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Hidden Figures By Margot Lee Shetterly

1111 Words5 Pages

Ming Yang
English 04
Mr. Lance
February 15, 2022
Word Count: 1039
Untold Stories
Hidden Figures was written in 2016 by the author Margot Lee Shetterly, and it follows the story of three African American women Katherine Jackson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan. Shetterly wrote this story to capture the untold stories of these amazing women. The movie came out in 2017, and it was directed by Theodore Melfi. While the movie Hidden Figures aims to de-center some of the White eurocentric ideology through characterization, it also captures the discrimination African American women faced living in the 1960s.
Throughout the movie, three women face prejudice while working in the workforce. This is especially evident as they are referred to as …show more content…

Mary, on the other hand, is unable to apply for a training position in engineering because she is an African American woman. She claims that she would “already be an engineer” if she was a white male, both highlighting the discrimination she faces in a workforce dominated by white males while simultaneously de-centering the eurocentric ideology, as she implies that she is more than qualified to become one, the only thing that’s holding her back is the discrimination she faces. This is further highlighted when Mrs. Mitchell disapproves of her application for the engineering program and calls her under qualified as she never took advanced courses at Hampton University, in which Mary claims that “[e]very time we have a chance to get ahead, they move the finish line.” By claiming that the “finish line” keeps moving, it suggests that she is treated unfairly since she is an African American woman that has the same qualifications as any white, male engineer working at NASA. This reveals the discrimination she faces makes it harder for those with marginalized identities to get ahead in a society where white males are given better opportunities and chances. Similarly, Katherine faces these problems in her job. As a woman, people like Johnson undermine …show more content…

Dorothy, through learning and teaching her team FORTRAN, was able to secure a job for her team, which was manning the newly installed IBM programs. Eventually, she was recognized as a supervisor and Mitchell referred to her as Mrs. Vaughan, suggesting that she finally earned her respect and helped de-center White eurocentrism and the idea of white superiority. Mary decides to go to court to study at Hampton University to complete the courses required to become an engineer at NASA. Since “[she] can’t change the color of her skin.. [she] has no other choice but to be the first.” This reveals that in a society where people of color are underprivileged, they have no choice but to fight for opportunities. She convinces the judge to allow her to go to the all-white school, and this helps fight against eurocentrism, as she is getting opportunities that White males have, decentering the idea that African Americans, especially women, are not capable of doing things White males do. Even so, she still faces some, albeit not a lot of resistance from the teacher, who tells her that “the curriculum is not designed for teaching a woman,” implying that he doesn’t believe women are capable of handling the class. Despite this, she sits down and eventually goes on to graduate and become the first female African American aeronautical engineer. Katherine was able to get Harrison to tear down the “colored”

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