No Longer Hidden: The Emergence of Women in Engineering

Hidden Figures is the retelling of the incredible people behind man’s first trip to space, only this time the light is shined on a group of smart, cunning and often times overlooked group of African American women.

Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae and Octavia Spencer take on the roles of an elite bunch of women who overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to achieve what man said couldn’t be done.

Katherine G. Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November of 2015. The news was abuzz as many hadn’t heard her remarkable story, or the story of the other dedicated women who stood along the sidelines of history.

Inspired by the book Hidden Figures written by Margot Lee Shetterly, director and producer Theodore Melfi and his team brought the amazing story to the silver screen.

Katherine, portrayed by Taraji P. Henson, was a mathematician working in a NASA research center. Her abilities far surpassed her Caucasian male counterparts and when the Space Task Group is assigned with the job of getting a human into space they called on her. Despite the initial response of having a women check their work the group of men including Paul Stafford, played by Jim Parsons, who doubted her abilities from the very beginning, came to see what a key role she played in their success.

While Katherine is breaking through glass ceilings two other women Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan are finding their places in the world of engineering their two stories overlapping as the plot progresses.

Ultimately the featured women rise to their fullest potential and each one go on to achieve remarkable things though history had overlooked them for so long.

Edgewater’s STEM program went and watched history play out on the big screen. It was a big deal, and understandably so, for every girl in the EST program who got to witness something so awe-inspiring, bigger than a single person by women.

Women who had the same dreams as them, women who look like them, and act like them.

“I think the movie was so inspiring.It makes me believe I can do anything” remarked Kaliah Sinclair.

Women are rising in the field of engineering and many organizations and groups are encouraging young girls to try their hands at the male dominated field. Black Girls Code, a nonprofit providing technology training for African American girls.

Hidden Figures has sparked a light in many young girls that hopefully lead them to amazing success much like Katherine G. Johnson.