Rent and watch the movie: Hidden Figures (2016)
Assignment: The goal of this paper is to provide you an opportunity to examine your feelings about women, in sciences, how women are looked at and valued in a profession dominated by men. This could apply to women in sports as well. It was a time when many women were discouraged from steeping outside the society norms for them. This would have been the same for women’s sports as well. The comparison is that in the sports world or the sciences women were not considered strong enough or smart enough.
Before you watch the movie: Take a few moments to answer these questions:
- This move deals with three African American Women in the 1960’s working for NASA. What society norms had to be broken in order for Katherine Gobles, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan to succeed?
- During this time in history would women have been treated diffidently if they were athletes and not mathematicians?
- Were women’s sports small just like women mathematicians during this time in history?
After you watch the movie: Take some time to reflect on the movie, the feelings that it invoked, and write A REACTION PAPER (your thoughts, ideas, & feelings) that answers these questions:
These questions must be answered in your reflection paper of the movie.
- What the movie Hidden Figures about? What were the women called at the Langley Research Center? What was the climate like during the 1961 race to put man into space?
- Who was Katherine Goble Johnson? Who was Mary Jackson? Dorothy Vaughan? What was Katherine Goble Johnson’s strength? What was Mary Jackson’s strength? What was Dorothy Vaughan strength?
- What obstacles did Katherine, Mary and Dorothy have to overcome despite them being women and African American in a male dominated culture?
- How did head engineer Paul Stafford show Katherine Goble Johnson respect?
