Margot Lee Shetterly - Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

The title of this book is something of a misnomer. The history that has come together in these pages wasnt so much hidden as unseenfragments patiently biding their time in footnotes and family anecdotes and musty folders before returning to view. My first thanks are to the historians and archivists who helped me reconstruct this story through its documents: to Colin Fries at the NASA History Office in Washington, DC, Patrick Connelly at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Philadelphia, Meg Hacker at NARA Fort Worth, Kimberly Gentile at the National Personnel Records Center, and Tab Lewis at NARA College Park. Thanks also to Donzella Maupin and Andreese Scott at the Hampton University Archives, and Ellen Hassig Ressmeyer and Janice Young at West Virginia State Universitys Drain-Jordan Library.

Ive been buoyed by the enthusiasm of David Bearinger and Jeanne Siler at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities since the day I walked into their office unannounced, in the middle of an early spring blizzard in 2014. Because of their support, the Human Computer Project, which sprang out of my research for the book, will be able to pick up the baton from Hidden Figures by creating a comprehensive database of all the female mathematicians who worked at the NACA and NASA during the agencys golden age. Thanks to Doron Weber at the Sloan Foundation, who was willing to take a flyer on a first-time author; Sloans support made it possible for me to make recovering this important history a full-time job.

I couldnt have had a better team to work with at William Morrow. Trish Daly, even though you are off to new ventures, Ill always be grateful for the dogged way you worked to put Hidden Figures at the top of your list. Rachael Kahan, thank you for your calm guidance in helping me bring this book home. To have a book published is exciting enough; to have it made into a film at the same time is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Thanks to my film agent, Jason Richman, at the United Talent Agency, my lawyer, Kirk Schroeder, and especially to Donna Gigliotti, Hidden Figures producer, who was able to see a movie in a fifty-five-page book proposal. Shes one of the most gifted professionals Ive ever met, in any industry.

Nowhere has Hidden Figures received a warmer reception than in my hometown, Hampton, Virginia. My deepest gratitude to Audrey Williams, president of the Hampton Roads Chapter of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), which served as sponsor for the seed stage of the Human Computer Project. Thank you to Mike Cobb and Luci Coltrane of the Hampton History Museum for inviting me to be part of the museums speaker series, and to Wythe Holt and Chauncey Brown for their vivid recollections of the early days of life in Hampton, which added wonderful detail and texture to the books narrative.

Current and former employees of the Langley Research Center, people too numerous to mention in such a limited space, have supported this project in many ways over the last few years, including Gail Langevin, NASA Langleys History Liaison. Andrea Bynum invited me to present my research in progress at Langleys Womens History Month celebration in March 2014 and has been a tireless supporter of the book ever since. Mary Gainer Hurst, Langleys recently retired Historic Preservation Officer, is a heroic public historian; thanks to her, thousands of interviews, wind tunnel test logs, photos, personnel documents, org charts, articles, and other primary materials that bear witness to Langleys extraordinary history are available to the public via the NASA Langley Cultural Resources website and related YouTube channel. So much of the connective tissue of this story came from the untold hours I spent consulting the information she so expertly recovered and curated.

Belinda Adams, Jane Hess, Janet Mackenzie, Sharon Stack, and Donna Speller Turner all shared recollections both of the technical work they were involved in and of the changing opportunities for women at Langley over the years. Harold Beck and Jerry Woodfill entertained my technical questions regarding the months leading up to John Glenns orbital flight and the crisis of Apollo 13, respectively. My interview with engineer Thomas Byrdsong, who reminisced about being one of Langleys first black male engineers, is a bittersweet memory because it occurred less than a month before he passed away.

This book would not have been possible without the cooperation and support of the women who lived the history, and their friends, families, and colleagues. Bonnie Kathaleen Land, my former Sunday School teacher, has the distinction of being the very first person I interviewed for this book, in 2010; she passed away in 2012 at ninety-six years old. Thanks to Ellen Strother, Wanda Jackson, and Janice Jay Johnson for the marvelous tales of Mary Jacksons rich and active life outside the office.

Though Gloria Rhodes Champines story appears only in the epilogue, there are many chapters in the book that bear her fingerprints. Her understanding of Langleys airplanes, its culture, and its people have been indispensable to helping me tell this story. Christine Darden is at once enormously talented and disarmingly modest, and its a great source of pride that Ive learned enough about aerodynamics over the course of this research to appreciate the scale of her achievements. Thanks to both of them for the wisdom and encouragement they have given me since Hidden Figures beginning.

Ann Vaughan Hammond, Leonard Vaughan, and Kenneth Vaughan were instrumental in helping me reconstruct the details of their mother, Dorothy Vaughans, early life and the trajectory that brought her to Langley. I thank them for allowing me to get to know her through their eyes.

Jim Johnson and his stories of serving in the Korean War were firsthand evidence of the enduring power of the Double V. Joylette Goble Hylick and Katherine Goble Moore have my utmost admiration for all they have done to preserve the legacy of their mother and the other women whose talents formed the basis for the most rewarding work Ive ever done.

The lessons Ive learned from Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson could fill another book. Her generosity in sharing her life story with me has changed my life, and for that I will be forever grateful.

Most of this book was written in Valle de Bravo, Mexico; my thanks to all the friends who offered support and encouragement each day. Im indebted to my kitchen cabinet, the people who over the course of the last six years have helped me carry this project over the finish line. Most of this book was written in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. My thanks to all of the friends there who offered daily encouragement and support, especially Marcela Diaz, Jim Duncan, Larry Peterson and Sabine Persicke. Particular mention must go to Margot Lopez who generously lent me her studio whenever I needed a quiet place to meet a deadline. Melanie Adams, Jeffrey Harris, Regina Oliver, Chadra Pittman, and Danielle Wynn have been my hometown cheering squad, never too busy to share contacts, suggestions, or a sympathetic ear. Susan Hand Shetterly, Robert Shetterly, Gail Page, and Caitlin Shetterly never failed to provide insights, wonderful meals, and quiet writing nooks. My siblings Ben Lee, Lauren Lee Colley, and Jocelyn Lee have been a constant source of inspiration, memories, and encouragement.

From our very first conversation, my literary agent, Mackenzie Brady Watson, has been one of Hidden Figures greatest champions. Her expansive vision and business instincts have helped give this story a platform beyond anything I could have imagined.

As the child of a Hampton University English professor and a NASA research scientist, it was probably inevitable that I would eventually write a book about scientists. Drs. Margaret G. Lee and Robert B. Lee III have made telephone calls on my behalf, set up interviews, arranged meetings, scoured their memories for names and events, offered context and suggestions for telling the history, attended my presentations, made early morning and late-night runs to the airport, received packages, graciously allowed me to turn their home into an office, and supported my writing in countless other ways. Mommy and Daddy, I love you more than words can ever say.