Hidden Figures: On Racism and Sexism Research Assignment

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Hidden Figures: On Racism and Sexism
Hidden Figures, directed by Theodore Melfi and written by Melfi himself and Allison Schroeder, is a story of three women who are African-American mathematicians who played very vital roles in the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) during the early years of U.S. space program development. It was based from a true story and from the book written by Margot Lee Shetterly. It was set in 1961 when the black community was still segregated from the white. The film was actually a perfect exhibition of how racism was practiced during that time.
This story is a double issue dispute which revolves around racism and gender stereotyping. During the early days, we all know that the blacks were being sold to the white people in exchange of money. We all know that slavery was one of the main inappropriate practice of the old world. And yes, it is inappropriate because when was slavery ever good?
This essay is about how racism and gender stereotyping has been a major issue since time immemorial. This will be elaborated by reviewing Hidden Figures and how the three African-American girls conquered impossibility by the intelligence and positive attitude they possess, resulting to a wide and great respect for black people. Women has been viewed over the years as less competitive and less strong than men. Moreover, the black has been viewed in the United States and other parts of the world as inferior than those of with white colour. But what does it really mean to become a black and a woman at the same time?
As stated earlier, Hidden Figures is a story about three black women who seized the issue of racism and gender stereotyping by being the subject of change in the NASA. The main characters, Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson exhibited excellence and exemplary skills in proving that gender and race should not be an issue when it comes to achievement and success. The first one, Katherine, was a mathematician who exhibited such skills since childhood, a ‘wonder child’ for that matter. She was the one who performed all the math. As stated in the movie, “Katherine Johnson went on to perform calculations for the Apollo II mission to the moon and the Space Shuttle. In 2016, NASA dedicated the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Building in honour of her ground-breaking work in space travel.” She became the backbone of NASA in terms of mathematical calculations for exact locations needed for Space Travel. The second one, Dorothy, became the first ever African-American Supervisor in NASA. Since she was a FORTRAN specialist, the best in electronic computing, she was known to be one of NASA’s most brilliant minds. The last one, Mary, who was also a gifted child and a very talented engineer, became NASA’s first ever female and African-American aeronautical engineer.
The intersection of class, race, and gender was completely displayed in the film. Katherine’s supervisor, Al Harrison played by Kevin Costner, and Mary’s supervisor were two of those who showed the colour and gender should not hinder someone from being successful. There was a scene when Harrison was looking for Katherine, but the latt...