“Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden were good at math. Really good.” In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Dorothy, Mary and Katherine went to work for the U.S. space agency (now NASA) as computers—people who calculated complex math. The three African American women fought racism, sexism, stereotypes, and segregation within and beyond the agency to take charge of the trajectory of their careers. Christine joined NASA in 1967 to work on the Apollo 11 mission, knowing her dream of being an engineer was made possible in part because of the three African American women who broke ground before her. An energetic narrative focuses on each woman in turn while offering a unifying sense of individual and collective challenges, contributions, and accomplishments. This terrific informational picture book is based on Shetterly’s adult book (not the movie it inspired). The illustrations feature a variety of engaging compositions and scenes. The end matter includes brief biographies telling more about each of the four women’s lives, along with a glossary and author’s note. (Ages 6–9)

The #1 New York Times bestseller

The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner.

Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.

Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South’s segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America’s aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam’s call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.

Even as Virginia’s Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley’s all-black “West Computing” group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens.

Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliances and used their intellect to change their own lives, and their country’s future.