Beginning
Why is it so important that the US got a man into space at this time?
"It looks like they have travelled at least one orbit maybe two" says the white man on the phone.
"We have proved life can be sustained in space. Now we will be first to set a human." The lights turn on in the cinema and the white man stands and says in anger "a damn dog and a damn mannequin" They want to be the first to send a real life human being into space as they think that it can be done. "We cant justify a space program that doesn't put anything in space" As this man had said, the mannequin and dog, sadly failed to reach space. It is a very dangerous mission and the test subject failed. No matter what the risk is, the space program wants to be the first to send a man into space. "Now that they can get up there, a bomb will follow. It happens to all our good ideas." This shows that it is important for them to have their calculations right and to send a man into space before anyone else as someone will find the right calculations and do it before them. It is a race against time before "the Russians point a flag right on the damn moon." The space program needs to be the first ones to do this experiment. It is so important that they put a human on top of a missile and shoot them into space because it has never been done before and they are very determined to do this and be the first to do it to claim history. "Because its never be done, everything we do now is gunna matter. Its gunna matter to their wives, their kids, their whole damn country. So this space group will be as advertised. The greatest engineer and scientific minds." said by Mr Harrison.
Later on, the radio said how the Russians were the first to launch a man into space. He managed to orbit he earth once so the space program had failed. Every black person in the room was very disappointed. The Russians won plenty awards and become famous for being the first ones to launch a man into space and for him to survive. The americans are not happy about it. Mr Harrison 'refuses to believe that the russians are smarter than us or take more care than us.' He makes a stand and tells his team that they are going to stay up late working without a higher pay check.
What do we learn about the professional and personal lives of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson?
Dorothy states "My application for supervisor Ma'am. Was just wondering if you was still considering me for that position." The white women who is in charge of her says 'Yes, well, the official word is no. They're not assigning a official supervisor for the coloured group.' Dorothy says 'may I ask why' the women replies 'I don't know why' she laughs 'I didn't know why' the black women argues 'Im doing the work as a supervisor' the white women says 'well, thats NASA for ya, fast with rocket ships, slow with advancement.' This provides us with the information that the white people are only interested in being the first ones to send a man into space. They do not care about the advancement of discrimination as they believe that black people should always be a lower priority. Especially as women also. As we can see already, Dorothy's professional life is very poor. She is working as a supervisor to the black group of women in the west computing group only, the white people in charge, do not care therefore she is not paid as a supervisor or treated like one because they do not want to pay her extra wages. 'I haven't been late one day in ten years. I haven't been out sick, I haven't complained. My works on time, its done right, its done well.' Mary says 'its not fair and thats a fact.' Dorothy says 'whats not fair is to have the ability of a supervisor but not the title or the pay.' Katherine says about how she don't know if she can keep up with everyone in her work room and Dorothy says how she is better than anyone in that capital. She has more brains than anyone she knows.
One thing I did notice about the clothing is how Dorothy, Mary and Katherine always stand out in the scene amongst other white people and black people. For example, in this image shown below, Dorothy is wearing a brightly coloured pink top with a white top underneath and a skirt. She is clean, standing upright and looks professional. She stands out within this scene because of how the other black people use brown and dull coloured clothing. It is as if Dorothy, Mary and Katherine are made to stand out for a reason. That they are different even from people their own colour. Dorothy took the book she wanted from the white section of the library, she says 'I pay taxes. You cant steal something you already pay for. I pay for everything in that library.' This quote shows her stubborness. She is not afraid of the segregation and she is not afraid to be different, she is confident and willing to stand for what she believes in as is Mary and Katherine. Immediately, Dorothy see's th enew computing system and fixes it. All the white men that tried to fix it, failed and could not make it work. Instantly, Dorothy makes it work showing she is far more intelligent than the white men.
Mary Jackson wants to be an engineer for NASA. One white man she is working for, really has hope in her that she could go on and do bigger and better things with her life. He says 'there is another opening in the computing engineer training program'. She ignores him but he still says 'Mary, a person with an engineers mind, should be an engineer. You can't be a computer the rest of your life' She replies with; 'I'm a negro women, I'm not going to entertain the impossible.' he says, 'Then I am a polish jew who spends his nights in a nazi prison camp. Now I am standing beneath a spaceship that is going to carry an astronaut to the stars. I think that we can say, we are living the impossible. Let me ask you, if you were a white man, would you become an engineer?' she says 'I wouldn't have to, I'd already be one.' The scene then ends on this cliff hanger. It shows us an insight into the professional life of Mary as she cannot train to pursue the engineering career that she wants because she is a women and she is black. This highlights the fact that she has a bad job because she is not allowed to study for the one she wants as she is black and a women. She has not been given a fair chance even though she has an engineers mind.
After church, Mary's husband tells her how she cannot apply for freedom or be a female engineer as she is a women and she is 'negro'. Mary goes on to say how there is 'more than one way to achieve something' Her husband says 'don't be a fool, NASA will never give you your dues.' This means that he does not think that she will be respected as an engineer. 'civil rights ain't always civil' he says with no belief in her at all.
She goes to court about not being able to study at the white school which she needs to be able to be an engineer. She is told that the 'coloured' seats are at the back of the room.
Katherine has just been promoted to be a human computer for the NASA calculations. She is the only black person there. They was in desperate need for someone who can do the algebraic questions and Katherine was the only option after testing everyone who is white. The white women tells her how she cannot wear jewellery and should wear white pearls. Except she is not paid enough to wear white pearls. Her instructions are clear and bossy. The white women states that she should not talk to Mr Harrison unless he talks to her. She also says 'keep up, things move fast around here.' She makes Katherine walk faster even though she is right behind her. The white women is speaking to her like she is nothing and that she is not a women because of the colour of her skin. The white women then says 'your clearance' she hands her a pass and says 'they've never had a coloured in here before Katherine, don't embarrass me' This is both mean and embarrassing and she should have rights. As soon as Katherine walks through the door, she gets a rubbish bin on top of the boxes she is holding and the white man says 'this was not emptied last night.' she replies with 'Im sorry I'm not the cleaner' as he has already walked off. Katherine goes to the front desk and says 'excuse me ma'am, here is Mr Harrison's computer report' and she replies with 'take it to the back and it will get looked into in a minute' the white women looks at Katherine in disgust. The white women then says 'Mr Harrison wont warm up to you, don't expect him to. Do your work, get your head down. Go on, get a move on' Again, Katherine is being talked to like she is worth nothing because of her colour. Like her professional life should not be as good as it is because of her colour. The white women states that Katherine is good at geometry and speaking. Both the white man and women are surprised that she can speak and do geometry. Like she is some sort of animal that cannot speak. Mr Harrison gives direct orders that he wants his calculations done to Katherine. He also expects her to check over all of their work to make sure its correct. He is giving her so much work to do unlike anyone else working there. The white men do not like their work being checked as they think they are always right. The white man who works in front of Katherine, slams his work down on the desk in front of her and says 'my numbers are spot on' Katherine double checks them as she is asked to. This means she has to stop her calculations to check the big book of work. However, when she marks his work, she finds that nearly all of it is marked out by a black marker. He says it is because she does not have clearance and she should mark what she sees. Katherine is already having a hard time at work even though she has barely started. She feels out of place and worthless. Katherine needs the bathroom, she is told by the white lady at the front desk that they do not know where her bathroom is. She tries to find a bathroom when she only comes across a white ladies bathroom. She has to then walk all the way down the street into the computing group rooms where their is a black women's bathroom. She has tor run as se does not want Mr Harrison finding her not doing her work. She has to also carry the books and mark them while on the toilet as she will be behind. This shows just how little they care about her being black as they did not even put a bathroom in for her as she is black. As soon as she gets back she is told to 'hurry up and get a move on' by the lady at the front desk. As soon as Katherine is done with the marking and calculations, she is told to throw it in the bin as it is 'obsolete.' Mr Harrison says 'it is not an insult to her work, it is just how quick things work around here.' However, he could have said sooner as she is the last one working and it has become dark. When Katherine goes to get a cup of tea from the machine, she is stared at by all the white people as she is an alien. Mr Harrison had completely forgot about Katherine by the way he says 'oh yes, you can go.' Katherine has been instructed to check over all the maths and work produced by her other members of the team. The white man throws the work at her and says he does not need to see beyond the marked out lines as it is just a dummy check anyway. Again, she is being segregated and isolated even though they are the same team working on the same project. Katherine decides to hold the paper up to the light to get some more information. She begins working on the chalk board with the information she has.
Katherine comes home to her mum and she talks about her new promotion a little while until she hears the kids fighting over their beds. Katherine talks in a sweet tone to her children for them to stop fighting and be okay with sharing a bed. The kids moan about her having to work so much as she is hardly home. She says how she has to be Mummy and Daddy as she misses him so very much. He has died but she she acts strong for the kids not to be sad. She laughs and jokes with the kids before kissing them goodnight. She does not tell them about how hard it is for her to work as she wants them to be strong and not afraid. After church, Katherine starts talking to a man in the army that she really likes. They both really like each other but even him has a point where he has n belief in her because she is a women. He says 'they let women handle that sort of-' and stops mid-sentence when he realises how harsh he is being. She says 'I have you know, I was the first negro student to study at West Virginia university graduate school. At any given day, I analyse the binomial levels for friction and velocity, compute over 1000 calculations by car, find square root and lately, genetic geometry. And, there are 20 bright, highly educated women in the west coast and we're proud to be doing our part for the country. So yes, they let women do some things at NASA Mr Johnson. And its not because we wear skirts, its because we wear glasses.' Even though Mr Johnson is a good man and did not mean any disrespect, the fact that he also does not believe in women or black people, shows how insecure women really are. Especially as they are underestimated a lot.
The film is set in 1962 when life in the US was segregated (Caucasian and African-American people living separate lives). How is this shown in the film?
The opening scene to the film, shows a little black girl's feet walking alongside a road. She is counting numbers and naming if they are a prime or not. It then shows us the meeting between her mathematics teacher and her parents. They talk about how unbelievably talented she is and her teacher says that the West Virginia Institute would be the best place for her to be with the outstanding talent she has for maths. The institute wishes to take her a grade early because of her skill. We notice at the beginning of the story that we have not yet seen one white person. That the classroom is filled with wonder and happiness because of how talented this young, innocent girl is yet there is not yet a white person to be seen. This makes us think about the segregation between white and black and these dated times. We know this scene is set back in the 19's because of the old wooden desks, the old and smart clothing worn between girls and boys and how the teacher is teaching the pupils using only a chalk board. The teacher is doing everything he possibly can to help this little girl out because he understands the talent she has. This makes me reflect on how white people may be different. How they may not want to help out the talented young girl because she is black. "in all my years of teaching, I have never seen a mind like the one your daughter has." This quote was said by a teacher who was talking to her parents at the meeting. The lady teacher goes on to say "You have to go. You have to see what she becomes." She says this to the mother and father of the daughter and she is talking about how the young daughter should go to the West Virginia Institute. It is the best school in the state. Already, we learn how supportive the black teachers are for this daughter.
Next, we see 3 adult black women trying to fix their car. They are dressed smartly and are wearing make up. They have trouble starting their car so one woman says that she will hitch hike, until she see's a police car driving down the road. The black women standing against the car says 'Girls' and al three of the women look down in disappointment and move to one side of the car. Another black women says "no crime in a broken down car" the first black women replies with "no crime being negro neither" They all stand up straight and the white police officer gets out the car with his sirens on. He is holding his baton behind his back. The last black women who we see as a little girl says "button it up Mary, nobody wants to go to jail" This says a lot at the beginning of the story as it makes us think as an audience, why would they go to jail because of the skin colour that they are? It also says a lot about the time in which they are living in. The police officer says "not a good place to be having some car trouble" The black women replies with "we didn't pick the place officer, the place picked us." This tells us that the officer is not happy with them but is it really because of them being broken down or is it because of a deeper meaning, like their skin colour... The officer steps closer to the black women and replies in a harsh tone "you being disrespectful?" He then asks for identification. The women bows her head and replies "no Sir." This tells us a lot about how women and black people were treated in those times. The officer cannot believe that the NASA space program hired black people. He gives the women a dirty look and one women replies "yes there is quite a few women working in the space program" even though he was talking about them being black. When the women started following the police car as an escort, she states "3 negro women, chasing down a police officer on a highway, that ladies and gentleman is a god damn miracle." She states this as though black women would never come close to having a normal fulfilled life like white women.
Everyone in the space program is white. Even in the cinema. It is as though they are trying to tell us that white people are smarter and can do far better than any black human being. It makes me wonder why is this? Why are white people shown as being more superior than the black in those times and why can they not work in the space program too.
The fact that the white people get the best jobs in the space program and all the black people are just in the West Computing Group, says a lot about worth. No matter how smart the black women are, they are not seen as good enough as the white people even though the white people secretly know how smart they are. It is hidden under a rock because they are black.
The fact that the black group of women working in the West Computing Group do no have a supervisor when the white groups do is also very racist. The leader of the group keeps chasing up the white women who is her boss so that she can be supervisor as the group needs one. The white women said that she cannot but the white women did not ask white as she does not care because she is black. The black women is doing the work of a supervisor yet is not paid like one.
The images shown above, shows just how segregated women are in this time. White women and black women had their own separate bathrooms, they could not stand in line together, could not have a decent pay or promotion, had to go to their own churches and even when Katherine was promoted, she was given extra hours of work because she is black and could not share her cup with anyone as they put it away so she could not have a drink. The fact that their were no black toilets in the NASA building, also meant that they do not feel that black people can be that superior. Mary says 'I have the right to see men in every colour.' Even though at this current time, no white men would like a black women, Mary still likes to think she has rights like she should. The only white man that does not discriminate against black people or women, is John Glenn, the astronaut. He believes the black people and women, have equal rights and should have equal opportunities as he spoke very nicely to them like any other being. The other white people kept trying to rush him along without saying hello.
NASA also decided to get new super computers that can do all of the calculations that Katherine can do. They did not think or care about the black computing group losing thir jobs and wages, they do not care. they ony care about helping NASA. Again, the segregation is because of the selfish white people wanting to build NASA.
Another thing we notice, in the middle of the film is the segregation between lunch meals. The white people have a big round table they can all sit around and eat. It is a lot more posh and nicer in compariso to the black lunch room. Where they have a few tables that are older and cheaper with tiny uncomfortable chairs.
The white woman walks in and denies Mary's application form to be an engineer. The white woman said she does not have the requirements to be a engineer for NASA, Mary says how she has a bachelors degree in Math and science like other engineers except she said that the course now requires you to study at the west coast of Virginia which is an all white university. The white woman says 'there is no special circumstances for anyone. You all should be thankful you have jobs at all.' Again, this shows how they are being segregated because they are black. Even though they have the knowledge, these times shows black people and women are not equal in the system.
'They are never gunna allow a coloured women to take classes at an all white school.' Mary said this because of how she is being made to gain extra education in order to become an engineer for NASA. Dorothy instructs Mary to fight for what she wants. If you want change then you have to make change is what Dorothy instructs her to do.
In the following scene, we see just how segregated the blacks and the whites are due to the blacks protesting for what they want. They have signs and banners to show that they want. They are fighting for equality. The white police men having raging police dogs and weapons that they are holding. This is how you know the segregation between white and black. Even down to the water fountanis, there are seperated waetr fountains named 'white only' and 'coloured only'. As if black people are not human.
Dorothy went in the library to find a book when a white lady came up to her and told her she doesn't want any trouble in the library. Dorothy was with her young kids and she said she was not there for trouble and that she wants a book but the white lady told her to go and look in the white section. The buses also have seperated seating areas. White people sit at the front and black sit at the back when there is enough room. The back of the bus does not look as clean. The seats look worn out and chipped and dirty whereas the front of the bus looks a lot cleaner and nicer.
The cloting of the individuals are also very different. White people have clean, posh and nice clothes. It always looks like the white people are in new clothing all th etime. It looks like they are paid so much more because of the nice things they have. Black people are always wearing teh same clothing, it looks dirty an dworn out and it looks a little scraggy and not as posh.
Middle
How does each woman get around the barriers that prevent them from getting ahead in the workplace?
What is the importance of their friendships with each other?
Re-watch Katherine’s speech in the Space Task Group office after she is scolded for going to the bathroom. What different camera shots are used and how can we tell what each character is thinking or feeling?
End
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