur Springs-Dorothy Vaughan. Like those who had come to Hampton Roads during World War Two, Katherine found a ready-made community waiting to accept her and her family, helping her fill the void of the world she’d left behind in her native and beloved West Virginia. Well-paid federal jobs like the ones awaiting Katherine and Jimmy helped build the emerging black middle class. Pioneering black female engineers and mathematicians like Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson left an indelible mark on NASA, the struggle for African-American civil rights, and the United States itself.
Katherine’s contributions helped make space travel possible, but she also contributed to her field and made lasting discoveries, cementing her legacy at NASA. Hidden Figures‘ Katherine Johnson was a mathematician who worked at NASA during the height of space travel. Who is Hidden Figures‘ Katherine Johnson? What was her career like, and what did she do at NASA?
KATHERINE JOHNSON NASA JOB TRIAL
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