Hidden Figures: Young Readers’ Edition is a 2016 biography by Margot Lee Shetterly that tells the true story of four African American women who worked as “human computers” at NASA from the 1940s to the 1960s. The text was adapted for young readers from Shetterly’s adult nonfiction book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, also published in 2016.

The book starts in the 1930s and explores how four Black women overcame the challenges of racism and sexism to make important contributions to air and space travel. During a time of discrimination and segregation, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden were hired to work as “computers” (mathematicians) at the government agency that would become NASA. They played an essential role in achievements like the landing on the Moon and paved the way for future generations of African American women to work in math and science. 

This guide uses the 2016 Harper Collins Kindle edition of the text.

Summary

The book follows four women who all come to work at NASA at different times. The first is Dorothy Vaughan. In the 1940s, World War II meant that many men were away at war . This created more opportunities for women working in jobs previously only held by men. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) started hiring women to work as “computers” doing calculations. Dorothy Vaughan was a math teacher looking for a second job. The Southern United States was still segregated, and Dorothy assumed that NACA was only hiring white women. However, NACA needed help from all Americans, and when Dorothy read an article about Black female engineers, she applied.

Dorothy began working at NACA in 1943. She had to leave her children behind and move to a new city all alone, but she knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She worked in West Area Computing with the other Black “computers.” Although she faced discrimination at work for being African American and a woman, Dorothy worked hard and loved her job. Eventually, Dorothy became head of the department. She worked at NACA and later NASA for decades and supported the careers of many other Black women. 

Mary Jackson came to work for Dorothy in 1951. Like Dorothy, Mary had become a math teacher after college, one of the few jobs available for educated Black women. At NACA, an engineer invited her to work in the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel. There, she tested airplanes that were meant to fly faster than the speed of sound. Impressed by her work, Mary’s boss suggested that she train to become an engineer, and she started attending classes, even though she had to ask special permission because they took place in an all-white school. In her free time, Mary continued working hard to support her community, particularly by inspiring young Black girls to dream big and achieve better futures. 

Katherine Goble Johnson came to work at NACA the year after Mary, in 1952. She inherited her father’s reputation as a “math whiz” and also became a teacher after college. After starting at NACA, she was assigned to the Flight Research Division, where she was eventually given a full-time position. After the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into space in 1957, the Space Age officially began. NACA became NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the agency turned its focus to sending a human into space. Katherine was fascinated by the idea of space travel and wanted to be part of the team that made it happen. However, she wasn’t allowed in the most important meetings because she was a woman. She kept asking and was finally appointed to the Space Task Group, where she calculated the flight paths for the United States’ first manned orbital space mission and the mission that put a human on the Moon.

Finally, Christine Darden was hired in 1967. Representing the next generation of African American women, Christine was able to complete her PhD and became an expert on supersonic flight. 

Throughout the book, Shetterly weaves these four stories together with details about the women’s personal lives. She shows how the Civil Rights Movement developed alongside the technological advances of the first half of the 20th century. Through their work at NASA, Dorothy, Mary, Katherine, and Christine helped the United States achieve the dream of putting a human on the Moon. They helped to break down barriers of race and gender, creating more opportunities for future generations of African American women.