I'm not a movie person. While I have the attention span to watch all 10 seasons of Friends on a seemingly endless loop, or sit down with a book for an indefinite period of time, there's something about movies that almost never seem to hold my interest. I get bored, fall asleep, and then end up trying to watch the same movie roughly seven times. It's a process. However, over the weekend I saw Hidden Figures, the remarkable story of three wildly brilliant African American women who worked for NASA in 1961, and the truly incredible things they accomplished, albeit with quite a number of obstacles. Let's just say I couldn't have fallen asleep even if I wanted to. It's very rare I leave a movie theater feeling inspired, but Hidden Figures did that for me. Days later and I still can't stop thinking about it.
This movie is at the core of why history class never seemed to grasp my interest. How many times are you going to learn (and then promptly forget) the successes of white men, the only people deemed worthy enough to cover the pages of every single history textbook? Where are the children? The women? The people of color? Why are those stories excluded from the narrative framework that is our country's history? After watching this movie, the answer isn't that they weren't there, or didn't do anything of significance. I am now forced to think the exact opposite is true.
it took over five decades for the stories of Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan to be told to the public. These women broke boundaries and did the kind of work that was entirely unheard of in the early 1960s. They had to work in separate buildings, use separate bathrooms, and separate coffee pots. And yet, despite the oppressive racism and discrimination they faced on a daily basis, they produced some of the most incredible work for NASA at a crucial time in our country's enormous desire to get to space. These women were brilliant. Beyond brilliant. Their minds were faster and sharper than the dozens of men they were surrounded by, and they had to fight relentlessly to get the recognition they deserved for their work.
I wish there were words more profound than "inspiring" or "incredible" to describe the stories of these three extraordinary women, but until I can find them, I can only sing the praises of the people that put this film together. For giving a voice to the silenced, the forgotten. For making sure there is a name attached to the too often used "anonymous." For making representation of gender and race a priority. For showing the truth, no matter how ugly it might seem. For telling the stories of a handful of the Hidden Figures that contributed immensely to our country.
