When she moved to the South for her first job, her mother warned her about the racism she would face: “Remember, you’re going to Virginia.” But Johnson just said, “Well, tell them I’m coming!” And when a white friend told Johnson that his pastor forbade Black guests at his wedding, “I just shrugged it off,” she writes. Perhaps more striking than Johnson’s unwavering humility is how she faced segregation and discrimination with her head held high.
She touts the careers of other accomplished Black scientists and astronauts, but of her own work, she writes, “I was just doing job.” That might seem like false modesty, but it rings true coming from a woman who didn’t invite her own daughters to her retirement luncheon at NASA because, as she writes in the book, she “didn’t want to make a big fuss.” It’s also clear that Johnson isn’t comfortable bragging about herself. But Johnson doesn’t share her own reactions to this event. Ralph Abernathy - Martin Luther King Jr.’s successor as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference - in objection to the taxpayer dollars spent on the space race rather than poverty relief. For instance, she describes a protest led by Rev. Readers may wish that the memoir directly offered Johnson’s unique perspective on some issues. (They protested anyway.)Īt times, however, Johnson’s historical asides seem purely expositional. She also advised her daughters not to participate in civil rights protests because she was afraid of them getting hurt or arrested. “Once I’d seen what those Negro teenagers experienced in Little Rock, I couldn’t unsee it,” she writes of the white mob violence faced by Black students integrating into a white school in Arkansas. She describes her concerns about allowing her daughters to participate in school integration. Later chapters continue zooming out from Johnson’s own experiences to historic events. These asides slow the narrative but reveal something deeper: Johnson’s immense pride in Black educational institutions and her gratitude to the Black educators who were her role models. She frequently pivots from her story to describe her teachers’ race-based struggles and the history of the Black schools she attended or served.
Katherine johnson nasa scientist windows#
Johnson uses her own educational and work experiences as windows into broader issues. Her only job offer was a teaching gig at an all-Black elementary school. When she graduated in 1937 at age 18 with the highest GPA in her university’s history, Johnson had few employment opportunities. Readers quickly see the profound obstacles that faced educated Black people like Johnson. While in college at West Virginia State University, Johnson decided she wanted to become a mathematician. Even then, Johnson’s thirst for knowledge was palpable: She snuck out to follow her older siblings to school, peppered her parents and teachers with questions, and counted everything in sight. 2016, account begins with her childhood in small-town West Virginia. “Who Was Katherine Johnson?” NASA, NASA, 30 Dec. “Katherine Johnson Biography.” NASA, NASA, 22 Nov. “Katherine Johnson.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 Feb. Katherine Johnson was an important figure in African American history because she did great things that helped America land on the moon, despite many challenges. Johnson was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. She received many awards from NASA when she worked there, and in 1997, Johnson was named Mathematician of the Year. As part of her work at NASA, Johnson plotted the trajectory for the 1961 mission that would set NASA up for the moon landing, which Katherine Johnson also worked on the calculations for. The men said that it wasn’t illegal, so Johnson began to attend. She asked if it was illegal for her to be part of the meetings. Katherine Johnson changed this by inserting herself into the board meetings. Another challenge was the fact that women were not allowed in board meetings and didn’t ask questions. One of the challenges that Johnson faced was the segregation of her workplace. After college she was employed by NASA, where she worked for many years. Johnson was such a good student that she started high school at age ten and college at fifteen.
Katherine Johnson was a NASA Mathematician.
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