Katherine Johnson Essay

In the movie Hidden Figures, you see three main characters Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson all influential Black women in American history. During the movie you get to see Dorothy Vaughan lead the Colored Computers section in NASA (known as NACA at the time) and eventually became the first Black Women Supervisor in NASA, simultaneously you see Mary Jackson fight her way through Virginia Segregation laws to becoming the First Black and Women Engineer in NASA and later on becoming a fighter for the advancement of all women regardless of color, but arguably the most influential of them all was Katherine Johnson who was a key pioneer in getting NASA not only to space but to the moon with her precise calculations for space travel, guiding the rockets that took our first Americans into space. Regardless of who was the most influence all three of these women changed history and helped the fight not only for African American’s rights but Women’s Rights regardless of color.

She was born in an extremely small town called White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County, West Virginia. During that time the population was less than four hundred people. Katherine Johnson was born on August 26th, 1913. Her mother, Joylette Coleman, was a school teacher. Her father, Joshua Coleman, worked as a farmer and a handyman at the local hotel. She had four siblings and was the youngest of all.

Katherine Johnson did not have the same childhood as most of those growing up with her, she surpassed them in academics tremendously. Katherine Johnson was born on August 26, 1918, to parents Joylette Coleman and Joshua Coleman in the small town of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. While growing up in this small town, she attended school to which she excelled in all classes and was in high school by age 10. She would go on and graduate high school at 14 and enter college at West Virginia State University. At age 18 she would graduate summa cum laude with Bachelor degrees in Science and French. After college, she married a man by the name of James Francis Goble in 1939 and had three daughters with him, Constance, Katherine and Joylette Goble. After her husband tragically passed away in 1956, she met a man named James A. Johnson and married him in 1959.

Claudia Johnson, also may be called “Lady Bird.” Is loved throughout America. Claudia is a well known lady for loving nature and conserving the environment. Claudia was born near Karnack, Texas in 1912. Claudia’s mother died when she was the age of five so she was raised by her father, aunt, and family servants. Although Claudia never really had a mother, she learned a lot about business from her dad. Claudia was raised by those who loved her and always had high hopes for her. She was a very good student in school and liked to venture and love nature and all the things it had to bring. That is how Claudia got the name “Lady bird” because she knew a lot about birds and you would find her out in the trees

She was not seen as a person but as a computer, who spent all day calculating the engineers problems. However, Katherine challenged this treatment and broke the stereotypes and gender roles placed on her. She began asking questions and, because she had such an intelligent mind, wanted to know the reasoning behind the work she was doing. She was the first women to attend the NASA briefings, which were thought to be for men only, however, there was no law that stated this. She continued to advance herself by using her mathematician status to teach the men at NASA geometry and began leading them. Before, Katherine was the “human computer” doing the calculations for her leader, but now, she was the leader. All of this advancement for a black woman at the time, wouldn’t be possible without her intelligence, hard work, and

Sarah Elizabeth Johnson (age 16), is an aspiring photographer located in Knoxville, Tennessee. Sarah Elizabeth was born in South Vietnam and grew up partly in Charlotte, North Carolina. At the age of 12, Sarah came to Knoxville, Tennessee where she began taking an interest in photography. When she turned 14, she received her very first DSLR (Nikon D3300) and since then she has been taking photos wherever she goes. She is passionate about what she does and hopes that she can inspire others through her work. - 1 Peter

and graduated. Kerri then went on to college at Stanford University where she was titled

Katherine Johnson is an American Hidden Figure. She was a trailblazer in her career at NASA who guided the way for women of all cultures. Katherine and her friends ( Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson) the “Hidden Figures” are very important to the development of black culture. These women broke the chains of race and gender at the time. It was unheard of for women to go to school, much less black women!

Amelia Earhart achieved great things throughout her life. One of her famous quotes is “Women must try to do things men have tried. When they fail, their future must be a challenge to others.” (Amelia Earhart) Even when she failed, she proved that woman can be just as good as men. She accomplished so much in the time she was here. She did things like becoming the first woman to fly a solo round-trip flight across the U.S. in 1928, and even set the woman’s speed record of 181 miles per hour in 1930. She also become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932 and continued to set a lasting example

Elizabeth A. Johnson (born December 6, 1941) is a Christian feminist theologian. She is a Distinguished Professor of Theology at Fordham University, a Jesuit institution in New York City. She is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood. Elizabeth A. Johnson (born December 6, 1941[1]) is a Roman Catholic feminist theologian. [2] She is a Distinguished Professor of Theology at Fordham University, a Jesuit institution in New York City. She is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood. Johnson has served as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and is "one of its most well-known members."[3] The New York Times has described Johnson as, "a highly-respected theologian whose books are widely used in theology classes."[4]

In the movie, Hidden Figures three women; Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn, and Mary Jackson helped launch a man into the orbit. Each women has an obstacle of their own in hopes of having a great chance of putting a man in space. One of the women who played a major part in putting a man in space is Katherine Johnson. Johnson hoped to be in the position where she will be respected. When Johnson got there she did not get the respect she deserved. She was the most intelligent person working in the office. However, her skin color held her back. One of her co-workers, Paul Stafford, blackened out important information needed to finish the work completely and accurately. She was unable to finish her work without complete access to data. Al Harrison

Katherine Wilson Shepard or Kate Wilson has brought fair to woman all around the world not only in New Zealand. Kate Wilson grew was born Liverpool, England, 1847. She was educated well and grew up to be very smart. In 1868 with her two brothers and her Mother she moved to New Zealand. As she grew up in New Zealand she gained an interest in woman and their rights (at the time only men were allowed to vote), as she grew older she joined many woman’s right groups who petitioned for there rights. In 1887 she became the national superintendent of WCTU (Woman's Christian Temperance Union) who at the time was the main group who fought for fair rights for woman. As the national superintendent of WCTU she was in charge of managing the organisation

All three of these women work at Langley helping NASA. These three women play crucial roles in the operation of getting the first American, John Glenn into space. In addition to the important

Orville and Wilbur inspired women to take flight, and being capable just as men to do what they love. “In the next few years, women in Germany, Italy, and America became licensed to fly, many of them explicitly trying to prove that women were as cable as men in the air” (“The First”). For inventing the airplane, women were able to get a licensed to fly legally, the first woman to be license was Harriet Quimby. As a result, the Wright brothers changed the world by opening opportunities for women to do what they love. It changed history a little bit more for the future. Women in the 1900s couldn’t do what men could do, they couldn’t work like men, therefore; the invention of the plane gave women an opportunity to command a space mission. Commanding a space shuttle mission is one step further into changing the future for people and their big ideas. “Finally, these were the first in what was to become many steps by women in aviation, culminating (thus far) in the first woman [Eileen Collins] to command a space mission, in which happened in [July] 1999” (“The First”). The first woman to command in space shuttle mission to on July 1999, she was in space for 38 days 8 hours 10 minute. If it weren’t for the Wright brothers’ invention of the powered airplane, it wouldn’t had been possible for women to be commanding a space mission. Who knows what life would be like today in the 21st century if women hadn’t had been flying airplanes or had even made the choice to fly an airplane. In the 1950s was the birth of jet age. Aside from how the Wright brothers changed how people fight battles, recruiting troops and women’s opportunities, it gave people a chance to explore the world, to travel places they never thought they could ever travel

She was promoted temporarily at NASA because of her engineering abilities and she wanted to become a permanent engineer and not some loaner “computer.” She wanted to go to a school in which no African American people were allowed, so she fought that rule and went to court where she persuaded the judge to allow her to go their but only at night. She soon graduated and become a full time engineer with the correct credentials. She is important to US history because she allowed women to become engineers which before was only a man's profession but that wasn’t all since she also played a major role in the shuttle’s design that launched Glenn into space and back to Earth