Street Renaming Ceremony Honoring Hidden Figures

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine was joined at 10 a.m. EDT Wednesday, June 12, by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, and author Margot Lee Shetterly for the renaming of the street in front of NASA Headquarters in Washington – E Street SW – to “Hidden Figures Way.” The event honored Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who were featured in Shetterly’s book – and subsequent movie – Hidden Figures, as well as all women who have dedicated their lives to honorably serving their country, advancing equality, and contributing to the United States space program. Family members representing these women also were in attendance.

What is said in the film

I just want to say thank you for coming to the NASA headquarters here in the nation's capital Washington DC what an amazing day what an amazing event what an amazing opportunity to honor such amazing Americans I want to start by thanking the families of and I'd like you to give a big round of applause for each of these members I'm about to mention the family members of Katherine Johnson the family members of Dorothy Vaughn and the family members of Mary Jackson and I just want to say these were the three hidden figures in a very prominent book that became a magnificent movie that started a movement that brought all of us here today but they are a small piece of the overall I guess cadre of professionals that helped us not just get into orbit but also get to the moon the people of NASA who are now known as the hidden figure so thank you to all of the hidden figures throughout history that have made NASA such a successful agency that deserves applause as well so we think about ultimately what we were up against at the time this was a contest of political ideologies it was the United States of America at the time against the Soviet Union and we were in a contest of political systems of not just political but economic systems and demonstrating technological prowess it was a very intense time and we were trying to ultimately win what was at the time called the space race and the reason we were able to do it is because of 400,000 people that worked for NASA at the time contractors that supported NASA that ultimately made this possible but there was this element that at the time was not recognized and here we are 50 years after the landing of the Apollo 11 moon lander next month 50 years later celebrating those figures that at the time were not celebrated and now it is time to celebrate them in a major way so I also want to say thank you to all of you for being here it's a wonderful day and my job right now is to introduce a good friend of mine senator Ted Cruz from the state of Texas and I just want to start by saying this when this movie first came out we had an opportunity to I don't remember what it the social event of some kind and a number of members of Congress were there a number of senators bipartisan and Senator Ted Cruz was there talking about this brand new movie cut that came out called hidden figures and I remember him talking about Katherine Johnson specifically he saw the movie once then he comes out he's talking to members of Congress about what a wonderful movie it is and who Katherine Johnson is and then from there he starts talking about this guy al Harrison now al Harrison is not a real figure al Harrison is a figure that is kind of a a number of NASA center directors wrapped up into one character for the purposes of the movie but al Harrison I think represented great leadership great leadership at the time at NASA and I remember Ted Cruz senator Ted Cruz before his colleagues in the house in the Senate acting out a moment in the movie where al Harrison takes some kind of ax to the bathroom sign at the at the at the center there in Virginia the the Langley Research Center in Virginia so this was clearly had a big impact on senator Cruz it is also true that when I got nominated for NASA Administrator he said hey here's what we need to do we need to we need to change the street in front of the NASA headquarters and call it hidden figures away and of course then he teamed up with the DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson who led the charge in making this day become a reality so we have a lot of people here to thank it's a great day here at NASA and I just want to thank Senator Ted Cruz for your leadership on this your hard work and ultimately being here to celebrate this very momentous day ladies and gentlemen senator Ted Cruz well thank you Jim and let me first of all congratulate you that that under your leadership NASA makes the trains run on time today is a celebration of women today is a celebration of African American pioneers today is a celebration of American heroes this is a wonderful day let me say how humbled I am how honored I am to spend time with the families of these extraordinary fearless visionaries not only do we have the families of Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson but we also have dr. Christine Darden who was herself a human computer and she has joined us here today as well and we're honored to be with you know this is a moment reflecting on history but it's also a moment that I think impacts all of us personally indirectly and so with a little indulgence I'll share a story just from my family when the movie hidden figures came out I took my family to see it I've got two little girls I brought both my girls brought my wife and I brought my mom and we all sat in the theater together and watched him my girls are eight and 11 after the movie Heidi and I sat down with our girls as we were putting him to bed that night we're just talking - what do you think of the movie what'd you think about what you saw and it was interesting that movie was the first time they had seen a movie that shows segregation and they were confused they were like what why would people do that and we had probably an hour-long conversation that evening about this nation's challenging and troubled history on race and and and in many ways it was pure and wonderful to see an eight-year-old an eleven-year-old so flabbergasted at what an idiotic and evil idea but we also talked about women in the workplace and the movie begins talking about computing the orbits of Sputnik when Sputnik was launched it began orbiting the earth well my mom my mom graduated from Rice University in 1956 with a math degree and she got hired by the Smithsonian to help compute the orbits of Sputnik and so I was asking my mom at the time my mom's 84 and I said alright mom what how accurate was that something I just asked the families this morning what how how good a job did the movie do capturing what it was like to be a woman in a very difficult workplace in the 1960s or the 1950s and my mom's comment she said you know I thought it was actually remarkably accurate no it's Hollywood it's a movie but it captured the essence of it which which if I may take some liberties is largely what what the family's what dr. Darden said and I commented at the time I said you know it's a strange thing to today's ear to hear the women mathematicians referred to as computers said you know we all think of a computer as a hunk of metal on our desk and my mother laughed her very first job before but being at the Smithsonian she worked at Shell and she said you know you know what my first job title was computer so to the families who are here all of us we are quite literally the children of computers you know a street sign is a piece of metal that's under the winds the Sun the rain the snow but a street signs a lot more than that because for years and then decades and then centuries when little girls and little boys come to see NASA they're going to look up and see that sign and they're gonna say hidden figures what what's that what does that mean and that in turn is gonna prompt a story a story about the unlimited human potential of all of us a story about women who helped take mankind to the moon who helped conquer the greatest challenges of an era and your story and your mom's story and your grandmother's story and your mom's story are going to inspire generations after generations of kids and in particular little girls little girls who may be told at school you can't do something this sign is a powerful testament that anybody who is telling a little girl or a little boy you can't do something is not telling you the truth this is a monument that you can do anything so I was inspired by the movie I was even more inspired by the stories behind the movie and so I introduced legislation to rename this street I joined with Senator John Thune I joined with Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in moving the legislation and then let me say DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson took up the lead and the Senate and the DC Council worked hand in hand to get this done Phil saw this as a challenge that needed to happen he jumped on it immediately said we're gonna make this happen Phil let me thank you and all of the council for your strong leadership making today a reality and with that I'm very glad to recognize that Phil Mendelson I need the Hat for the Sun but I don't need it up here good morning and thank you senator thank you for those kind remarks and administrator Britton Steen the author Margo said early who's going to speak after me and dr. Darden and all of the family and guests again good morning and thank you for being here my remarks are going to be slightly different because I am the chair of the Council of the District of Columbia so I bring more of a local perspective to this we see that the names of streets are often an opportunity to be able to celebrate something in our history or to recognize something that's important in our history and that's true today this is also an opportunity as a senator noted where the federal government and the local government have worked together on this issue as the senator noted there were a number of Senators who introduced the legislation to do this it was important to do this but this is a local matter and so we took this up and we work together and that's exactly the way the government's the federal government and the local government should work and that's important it's also though recognizing that the District of Columbia is not just the nation's capital it's not a federal city it is actually a local city with over 700 residents over 700 residents and growing and doing quite well and being able to manage its affairs and that the folks like the hidden figures and the many other people who work for the district government for the federal government are part of our community and so when they're doing something that's important to the country and to the federal government it's also a part of our city and that's an important theme today as well and then the senator touched on this and I just wanted to touch on this as well history is important as we all know and it's history history is important for the primary reason that it is teaches us a lesson or many different lessons and part of this is not just the importance of the hidden figures to human computers and what they did to help us in our countries mission to get to the moon but it's also the history here as well is about the history of race in this country and racism in this country and I think one of the reasons why the story in the movie was so impactful is because it's not just an interesting story and it's not just the story of individuals but it's also a story of and acknowledges the racism that's been in our country and how we still struggle to deal with that and to overcome that to recognize it to be able to talk about it senator and to continue to look at the challenge of how we overcome that so there are these many different themes today I'm really honored to have worked with you senator and with the Congress and for us to get this done so that we're here today and so that we will have this lasting symbol thank you so much I believe I also have the responsibility of introducing the next speaker Margo Chatterley who is the author I'm not very good at long introductions so that is my introductory LeAnn honored to be here with you and I look forward to hearing what you have to say good morning everyone Thank You chairman Mendelson for that introduction to the family members of the women being honored dr. Darden to all of our distinguished guests to NASA leadership employees and alumni the public it is a privilege to be here today and I just want to say that my dad had spent his entire career working as an atmospheric research scientist at NASA Langley and today is his birthday he is not here today celebrating with my mom but I think if this is a really a magnificent birthday present to someone who had really an intimate connection and was there at the beginning of this story history is often seen as an outcome and we see it often as a fixed end point to proscribed 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 of course in just over a month we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of that landmark event 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 the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics became NASA it's about how airplanes paved the way for spaceships and it's about how human computers these female mathematicians were doing the heavy lifting in aeronautical research and many many other fields long before those chunks of electronic circuitry became the defining feature of our modern life and work paedon figures is also about how the 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 a 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 Mavis Street hidden figures way served to 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 but let it 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 great grab an end all right here well we're gonna stick around for a few minutes for a photo op here but I just wanna number one thank everybody for being here I also have another important task and that is to maybe shed a little visionary kind of just give a little vision about where we're going in the future here at NASA it is absolutely true the hidden figures did everything that was necessary and appropriate to get us to the moon back in the 1960s it is also true that in the 1960s we've got a we got a cherry picker over here making a lot of noise I'm wondering if we get asked oh they're actually going to unveil it right now fantastic he's allowed to make all the noise he wants all right so back to back to where we're going 1969 we landed on the moon for the first time in those days the astronaut corps consisted of test pilots and and fighter pilots and that was it and there were no opportunities for women and no opportunities for minorities and here we are 50 years after Apollo and we're going back to the moon this time sustainably in other words this time when we go to the moon we're going to stay and we're doing it under another name it just so happens that Apollo which of course was the name of the program that got us to the moon in the 1960s Apollo had a twin sister in Greek mythology his twin sister her name was Artemis and it just so happens that Artemis the twin sister of Apollo is the goddess of the moon and here we are 50 years after Apollo going back to the moon sustainably under a program named Artemis and when we think about Artemis we have today a very diverse highly qualified astronaut corps and when we go to the moon this time we are going to go not only with the next man but we are going to go with the first woman the legacy of course we are living out the legacy of Apollo but this generation our generation we are the Artemis generation it is up to us to go back to the moon this time sustainably take what we learn learn how to live and work on another world namely the moon and then go on to Mars and that's what this generation is all about with a very diverse highly qualified astronaut corps where all of us can see ourselves as having these opportunities the senator mentioned his daughters I have a daughter myself Sara she's 11 years old and I think it's important that she sees herself as having every opportunity that I saw myself having growing up that's why the Artemis program is so important it's why the Artemis generation is so important and this time when we go we're going with all of America thank you all so much for being here and let's take some pictures

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