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Characters · 13
Al Harrison
Al Harrison is the results-driven director of the Space Task Group at NASA's Langley Research Center in Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures.
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Christine Darden
Christine Darden enters Hidden Figures as one of the later-generation "computers" at NASA Langley, hired in 1967 after earning a master's degree in applied mathematics.
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Dorothy Vaughan
Dorothy Vaughan is a key figure in Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, recognized as a pioneering mathematician, supervisor, and strategist whose career at NACA/NASA reflects the organization's shift from a segregated wartime agency to a leading force in the space age of the 1960s. She joined the West Area Computing pool at Langley Research Center during World War II, quickly making a name for herself not just with her mathematical skills but also with her strong administrative abilities and advocacy for her colleagues.
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Henry L. Reid
Henry L. Reid is an important authority figure in Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, serving as the long-time director of Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.
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James S. Williams
James S. Williams plays a supporting role in Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, which tells the true story of the Black women mathematicians who helped drive NASA and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).
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John Becker
John Becker plays a supporting role in Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, primarily within the context of the engineering and research culture at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in the mid-twentieth century.
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John Glenn
John Glenn appears in Hidden Figures as a celebrated astronaut and, more importantly, as a key figure who quietly acknowledges the crucial role of Black women computers at NASA.
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Katherine Johnson
Katherine Johnson is the brilliant mathematician at the heart of Hidden Figures, Margot Lee Shetterly's story about Black women "computers" at NASA's Langley Research Center.
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Kazimiera Jastrzebska
Kazimiera Jastrzebska is a minor yet symbolically significant character in Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, appearing as one of the white human computers at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory during the early years of NACA.
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Levi Jackson
Levi Jackson is featured in Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures as a supporting character whose story sheds light on the broader social and institutional context of mid-twentieth-century Black America.
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Margot Lee Shetterly
Margot Lee Shetterly is the author and narrator of Hidden Figures, serving as a researcher, storyteller, and cultural witness.
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Mary Jackson
Mary Jackson is a key figure in Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, a Black female mathematician whose journey highlights the clash between personal ambition and the challenges of racial segregation and gender discrimination at NACA/NASA's Langley Research Center.
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Vivian Mitchell
Vivian Mitchell is the primary antagonist in Hidden Figures, acting as the white supervisor of the West Computing pool at Langley Research Center.
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Key quotes · 10
“In her mind, she was already at NASA.”
This line is from Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures (2016), a narrative nonfiction book about the Black female mathematicians, often referred to as "human computers," who worked at NASA and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).
Narrator (Margot Lee Shetterly)
“The universe belonged to those who could calculate its pathways.”
This line comes from Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures (2016), a narrative non-fiction account of the Black female mathematicians — referred to as "human computers" — who worked at NASA (originally NACA) during the Space Race.
Margot Lee Shetterly (authorial narrator)
“She was not going to let anyone else define what she could or could not do.”
This line from Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures (2016) captures the essence of Katherine Johnson — and, by extension, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson — as Black women navigating the racially and gender-segregated environment of NASA's Langley Research Center in the mid-20th century.
Narrator (about Katherine Johnson)
“Math was the great equalizer.”
This line comes from Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures (2016), which tells the true story of African American women mathematicians—often referred to as "human computers"—who worked at NASA (then NACA) during the mid-twentieth century.
Narrator (Margot Lee Shetterly)
“I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed... anything that could be counted, I did.”
This quote comes from Katherine Johnson in Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures (2016), which tells the true story of the Black women mathematicians who served as "human computers" at NASA.
Katherine Johnson
“Like the computer, the women were regarded as a tool — useful but not quite human.”
This line comes from Margot Lee Shetterly's non-fiction narrative Hidden Figures (2016), which tells the stories of Black female mathematicians—often referred to as "human computers"—who worked at NASA (then NACA) during the mid-20th century.
Margot Lee Shetterly (authorial narrator)
“Every time we get a chance to get ahead, they move the finish line.”
This line is spoken by Mary Jackson in Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures (2016), a nonfiction story about the Black female mathematicians at NASA during the Space Race.
Mary Jackson
“The story of the West Computers is the story of America.”
This line is found in Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures (2016), a narrative nonfiction piece that tells the stories of the Black female mathematicians known as the "West Computers," who worked at NASA's Langley Research Center during the mid-20th century.
Margot Lee Shetterly (author/narrator) · Introduction
“You are no better than anyone else, and no one is better than you.”
This line is spoken by Joylette Coleman, Katherine Johnson's mother, in Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures (2016).
Joylette Coleman (Katherine Johnson's mother) · Early chapters / Katherine's childhood section
“The women did what they were told... but they also did what they wanted.”
This line comes from Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures (2016), a narrative non-fiction work about the Black female mathematicians—often referred to as "human computers"—who worked at NASA (then NACA) in the mid-20th century.
Margot Lee Shetterly (author/narrator)
Symbols · 5
The Chalkboard
In Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, the chalkboard symbolizes the fragile and temporary status of Black women's intellectual authority in mid-twentieth-century America.
The IBM Computer
In Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, the IBM 7090 computer represents the complex nature of technological progress.
The Segregated Bathroom
In Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, the segregated bathroom at Langley Research Center represents the deep-rooted dehumanization that existed in Jim Crow America, even in a federal agency that claims to prioritize progress and merit.
The Stars and Space
In Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, the stars and space symbolize the limitless potential beyond the constraints of segregation and sexism.
The West Computing Section
In Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, the West Computing Section highlights the complex reality of Black professional life in mid-twentieth-century America, showcasing both inclusion and exclusion.
Literary devices · 9
Motif
In Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, the theme of invisibility and erasure permeates nearly every chapter, influencing how readers perceive the ways race and gender combine to make achievements go unnoticed.
Irony
In Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, irony drives the narrative, highlighting the disparity between America's self-proclaimed image as a symbol of freedom and the everyday humiliations faced by its Black women mathematicians.
Anaphora
In Hidden Figures, Margot Lee Shetterly uses anaphora to create a growing sense of the barriers her subjects continually faced and overcame.
Imagery
In Hidden Figures, Margot Lee Shetterly uses vivid sensory details to bring the abstract realm of wartime and Cold War mathematics to life in a relatable way.
Tone
In Hidden Figures, Margot Lee Shetterly balances a tone that is both celebratory and subtly indignant — a combination that endows the narrative with a strong moral impact.
Narrative Poem
Margot Lee Shetterly organizes Hidden Figures as a braided narrative, intertwining the life stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden instead of focusing on just one protagonist.
Flashback
In Hidden Figures, Margot Lee Shetterly uses flashbacks to blend the early lives of her subjects with the unfolding story of the Space Race.
Juxtaposition
In Hidden Figures, Margot Lee Shetterly uses juxtaposition as both a structural and moral driving force throughout the story.
Allusion
In Hidden Figures, Margot Lee Shetterly uses allusion to connect her subjects to the broader currents of American history and aspiration.
Vocabulary · 24
mobilization
The large-scale organizing of people, resources, and industry to prepare for and support a war effort or major national undertaking.
noun · Chapter 2
computes
Performs mathematical calculations by hand, as done by a person employed specifically for that purpose before electronic computers existed.
verb · Chapter 4
aeronautics
The science and practice of designing, building, and flying aircraft; the field of study governing how aircraft move through the air.
noun · Chapter 4
segregation
The enforced separation of people by race in public spaces, schools, workplaces, and other institutions, legally mandated in the American South.
noun · Chapter 4
Jim Crow
The system of state and local laws in the American South that enforced racial segregation and second-class status for Black Americans from the late 1800s through the 1960s.
noun · Chapter 1
wind tunnel
A large tube-shaped research device that blows controlled streams of air over aircraft models or parts to study how they will behave in flight.
noun · Chapter 4
trajectory
The curved path an object — such as a rocket or spacecraft — follows through space under the forces of gravity and thrust.
noun · Chapter 4
supersonic
Faster than the speed of sound, roughly 767 miles per hour at sea level; describing aircraft or flight that breaks the sound barrier.
adjective · Chapter 8
turbulence
Irregular, unpredictable air movement that causes instability for aircraft; used in the book also to suggest social and professional upheaval.
noun · Chapter 9
Double V
A World War II–era campaign by Black Americans demanding victory against fascism abroad AND victory against racism at home, symbolized by two V-for-victory signs.
noun · Chapter 10
area rule
An aeronautical design principle stating that an aircraft's cross-sectional area must change smoothly along its length to reduce drag and allow supersonic flight.
noun · Chapter 11
angle of attack
The angle between an aircraft's wing and the oncoming airflow; a critical variable engineers calculate to determine lift and the risk of a stall.
noun · Chapter 13
deliberate speed
A phrase from the Supreme Court's 1955 Brown v. Board ruling ordering school desegregation to proceed "with all deliberate speed," widely criticized as allowing indefinite delay.
phrase · Chapter 18
degrees of freedom
In mathematics and engineering, the number of independent variables or directions of movement available to a system; here used to describe the range of motion in orbital mechanics.
noun · Chapter 20
orbital mechanics
The branch of physics and mathematics that calculates the paths and movements of spacecraft traveling around Earth or through the solar system.
noun · Chapter 20
prologue
An introductory section that sets the background for what follows; here used to suggest that the past experiences of Black women directly led to their later achievements.
noun · Chapter 3
conscription
Compulsory enrollment of civilians into military service; the draft, by which the government legally requires eligible people to serve in the armed forces.
noun · Chapter 2
procurement
The official government process of obtaining equipment, supplies, or personnel — here referring to the wartime hiring of workers for defense agencies.
noun · Chapter 2
suborbital
Describing a spaceflight that travels into space but does not complete a full orbit of the Earth, following an arc that returns to the surface.
adjective · Chapter 17
ephemeris
A table or set of calculated data giving the predicted positions of a spacecraft, planet, or star at specific times, used for navigation and mission planning.
noun · Chapter 20
draggy
Producing excessive aerodynamic drag — the resistance force that slows an aircraft or spacecraft moving through air or atmosphere.
adjective · Chapter 11
pool
A group of workers assigned collectively to tasks as needed, rather than to a single supervisor; the organizational unit in which the women computers worked at Langley.
noun · Chapter 4
executive order
A directive issued by the President of the United States that carries the force of law and instructs federal agencies or contractors on policy, such as banning racial discrimination in hiring.
noun · Chapter 2
reentry
The phase of a spacecraft's flight when it re-enters Earth's atmosphere from space, generating extreme heat and requiring precise calculation to survive.
noun · Chapter 17