As Black women, we are rarely celebrated or properly acknowledged for our contributions to history. Many of our unsung stories have served as the crux to American tales that have been overshadowed by Whitewash. But in ‘Hidden Figures,’ Black women are highlighted at the forefront of one of the greatest NASA operations.
Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae star in the Oscar buzz-worthy film based on astrophysicist Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson’s integral role in the 1960s launch of an American into orbit. Katherine calculated the flight trajectories for Project Mercury and Apollo 11.
Adapted from the novel written by Margot Lee Shetterly, ‘Hidden Figures’ is the story of ordinary women doing extraordinary things.
‘It’s history,’ Janelle Monae told us on the red carpet. ‘It’s time we celebrated those true American heroes like Mary, Katherine and Dororthy and all the colored people who were human computers who get our Americans into space.’
Watch the red carpet video, above.
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