Hidden Figures

Shetterly describes many of the activities the main characters were involved in outside of work, such as in their church or the community. Because the focus here is on their careers, why do you think Shetterly includes so much of their personal activities? What message does she give by doing so? Give specific examples, drawing on the lives of all four characters. 

Shetterly mentions A. Philip Randolph twice, during key moments 20 years apart. In 1941, he helps convince Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue an executive order banning discrimination in federal agencies and departments. In 1963, he has a large role in the groundbreaking March on Washington that became famous for Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Who was Randolph and how important was he in the civil rights movement? What were the key issues and accomplishments he was responsible for?

This book shows the contributions that many African Americans made in the research behind the space program, but the highest and most public roles at NASA—the astronauts—were still all white. Why were there no Black astronauts in the 1960s, a time when so many other opportunities were opening up for African Americans? The last chapter quickly mentions Ed Dwight, an African American trainee in the space program who many thought was mistreated.