Cover Image

Hidden figures : the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race

by Shetterly, Margot Lee,

Format: Large Print 2016
Availability: Available at 11 Libraries 11 of 11 copies

Available (11)
Location Collection Call #
Andrew Carnegie Free Library Large Print LP 510.9 SHETTE
Location  Andrew Carnegie Free Library
 
Collection  Large Print
 
Call Number  LP 510.9 SHETTE
 
 
Bethel Park Public Library Large Print LP 510.92 LE
Location  Bethel Park Public Library
 
Collection  Large Print
 
Call Number  LP 510.92 LE
 
 
Brentwood Library Large Print LARGE PRINT 510.9252 Lee Shetterly
Location  Brentwood Library
 
Collection  Large Print
 
Call Number  LARGE PRINT 510.9252 Lee Shetterly
 
 
CLP - Library of Accessible Media for Pennsylvanians Large Print Books QA27.5.L44 2016bx CL16495
Location  CLP - Library of Accessible Media for Pennsylvanians
 
Collection  Large Print Books
 
Call Number  QA27.5.L44 2016bx CL16495
 
 
CLP - Main Library First Floor - Large Print Stacks QA27.5.L44 2016bx
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  First Floor - Large Print Stacks
 
Call Number  QA27.5.L44 2016bx
 
 
Community Library of Castle Shannon Large Print LARGE PRINT 510.92 Lee Shetterl
Location  Community Library of Castle Shannon
 
Collection  Large Print
 
Call Number  LARGE PRINT 510.92 Lee Shetterl
 
 
Cooper-Siegel Community Library Large Print LP 510.92 LEE
Location  Cooper-Siegel Community Library
 
Collection  Large Print
 
Call Number  LP 510.92 LEE
 
 
Northland Public Library Large Print 510.9252 L51 LP
Location  Northland Public Library
 
Collection  Large Print
 
Call Number  510.9252 L51 LP
 
 
Sewickley Public Library Large Print LP 510.92 LEE 2016
Location  Sewickley Public Library
 
Collection  Large Print
 
Call Number  LP 510.92 LEE 2016
 
 
Shaler North Hills Library Large Print LARGE PRINT 510.92 L
Location  Shaler North Hills Library
 
Collection  Large Print
 
Call Number  LARGE PRINT 510.92 L
 
 
Whitehall Public Library Large Print Collection LP 510.9252 L51h
Location  Whitehall Public Library
 
Collection  Large Print Collection
 
Call Number  LP 510.9252 L51h
 
 

Summary

The #1 New York Times bestseller

The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space--a powerful, revelatory history essential to our understanding of race, discrimination, and achievement in modern America. The basis for the smash Academy Award-nominated film starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner.

Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.

Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South's segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America's aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam's call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.

Even as Virginia's Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley's all-black "West Computing" group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens.

Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA's greatest successes. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliances and used their intellect to change their own lives, and their country's future.

-WINNER OF ANISFIELD-WOLF AWARD FOR NONFICTION

-WINNER BLACK CAUCUS OF AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION BEST NONFICTION BOOK

-WINNER NAACP IMAGE AWARD BEST NONFICTION BOOK

-WINNER NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE COMMUNICATION AWARD

Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "*Starred Review* On a trip home to Hampton, Virginia, Shetterly stumbled upon an overlooked aspect of American history that is almost mythic in scope. As the daughter of an engineer who became a highly respected scientist, she was aware of the town's close ties to NASA's nearby Langley Research Center and also of the high number of African Americans, like him, who worked there. What she did not know was that many of the women, particularly African American women, were employed not as secretaries but as computers: individuals capable of making accurate mathematical calculations at staggering speed who ultimately contributed to the agency's aerodynamic and space projects on an impressive scale. Shetterly does an outstanding job of weaving the nearly unbelievable stories of these women into the saga of NASA's history (as well as its WWII-era precursor) while simultaneously keeping an eye on the battle for civil rights that swirled around them. This is an incredibly powerful and complex story, and Shetterly has it down cold. The breadth of her well-documented research is immense, and her narrative compels on every level. With a major movie due out in January, this book-club natural will be in demand.--Mondor, Colleen Copyright 2016 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Shetterly, founder of the Human Computer Project, passionately brings to light the important and little-known story of the black women mathematicians hired to work as computers at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, Va., part of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NASA's precursor). The first women NACA brought on took advantage of a WWII opportunity to work in a segregated section of Langley, doing the calculations necessary to support the projects of white male engineers. Shetterly writes of these women as core contributors to American success in the midst of a cultural "collision between race, gender, science, and war," teasing out how the personal and professional are intimately related. She celebrates the skills of mathematicians such as Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Hoover, whose brilliant work eventually earned them slow advancement but never equal footing. Shetterly collects much of her material directly from those who were there, using personal anecdotes to illuminate the larger forces at play. Exploring the intimate relationships among blackness, womanhood, and 20th-century American technological development, Shetterly crafts a narrative that is crucial to understanding subsequent movements for civil rights. A star-studded feature film based on Shetterly's book is due out in late 2016. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved."

Additional Information
Subjects United States. -- National Aeronautics and Space Administration -- Officials and employees -- Biography.
Women mathematicians -- United States -- Biography.
African American women -- Biography.
African American mathematicians -- Biography.
Space race.
Large type books.
Biographies.
Publisher New York, NY :HarperLuxe,2016
Edition First HarperLuxe edition.
Language English
Notes "Larger print"--Page 4 of cover.
Description xxiv, 543 pages (large print) ; 23 cm
Bibliography Notes Includes bibliographical references (pages 525-543).
ISBN 9780062466440
0062466445
Other Classic View