Hidden Figures

by Margot Lee Shetterly

  71 skipped ahead from second grade to fifth:

  71 they’d find their pupil in the classroom next door:

  71 Joseph and Rose Kennedy: Conte, The History of the Greenbrier, 113.

  71 Bing Crosby, the duke of Windsor: Ibid., 148–49.

  72 segmented its serving class: Robert S. Comte, personal interview, September 12, 2012.

  72 “Tu m’entends tout, n’est-ce pas?” Johnson interview, December 27, 2010.

  72 The Greenbrier’s Parisian chef: Ibid.

  72 taught him Roman numerals: Ibid.

  73 served as the college’s dean: Lorenzo J. Greene and Arvarh E. Strickland, Selling Black History for Carter G. Woodson: A Diary (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1996), 194.

  73 Civilian Aide in the War Department: “College and School News,” The Crisis, January 1944; “James C. Evans Dies,” Washington Post, April 17, 1988.

  73 and a mean game of tennis: Johnson interview, March 6, 2011.

  73 flew so low over the house of the school’s president: Margaret Claytor Woodbury and Ruth C. Marsh, Virginia Kaleidoscope: The Claytor Family of Roanoke, and Some of Its Kinships, from First Families of Virginia and Their Former Slaves (Ruth C. Marsh, 1994), 202.

  73 his drawling “country” accent: Ibid.

  73 furiously scribbled mathematical formulas on the chalkboard: Ibid.

  73 “You would make a good research mathematician”: Johnson interview, March 11, 2011.

  73 received an offer to join the inaugural class: Hammond interview, June 30, 2014.

  73 a significant advance in the field: “Pioneer African American Mathematicians,” University of Pennsylvania, http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/aframer/math.html.

  74 “If young colored men receive scientific training”: W. E. B. Dubois, “The Negro Scientist,” The American Scholar 8, no. 3 (Summer 1939): 316.

  74 “The [white] libraries”: Ibid.

  74 “no opportunity to go to scientific meetings”: Jacqueline Giles-Girron, “Black Pioneers in Mathematics: Brown [sic], Granville, Cox, Claytor and Blackwell,” Focus: the Newsletter of the Mathematical Association of America 11, no. 1 (January–February 1991): 18.

  74 just over a hundred women: Margaret Rossiter, Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action 1940–1972 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), 137.

  74 Irish and Jewish women with math degrees: David Alan Grier, When Computers Were Human (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997), 208–9.

  74 “But where will I find a job?” Johnson interview, December 27, 2010.

  74 they got married, telling no one: Johnson interview, March 13, 2011.

  74 waiting outside her classroom: Johnson interview, September 27, 2013.

  75 walked away from an offer of $4 million: Albert P. Kalme, “Racial Desegregation and Integration and American Education: The Case History of West Virginia State College, 1891–1973,” PhD dissertation, University of Ottawa, 1973, 173.

  75 “So I picked you”: Johnson interview, September 27, 2013.

  75 presented her with a full set of math reference books: Ibid.

  76 they were expecting their first child: Ibid.

  CHAPTER 9: BREAKING BARRIERS

  78 had it all figured out: Leonard Vaughan, personal interview, April 3, 2014.

  78 Howard Vaughan’s sister-in-law: Hammond interview, April 2, 2014; Joanne Cavanaugh Simpson, “Sound Reasoning,” Johns Hopkins Magazine, September 2003.

  78 “for members of the race”: “New Peninsula Beach Opens Memorial Day,” Norfolk Journal and Guide, May 27, 1944.

  78 spent weeks organizing the menu: Harris interview.

  78 roasting marshmallows over a fire: Ibid.

  78 founded the resort in 1898: Mark St. John Erickson, “Remembering One of the South’s Premier Black Seaside Resorts,” Daily Press, August 21, 2013.

  79 $2,000 a year: Vaughan Personnel File.

  79 just $96: Martha J. Bailey and William J. Collins, “The Wage Gains of African-American Women in the 1940s,” Journal of Economic History 66, no. 3 (September 2006): 737–77.

  79 took a walk around the block: Michelle Webb, personal interview, February 10, 2016.

  79 headquarters of its Tactical Air Command: “Gen. Devers Takes Command of Fort Monroe, New AGF Base,” Washington Post, October 2, 1946.

  80 “military-industrial complex”: Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Farewell Address,” January 17, 1961, https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=90&page=transcript.

  80 more than three thousand employees: Hansen, Engineer in Charge, 413.

  80 tendered their resignations: Golemba, “Human Computers,” 90.

  81 top-ranked managers: Ibid., 90–91.

  81 “excellent” ratings: Ibid.

  81 had been appointed shift supervisors: Fitchett Personnel File.

  81 had swelled to twenty-five women: Ibid.

  81 often worked the 3:00 p.m.-to-11:00 p.m. shift: Golemba, “Human Computers,” 87.

  81 “two spacious offices”: “Blanche Sponsler Called in . . . ,”Air Scoop, August 24, 1945.

  81 vacancies at the laboratory: “Vacancies Open Here at Lab,” Air Scoop, August 9, 1946.

  82 “Cadettes”: The Cadettes were formed after the Langley laboratory recommended that Curtiss Wright adopt its female computing pool setup, as detailed in R. H. Cramer’s April 27, 1942, memo “Computing Groups Organization and Practice at NACA” (see LAC). Natalia Holt’s book Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars (New York: Little, Brown, 2016), David Alan Grier’s When Computers Were Human (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005), and Margaret Rossiter’s Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action 1940–1972 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995) all offer fascinating accounts of the computers who worked at installations other than the NACA.

  82 subprofessional scientific aide: Walter T. Vicenti, Robert Thomas Jones 1910–1999: A Biographical Memoir (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2005).

  83 conspired to skip him ahead to a P-2: William R. Sears, “Introduction,” Collected Works of R. T. Jones (Moffett Field, CA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1976), ix.

  83 lunchtime conversations: John V. Becker, The High Speed Frontier: Case Histories of Four NACA Programs, 1920–1950 (Washington, DC: NASA, 1980), 14.

  83 men-only smokers: Edward R. Sharp, “Smoker for Men Only,” Memorandum for Section Heads and Division Chiefs, November 26, 1935, NARA Phil.

  84 including two former East Computers: Sheryll Goecke Powers, Women in Flight Research at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center from 1946 to 1995 (Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1997), 3.

  85 corroborated by the female computers on the ground: Ibid., 12.

  85 NACA’s lone female author: After an extensive name search of NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) and scouring the references in other NACA reports published in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, Doris Cohen’s was the only female name I could find until the mid-1940s, when the names of other women began to appear on the publications. Her name first appeared along with Robert T. Jones on “An Analysis of the Stability of an Airplane with Free Controls,” Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, January 1941, NTRS.

  85 Doris Cohen published nine reports: Ibid.

  85 (whom she would eventually marry): David F. Salisbury, “Aerodynamics Pioneer R. T. Jones, Former Consulting Professor, Dies,” Stanford University News Service, August 24, 1999. Their professional-personal partnership was fruitful, culminating in publication of the classic aerodynamics text High Speed Wing Theory (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1960).

  86 four hundred Langley computers received training on Tucker’s watch: “What’s My Name?”

  86 In 1947, the laboratory disbanded East Computing: Floyd L. Thompson to All Concerned, “Disbanding of East Area Computing Pool,” September 17, 1947, NASA Phil.

  86 She accepted a job at the N
orthrup Corporation: “Early Alumni and STEM Fields: Virginia Tucker,” UNCG Special Collections and University Archives, October 14, 2014, http://uncgarchives.tumblr.com/post/100014384990/early-alumni-and-stem-fields-virginia-tucker.

  87 When three West Computers made the leap: Women Computers.

  87 hadn’t even known: Golemba, “Human Computers,” 14.

  87 Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee: Lisa Frazier, “Searching for Dorothy,” Washington Post, May 7, 2000.

  87 P-1 mathematician: Dorothy Hoover Personnel File, US Civil Service Commission, NPRC.

  87 start the process of inputting values: Sugenia Johnson interview.

  88 most respected analysts: Becker, The High Speed Frontier, 14.

  88 listening to classical music and discussing politics: Robert A. Bell, “Former ‘Discussion Groups’ at the NACA Langley Aeronautical Laboratory,” Memorandum for the Security Officer, NACA, July 23, 1954, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), https://vault.fbi.gov/rosenberg-case/julius-rosenberg/julius-rosenberg-part-72-of-1.

  88 directly for him: Hoover Personnel File.

  88 publishing a study with S. Katzoff and Margery E. Hannah, “Calculation of Tunnel-Induced Upwash Velocities for Swept and Yawed Wings,” Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, 1948, NTRS.

  88 thirty-five-year-old newlywed: Air Scoop, October 24, 1947.

  89 requested a transfer to the Ames Laboratory: Fitchett Personnel File.

  89 one-month illness: Ibid.

  90 July and August 1948: Ibid.

  90 made an urgent call to Eldridge Derring: Ibid.

  90 Blanche had been acting strangely: Ibid.

  90 “behaving irrationally”: Ibid.

  90 Derring, along with the lab’s health officer: Ibid.

  90 anxiously waiting in the lobby: Ibid.

  90 “meaningless words and symbols”: Ibid.

  90 “I’m trying to explain how to go”: Ibid.

  90 “0 ±1 to three significant figures”: Ibid.

  90 “one P-75,000”: Ibid.

  90 “as some college students”: Ibid.

  90 “at least four strong men”: Ibid.

  91 taken away to the Tucker Sanatorium: Ibid.

  91 “It appears that she will continue ill indefinitely”: Ibid.

  91 obituary in the Daily Press: Blanche Sponsler Fitchett Obituary, Daily Press, May 31, 1949.

  91 “dementia praecox”: Blanche Sponsler Fitchett death certificate, State of Virginia, May 29 1949, Ancestry.com.

  91 appointed Dorothy Vaughan acting head of West Computing: Eldridge H. Derring to All Concerned, “Change in Organization of Research Services and Control,” April 12, 1949, NARA Phil.

  92 two years to earn the full title of section head: Eldridge H. Derring to All Concerned: “Appointment of Head of West Area Computers Unit,” January 8, 1951, NARA Phil.

  92 “Effective this date”: Ibid.

  CHAPTER 10: HOME BY THE SEA

  93 the work songs of the black women: Chauncey E. Brown, personal interview, July 19, 2014; Virginia Traditions, Virginia Work Songs (Ferrum, VA: Blue Ridge Institute of Ferrum College, 1983).

  94 “Confederate-set inferno”: Mark St. John Erickson, “The Night They Burned Old Hampton Down,” Daily Press, August 7, 2013.

  94 “educated young people”: Robert F. Engs, Freedom’s First Generation: Black Hampton, Virginia 1861–1890 (New York: Fordham University Press, 2004), 158.

  94 Mary graduated in 1938 with highest honors: “Mary W. Jackson Federal Women’s Program Coordinator,” LHA, October 1979, http://crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/crgis/images/9/96/MaryJackson1.pdf.

  95 mathematics and physical science: Ibid.

  95 two of her sisters: Golemba, “Human Computers,” 40.

  95 college typing course: Mary W. Jackson Personnel File, US Civil Service Commission, NPRC.

  95 welcomed guests at the club’s front door: Ibid.

  95 played the piano: “Hampton USO Club Activities,” Norfolk Journal and Guide, May 30, 1942.

  96 “sharing and caring”: Mary Winston Jackson funeral program, 2005, in author’s possession.

  96 “a pillar”: “Hamptonian Observes 75th Birthday,” Norfolk Journal and Guide, September 7, 1946.

  96 one thousand hours of meritorious service: “Bethel AME Rites Held for Mrs. Emily Winston,” Norfolk Journal and Guide, December 29, 1962.

  96 white dress with black sequins: “USO Secretary Weds Navy Man,” Norfolk Journal and Guide, November 25, 1944.

  97 children of domestic servants, crab pickers, laborers: Janice Johnson, personal interview, April 3, 2014.

  97 and steering them toward college: Ibid.

  97 three-mile “country” hikes: “Hampton Happenings,” Norfolk Journal and Guide, October 29, 1949.

  97 field trips to the crab factory: Janice Johnson interview.

  97 tea at the Hampton Institute Mansion House: “Hostess to Girl Scout Troop,” Norfolk Journal and Guide, March 14, 1953; Janice Johnson interview.

  97 students from the school’s Home Economics Department: Janice Johnson interview.

  98 Mary was leading her charges: Ibid.

  98 That day, however, the lyrics: Ibid.

  98 “Hold on a minute!” Ibid.

  98 “We are never going to sing this again”: Ibid.

  98 was required to get a secret security clearance: Jackson Personnel File.

  99 an atomic attack: A. B. Chatham, “Dissemination of Combat Information,” Office Chief of Army Field Forces, Fort Monroe, Virginia, August 29, 1952, http://koreanwar-educator.org/topics/reports/after_action/combat_information_bulletins/combat_information_bulletins_520829_350_05_56.pdf.

  99 “too fast to be identified”: Stephen Joiner, “The Jet That Shocked the West,” Air and Space Magazine, December 2013.

  99 “Russia Said to Have Fastest Fighter Plane”: Leon Schloss, writing in the Norfolk Journal and Guide, February 18, 1950.

  99 Building 1244, the largest structure of its kind: Photo caption, Air Scoop, March 16, 1951.

  100 scored a Collier Trophy: “Collier 1940–1949 Recipients,” National Aeronautic Association, https://naa.aero/awards/awards-and-trophies/collier-trophy/collier-1940-1949-winners.

  100 Project 506: Robert C. Moyer and Mary E. Gainer, “Chasing Theory to the Edge of Space: The Development of the X-15 at NACA Langley Aeronautical Laboratory,” Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly 19, no. 2 (2012): 5.

  100 close to Mach 7: Ibid.

  100 Gas Dynamics Laboratory: “1247 Hypersonic Facilities Complex,” NASA Cultural Resources http://crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/historic/1247_Hypersonic_Facilities_Complex. Completed in 1952, the laboratory’s name was changed to Hypersonic Facilities Complex.

  100 up to Mach 18: Ibid.

  101 handed down a death sentence against Ethel and Julius Rosenberg: William R. Conklin, “Atom Spy Couple Sentenced to Die,” New York Times, April 6, 1951.

  101 How to Spot a Communist: How to Spot a Communist, Armed Forces Information Film no.5, 1950.

  101 “who don’t show their real faces”: Ibid.

  101 accused of stealing classified NACA documents: Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton, The Rosenberg File (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997), 300.

  101 nuclear-powered airplane: Ibid.

  101 high-speed NACA airfoil: Ibid., 299.

  101 based on NACA designs: Ibid.

  101 ringing the doorbell in the evenings: Sugenia Johnson interview. Joanne Cavanaugh Simpson, “Sound Reasoning,” Hopkins Magazine, September 2003.

  102 Eastman Jacobs, known for his left-leaning sympathies:

  102 hours questioning Pearl Young: Pearl Young interview.

  102 “New York communist people”: Ibid.

  102 “practically impossible New York Jews”: Ibid.

  102 caused a scandal: Ibid.

  102 a “black computer”: Sugenia Johnson interview.

  102 Air Scoop published a long list of organizations: “List of groups compiled in Connection with Employees Loyalty
Program,” Air Scoop, October 26, 1951.

  103 denied service to the Haitian secretary of agriculture: Mary Dudziak, Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007), 871.

  103 Mahatma Gandhi’s personal doctor: Ibid., 878.

  104 “Untouchability Banished in India: Worshipped in America”: Ibid., 755.

  104 At the start of the Korean War: “The Beginnings of a New Era for African Americans in the Armed Services,” State of New Jersey, http://www.nj.gov/military/korea/factsheets/afroamer.html.

  104 were called up: “Tan Yanks Face Action in Korea,” Norfolk Journal and Guide, July 8, 1950.

  104 “The laboratory has one work unit composed entirely of Negro women”: Johnson, “Fair Employment.”

  105 science textbooks and racial harmony: Walter McDougall, The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997), 8.

  105 Christine Richie: Christine Richie, personal interview, July 20, 2014.

  105 through the college grapevine: Elizabeth Kittrell Taylor, personal interview, July 12, 2014.

  CHAPTER 11: THE AREA RULE

  108 alongside several white computers: Richard Stradling, “Retired Engineer Remembers Segregated Langley,” Daily Press, February 8, 1998.

  108 “Can you direct me to the bathroom?”: Ibid.

  109 native of New Bedford: “14 Receive Service Emblems,” Air Scoop, December 3, 1954.

  109 maintained an office in the Aircraft Loads Building: Langley Aeronautical Laboratory Telephone Directory, LHA, 1949.

  109 “dead-weight of social degradation”: W. E. B. Dubois, The Souls of Black Folk (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Co., 1903).

  109 the American dilemma: In 1944, the Carnegie Foundation funded a groundbreaking, comprehensive report on the state of black America, entitled An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1946). Its author, Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal, pointed out the brutal circularity of a system that discriminated against blacks in virtually every aspect of their lives, then excoriated them when they failed to meet the marks set by whites.

  109 answered Czarnecki’s greeting with a Mach 2 blowdown: Stradling, “Retired Engineer Remembers Segregated Langley.”