Hidden Figures Way | NASA’s Vision of Equality

NASA celebrates the fifth anniversary of renaming the street in front of its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Hidden Figures Way. The renaming honors the remarkable legacies of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who were featured in Shetterly’s book – and the subsequent movie – Hidden Figures, as well as all women who honorably serve their country, advancing equality, and contributing to the United States space program.

What is said in the film

In 2019, NASA Headquarters’ street was renamed “Hidden Figures Way” History is often seen as an outcome, and we see it often as a fixed endpoint to prescribed circumstances. And so when people think of NASA's history, it's usually that triumphal moment of the Apollo 11 mission and the Moon landing that comes to mind. That’s one small step for man ... And for many people, that was the culminating moment of NASA's history. Hidden Figures, however, is not about the end of the story, but it's about the beginning of the story.

It's about how human computers, these female mathematicians were doing the heavy lifting in aeronautical research and many other fields. Hidden Figures is also about how black women combated the quotidian humiliation of racism through perseverance and through mathematical talent. And it's about how women of all backgrounds prove that not only are women good at math, sometimes they are the best at math. And most of all, Hidden Figures is about taking off our blinders and recognizing the contributions of the unseen individuals who were there at the beginning of the story, and whose persistence and whose courage have delivered us to where we are today. So may this street, Hidden Figures Way, remind us, and to everyone who walks here and who comes to this building of the standard that was set by these women with their commitment to science and their embodiment of the values of equality, of justice and humanity.

Let it also remind us of the Hidden Figures way, which is to open our eyes to the contributions of the people around us so that their names, too, are the ones that we remember at the end of the story. By writing the truest and the most complete vision of our collective past, we open the door to a more powerful vision of our shared future. Thank you so much for everyone for coming. And I believe now we move to the unveiling portion of our event. You All right.

Yeah. Great. All right, here we go.

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