theatlantic.com - When it comes to historical movies about brilliant minds, especially in the realms of math or the sciences, audiences can all but expect a tale of ego. Films such as A Beautiful Mind, The Theory of Everything, and The Imitation Game all lean in some way on the idea of the inaccessible genius—a mathematician, computer scientist, and theoretical physicist all somehow removed from the world. Hidden Figures is not that kind of film: It’s a story of brilliance, but not of ego. It’s a story of struggle and willpower, but not of individual glory. Set in 1960s Virginia, the film centers on three pioneering African American women whose calculations for NASA were integral to several historic space missions, including John Glenn’s successful orbit of the Earth. These women—Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan—were superlative mathematicians and engineers despite starting their careers in segregation-era America and facing discrimination at home, at school, and at work. Queen of Katwe Is the Best Kind of Feel-Good Story And yet Hidden Figures pays tribute to its subjects by doing the opposite of what many biopics have done in the past—it looks closely at the remarkable person in the context of a community. Directed by Theodore Melfi (St. Vincent) and based on the nonfiction book of the same title by Margot Lee Shetterly, the film celebrates individual mettle, but also the way its characters consistently try to lift others up. They’re phenomenal at what they do, but they’re also generous with their time, their energy, and their patience in a way that feels humane, not saintly. By refracting the overlooked lives and accomplishments of Johnson, Vaughan, and Jackson through this lens, Hidden Figures manages to be more than an inspiring history lesson with wonderful performances. From the start, Hidden Figures makes clear that it is about a trio, not a lone heroine. Katherine (played by a radiant Taraji P. Henson) is the film’s ostensible protagonist and gets the most screen time. But her story is woven tightly with those of Mary (Janelle Monáe) and Dorothy (Octavia Spencer); the former became NASA’s first black female engineer, the latter was a mathematician who became NASA’s first African American manager. (It’s worth noting that, as a dramatization, the film makes tweaks to the timeline, characters, and events of the books.)
Between Astronaut Jeanette Epps and Hidden Figures, Black Women in STEM Are in the Spotlight
slate.com - In 2018, astronaut Jeanette Epps will become the first black American astronaut to join the crew of the International Space Station. NASA announced the upcoming months-long mission last week; it will also be Epps’ first trip to space. In a NASA video, Epps said she was inspired to become an aerospace engineer as an elementary schooler by Sally Ride and other early female astronauts, as well as some words of encouragement from her brother. Ladies and gentlemen, female role models in action. Since that fateful early-1980s burst of motivation, Epps worked to build up the kind of unimpeachable résumé it takes to make it to NASA: After getting undergrad and master’s degrees, she earned a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering at the University of Maryland. She then spent a few years working for Ford and the CIA, and again with a little encouragement (this time from a friend and fellow astronaut), Epps landed in NASA’s astronaut class of 2009, one of just nine picks out of 3,500 applicants. (By the way, God, does astronaut school need to be a Shondaland show ASAP.)
The Movie About NASA’s Black Female Scientists That’s Been A Long Time Coming—ThinkProgress
Women, especially women of color, do not always enjoy the notoriety and recognition of their male peers—even when they are instrumental in the scientific progress of humanity. One movie, Hidden Figures, focuses on black women mathematicians working for NASA during the 1960s. ThinkProgress has more about the movie, the nonfiction book upon which it's based, and the movement to recognize women, especially women of color, as central players and leaders in the human story. Check out the trailer here, and read more at the link.
thinkprogress.org - The movie trailer premiered to Twitter fanfare on Sunday night during Olympic prime time. Sandwiched between two Olympic events, the timing of the new trailer seemed aimed at generating buzz for these long-overlooked women among the widest audience possible.
The trailer for Hidden Figures, an upcoming movie focusing on three black female mathematicians working at the NASA during the days of Jim Crow and the civil rights movement, attacks this erasure head on.
The highlights of the space race still loom large in the American imagination. John Glenn, the first man to orbit the earth, and Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the moon, are both household names. But behind those celebrated men were legions of scientists and engineers, among them scores of brilliant women of all backgrounds, whose brainpower made it all possible. Those women, for the most part, have been forgotten — until now.
In the trailer, a white cop comes across the movie’s three central women — Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) — marooned on the side of the road thanks to car trouble (the alternative, one of the women says half-joking and half-not, would be to “sit in the back of the bus”). When the cop asks for ID, they hand over a NASA ID card.