Hidden Figures Part II - Katherine Goble Johnson

World War II pushed many women into the workforce. Traditionally finding jobs as teachers and nurses, this war created opportunities few women considered possible.

Shining a light on women of African descent during this period, these women encountered even greater challenges. Integration of the military did not occur until President Harry Truman issued his executive order in 1948. Brown vs. the Board of Education, decided by the Supreme Court in 1954, declared segregated schools unconstitutional. President Kennedy led the charge to establish the Civil Rights Bill of 1963, which made clear that discrimination based upon race, color, religion, sex or national origin was illegal.

Before any of these seminal decisions, women of African descent worked against the grain to take pivotal positions in the workforce. Highlighting the accomplishments of a few incredibly intelligent women, Margot Lee Shetterly penned the book behind the movie Hidden Figures. The second woman upon whom she focuses is Katherine Goble Johnson.

Johnson entered West Virginia State College at the age of 15. After graduating with a degree in Mathematics, she began graduate coursework in this discipline. Marriage and the birth of her first child kept her from earning her master’s degree in Mathematics. But that did not stop her from eventually making her mark in Aeronautics.

• In 1943. Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, a facility dedicated to aeronautic research and testing under the direction of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), advertised available positions in aeronautical data processing for those holding degrees in Mathematics. After leaning about the opportunities at Langley, Johnson moved with her husband and three girls to Virginia.
• Two weeks after she began working at Langley, she was sent out for a temporary assignment to Building 1244 with the Flight Research Division. Six months later, Dorothy Vaughan, head of the West Computers, argued with Henry Pearson, head of the branch, either to return Johnson or to hire her permanently. This change in status would serve two purposes: 1) Johnson would be classified as permanent staff, and 2) she would be eligible for a raise. Ultimately, Johnson was hired by the Flight Research Division.
• Jimmy Goble told his wife that he wanted to move the family out of the Newsome Park projects. They purchased a plot of land in Mimosa Crescent, not far from Langley. But in 1955, Jimmy grew ill, and was eventually diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He died before Christmas in 1956.
• Despite making great strides in the Flight Research Division, Johnson was not invited to the editorial meetings held by that division. After persistently requesting the authority to attend – and clarifying that no rule or law precluded her from attending – her engineering colleagues relented. In 1958, Johnson attended the editorial meetings of the Guidance and Control branch of Langley’s Flight Research Division, renamed the Aerospace Mechanics Division of NASA.
• Johnson worked on Project Mercury, the plan to place a man in space who would successfully orbit the Earth.