This weekend I saw the movie Hidden Figures at a wonderful independent movie theater in New Orleans. The theater was packed on that rainy Saturday night, and the attendants were a mix of age, gender and race. Everyone wanted to know who were these three women who put up with white supremacy and mistreatment of people of color during the 1960's. These three heroes contributed their mathematics and engineering genius to put a man in space and later to the moon.
There are of course countless untold stories of women of color who have done amazing acts behind the scenes in history, those who were not doused with praise and accolades but did the work and made the contribution in good faith anyway. I was enraptured by the depiction of the young adult lives of Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan. These women were part of a team of human computers, they did math by hand at NASA. The three of them stood out among all of the women and were invited to different specialized departments.
They struggled constantly against the cruel treatment, snide comments and nasty looks from the white scientists and office personnel. What is amazing is that they made it to those positions that deserved respect and awe without the support of a fair educational system. They had to fight to gain the knowledge they had as schools were still segregated and being women of color they were not expected to desire or require more schooling. But each woman found her way to continuous learning and stretched herself, supported her family, and stood up tall in not only a man's world, but a white man's world.
The movie showed the tense backdrop of the Cold War, fear of Russian aggression and the drive to be first. There was a real sense of national sentiment and, while the white personnel did not seem to enjoy having people of color in their offices, noted by the fact that the office too was segregated, at some point all seem to realize that to defend against the enemy, they must accept their own people. The way in which these women showed tact and restraint in the face of such blatant racism is inspiring. It brings tears to the viewers' eyes, to realize that these humble women would put aside their own comfort and desire for equality, and go with what they were allowed, slowly but surely changing the hearts and minds of those around them.
It is a true shame that these women had to endure such mistreatment and disrespect when their nationality was the same as the white people and when their work was so crucial to the success of the mission. They should have been able to scream and deny such treatment and rejection, but what we learn is that smartly they fought with patience and by demonstrating real character and dedication. They proved themselves to be an asset, contributors and deserving of every respect as anyone else on the team at NASA.
My hope is that many more people will see the film and will reflect on the past with a hunger to read, listen and understand what has happened pertaining to race relations in this country and apply those difficult lessons to today's America, as we seem to still be swimming in the same dirty water of exclusion, mistreatment and hate. My hope is that as a society of educated and humanitarian beings we will struggle with ourselves and with the powers above us to continue reaching for hope and for progress, in a world that seems dark and confused. No race is better than another, and everyone deserves the same respect and treatment.
