Lakhvir Singh
David King
English 150
25 October 2017
Struggle for Granted
Equality is a very expensive commodity and is achieved through a lifetime of struggle by generations of men and women. The book Hidden Figures is a story of the group of black women who were able to break the glass barrier of centuries-old racism and segregation at NACA, later called NASA. Margot Lee Shetterly the author of Hidden figures book is trying to show the struggle of the black mathematicians Dorothy Vaughan, Kathrine Johnson, and Mary Jackson at Langley. The struggle of these black women in their work became the inspiration to an upcoming generation of black people. Their struggle would lead to the end of segregation in the United States and allow African American …show more content…
The doctrine of segregation in schools and universities was struck down by Brown v Board of Education verdict, but States like the Virginia refused to comply with the decision. As Shetterly explains that "As fantastical as America's space ambitions might have seemed, sending a man into space was starting to feel like a straightforward task compared to putting black and white students together in the same Virginia classroom" (Shetterly 185). Putting a man into space seemed easy than integrating black students into Virginia's white public schools. Governor of Virginia Lindsay Almond chained down the doors of schools and colleges that wanted to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. Segregationist feared integration and closed many schools to prevent integration and would prolong the struggle of the black community for equality for coming decades. As Shetterly points out that "Prince Edward's schools would remain closed from 1959 through 1964, five long and bitter years" (Shetterly 204). Policies such ‘freedom of choice' was used to stop black students from going to white school as black students prefer to study in familiar school rather than going to unfamiliar white school. However, the Brown vs Board decision was the first step from segregation to desegregation. Despite, massive resistance policies adopted by white Virginians, the change was …show more content…
At NACA women were split into two group East Wing was operated by white women and black women worked from a remote building called West Wing. Dorothy Vaughan a former math teacher at the high school was supervising the West Computing Wing. Women were paid the fraction of the money what men and women of color made even less than their white counterparts. The black women computers were subject to segregation at NACA, they had separate bathrooms for people of color and there were signs in all buildings separating colored from whites. Women doing analytical geometry and processing such large amount of data was viewed impossible by men dominated society, but women mathematicians kept progressing under Dorothy. As the author points out "And since the middle of the last decade, mathematicians had meant women" (Shetterly 4). After the success in the World War II, engineers realized the importance of women computers in their success and women computers became an essential part of NACA. Even if the role of the black women was ignored they were still making progress through their hard work. Their progress would lead to desegregation of Langley in coming decades and would eventually lead more women of color to rise in ranks in
David King
English 150
25 October 2017
Struggle for Granted
Equality is a very expensive commodity and is achieved through a lifetime of struggle by generations of men and women. The book Hidden Figures is a story of the group of black women who were able to break the glass barrier of centuries-old racism and segregation at NACA, later called NASA. Margot Lee Shetterly the author of Hidden figures book is trying to show the struggle of the black mathematicians Dorothy Vaughan, Kathrine Johnson, and Mary Jackson at Langley. The struggle of these black women in their work became the inspiration to an upcoming generation of black people. Their struggle would lead to the end of segregation in the United States and allow African American …show more content…
The doctrine of segregation in schools and universities was struck down by Brown v Board of Education verdict, but States like the Virginia refused to comply with the decision. As Shetterly explains that "As fantastical as America's space ambitions might have seemed, sending a man into space was starting to feel like a straightforward task compared to putting black and white students together in the same Virginia classroom" (Shetterly 185). Putting a man into space seemed easy than integrating black students into Virginia's white public schools. Governor of Virginia Lindsay Almond chained down the doors of schools and colleges that wanted to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. Segregationist feared integration and closed many schools to prevent integration and would prolong the struggle of the black community for equality for coming decades. As Shetterly points out that "Prince Edward's schools would remain closed from 1959 through 1964, five long and bitter years" (Shetterly 204). Policies such ‘freedom of choice' was used to stop black students from going to white school as black students prefer to study in familiar school rather than going to unfamiliar white school. However, the Brown vs Board decision was the first step from segregation to desegregation. Despite, massive resistance policies adopted by white Virginians, the change was …show more content…
At NACA women were split into two group East Wing was operated by white women and black women worked from a remote building called West Wing. Dorothy Vaughan a former math teacher at the high school was supervising the West Computing Wing. Women were paid the fraction of the money what men and women of color made even less than their white counterparts. The black women computers were subject to segregation at NACA, they had separate bathrooms for people of color and there were signs in all buildings separating colored from whites. Women doing analytical geometry and processing such large amount of data was viewed impossible by men dominated society, but women mathematicians kept progressing under Dorothy. As the author points out "And since the middle of the last decade, mathematicians had meant women" (Shetterly 4). After the success in the World War II, engineers realized the importance of women computers in their success and women computers became an essential part of NACA. Even if the role of the black women was ignored they were still making progress through their hard work. Their progress would lead to desegregation of Langley in coming decades and would eventually lead more women of color to rise in ranks in