Katherine G. Johnson Research Paper

Katherine G. Johnson is a mathematician who calculated the trajectories responsible for launching the first American into space. Katherine was born on August 26th, 1918 in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia. As a child, Katherine loved to count and had a strong interest in numbers which led to her profound knowledge of mathematics. Her passion for numbers showed through her interest in advancing her education, she graduated from the eighth grade by the age of ten; then graduated from high school at the age of fourteen. In the 1920’s, the South was heavily segregated due to unjust laws based on racism and at the time African Americans were not allowed to continue their education past the eighth grade. Katherine’s father drove one hundred and
The South was well known for their Jim Crow Laws and unjust practices. During 1950’s women were not an extreme part of the workforce and women of color were certainly not excepted. When Johnson was hired by NACA at the time there was a separate area for African American women and they were not allowed to use the same materials, machines, or bathroom. Johnson had to walk about a mile each way to relieve herself when she was working in the Flight the Division because the restrooms there were for ‘Whites’ only. Based on the book ‘Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race’ and the movie Hidden Figures, Johnson’s character played by Taraji P. Henson goes through mistreatment because she was an African American woman. Her colleagues did not want to share the same coffee pot as her or share the same materials with her. Because she did not have the clearance to read classified information, most of the data were blacked out and she had to create calculations based on what she could read. She also was not allowed to put her name as an author on reports and attend briefings. Johnson had to fight in order to fulfill her duties as a computer accurately. In Hidden Figures, Johnson’s character yells and explains to the director of the Flight Research Division played by Kevin Costner that she is missing for forty-five minutes to an hour every day because she had to walk so far to use the bathroom. Then the next scene shows the director tearing down the ‘Colored’ sign and eventually integrating the restrooms and