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Hidden Figures Summary, Characters and Themes

“Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly is a nonfiction book that brings to light the incredible contributions of African American women mathematicians at NASA during the Space Race era. 

It focuses specifically on Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, whose intellectual brilliance was pivotal to major successes like launching John Glenn into orbit. The book highlights their struggle against racial and gender barriers, celebrating their perseverance and the undeniable impact they made on American history .

In the racially segregated America of the 1940s, a group of brilliant African American women mathematicians made history at NASA’s Langley Aeronautical Laboratory. While facing both racial and gender discrimination, these women defied societal constraints to become an indispensable force behind America’s early space exploration triumphs.

Dorothy Vaughan, a natural leader , arrived at Langley in 1943. Heading the all-Black West Area Computing unit, she masterfully matched her “computers” with the assignments they were best equipped for. Her determined spirit later earned her a promotion to supervisor. 

As technology evolved, the West Area unit was eventually disbanded, the women integrating into various engineering teams and some jobs taken over by electronic computers.

Mary Jackson, with a confident and outspoken nature, joined Dorothy’s team in 1951. Her love of hands-on work led her to wind-tunnel research. 

Driven by an engineer’s encouragement, she bravely petitioned the City of Hampton to attend classes at an all-white high school, earning her engineering degree and paving a new path for herself.

Katherine Johnson, possessing an extraordinary mind and exceptional math skills, joined West Area Computing in 1953. Her unique ability to filter out societal prejudices allowed her to work as an equal among white male engineers. 

Her expertise earned the trust of the Flight Research team, her talent so vital that John Glenn himself requested her to double-check the electronic computers’ calculations for his historic space flight.

As society slowly progressed, Mary and Katherine actively mentored and encouraged the next generation of Black scientists and engineers at Langley. 

Christine Mann, a friend of Katherine’s daughter, became one such beneficiary. By 1969, the year America landed on the Moon, deep-rooted prejudice still lingered. 

However, a new generation embodied by Christine followed in the trailblazing footsteps of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson, ensuring their legacy would shape NASA’s future.

Dorothy Vaughan  

Dorothy embodies a spirit of both quiet leadership and determined advocacy. A pragmatist by nature, she excels at understanding the system and working within its confines to maximize the potential of her team. Her keen eye for talent allows her to match each of her “computers” perfectly to their assigned projects. 

As a supervisor, Dorothy isn’t afraid to speak out for the advancement of herself and the women she manages. 

Her insight into the rise of electronic computers leads her to proactively prepare her team, ensuring they not only survive the technological shift but thrive within it. Dorothy’s actions serve as a testament to her strength as a manager and as a mentor, championing progress even within a system built against her.

Mary Jackson

Mary stands out with her fiery personality and outspokenness. She possesses a strong sense of justice and a willingness to confront inequalities head-on. Her passion for engineering shines through her hands-on work ethic and eagerness to embrace challenges within the wind tunnel. 

While societal constraints constantly chip away at her, she refuses to compromise her dreams. Her bold decision to petition for access to education , even within a racially segregated system, speaks to her resilience and unwavering drive for progress. 

Mary embodies a force of change, paving the way for those who follow with her courage and determination.

Katherine Johnson

Katherine’s genius is undeniable, yet paired with a disarming humility. She doesn’t directly confront racial barriers but possesses a unique ability to mentally filter them out, allowing her to navigate a world designed to suppress her brilliance. 

The white male engineers readily recognize her exceptional mathematical abilities, and she gains their trust through her undeniable talent. Her expertise isn’t merely computational – she possesses a deep analytical mind, capable of interpreting complex data in a way machines cannot. 

Her calm demeanor in the face of immense pressure, symbolized by John Glenn’s absolute faith in her calculations, showcases her strength of mind and the sheer weight of her contributions.

Overcoming the Barriers of Race and Gender

“Hidden Figures” powerfully highlights the relentless struggle black women faced in the scientific world, confronting deeply ingrained racism and sexism within a society structured against them. The protagonists navigate a workplace where bathrooms, cafeterias, and even workspaces are segregated. 

They encounter blatant disrespect and skepticism from colleagues, while promotions or access to specialized training can feel unattainable. Despite these obstacles, their brilliance and tenacity shine through. 

They strategically utilize the limited opportunities available to them, finding ways to excel and make their contributions undeniable. Shetterly’s work emphasizes that the fight for civil rights and the strive for gender equality were, and often still are, inextricably linked for black women.

The Power of Perseverance and Resilience

The narrative of “Hidden Figures” is one of relentless determination against all odds. Dorothy, Katherine, Mary, and countless other women fought not only for their own advancement but also to pave the way for future generations. 

They endured microaggressions and unfair treatment with steadfastness, refusing to let prejudice define them. For example, Mary Jackson braved the hostile environment of an all-white school to pursue her engineering ambitions. The women supported each other, fostering a sense of community while navigating a harsh environment. 

Their resilience becomes a testament to the human spirit, their refusal to give up inspiring future generations.

The Hidden Cost of Segregation on Progress

Shetterly expertly demonstrates how systemic racism and discrimination ultimately harm everyone, not just the targeted groups. 

By segregating its workforce, NASA effectively wasted valuable talent and hindered its own progress. Dorothy Vaughan’s difficulty obtaining a well-deserved promotion due to her race is a stark example. These institutional limitations held back brilliant mathematicians, engineers, and scientists. 

Moreover, the book reveals how social constructs and prejudices blinded many to contributions that were vital to projects like launching John Glenn into orbit. The brilliance of these women was denied recognition, not due to a lack of ability, but purely due to the color of their skin. 

“Hidden Figures” thus challenges the reader to consider how much innovation and progress has been sacrificed throughout history in the name of unjust social structures.

67 pages • 2 hours read

Hidden Figures

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 3

Chapters 4-7

Chapters 8-13

Chapters 14-19

Chapter 20-Epilogue

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race is a 2016 nonfiction book by Margot Lee Shetterly. Shetterly grew up in Hampton, Virginia, where her father worked at Langley Research Center, on which the book is centered. Thus, she knew firsthand both the story and many of the people involved. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the business school at the University of Virginia. The book won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and Shetterly won the 2017 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Nonfiction. Hidden Figures was made into a film, which also came out in 2016.

The story focuses on four African American women as examples of the many such women who worked at Langley. The title is a play on the meaning of the word “figures” in the sense of both people and numbers. Each was largely hidden from the public view: Most people think of white male astronauts when they think of NASA , and the countless mathematical calculations that lie behind the agency’s accomplishments are known only to specialists. Shetterly’s goal is to make known the stories of women like those she was acquainted with growing up.

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With a mandate to desegregate the federal workforce for the war effort during World War II, more opportunities became available for African Americans. Likewise, because so many Black and white men were away fighting the war, women had greater access to employment than ever before. Dorothy Vaughan was the first of the main characters hired as a mathematician by Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (later Langley Research Center). She was one of the female African American “computers” (as they then called people who did calculations) who made up the West Computing area. She eventually rose to become head of the area for nearly a decade before it was closed.

Mary Jackson began working for Dorothy in 1951. After a couple of years, Mary joined an engineering group and would go on to become an engineer. Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson joined West Computing two years after Mary, but soon joined the Flight Research Division, leading to a distinguished career that directly contributed to the space program in the 1960s. The flight trajectories she calculated were used for Project Mercury and the Moon landings of 1969 and subsequent years. Finally, Christine Darden was hired by NASA in 1967, worked in sonic boom research, and went on to earn her PhD. Each found success by persevering in the face of direct and indirect discrimination based on both their race and gender.

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In addition to the careers of the four women profiled, Shetterly tells of their personal lives—the struggles they endured on the road to success, their community involvement, and the times in which they lived. The last becomes a thread in the book, as Shetterly weaves her tale of NASA with one outlining the development of the civil rights movement. By comparing their respective trajectories in 20th-century history, she shows how the latter influenced the former and their narratives merged into one.

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Hidden Figures

Margot lee shetterly.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Hidden Figures: Introduction

Hidden figures: plot summary, hidden figures: detailed summary & analysis, hidden figures: themes, hidden figures: quotes, hidden figures: characters, hidden figures: symbols, hidden figures: theme wheel, brief biography of margot lee shetterly.

Historical Context of Hidden Figures

Other books related to hidden figures.

• Full Title: Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race
• When Written: 2010-2014
• Where Written: Mexico and Virginia
• When Published: 2014
• Literary Period: Contemporary
• Genre: Non-fiction, 20th century American history
• Setting: Hampton, VA

Extra Credit for Hidden Figures

All in the Family. Margot Lee Shetterly was raised near the Langley Research Center, where her father worked for forty years, ultimately becoming an internationally renowned climate scientist. One of the women featured in the book, Mary Jackson, was once Shetterly’s father’s employees.

And the Oscar Goes To… Hidden Figures was made into a film the same year it was published. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards.

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Hidden Figures

By margot lee shetterly.

• Hidden Figures Summary

Hidden Figures begins with the following author's note from Shetterly:

"Negro." "Colored." "Indian." "Girls." Though some readers might find the language of Hidden Figures discordant to their modern ears, I've made every attempt to remain true to the time period, and to the voices of the individuals represented in this story.

This guide follows Shetterly's example, using the terms that Shetterly includes where she includes them.

Hidden Figures opens with a prologue in which the author, Margot Lee Shetterly , outlines her research into the women—particularly black women—who worked as “human computers” at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, from the 1940s on. Shetterly knows many of these women and their families personally, and as she digs deeper into their stories, she discovers that there are hundreds upon hundreds of them, largely forgotten by history.

Black women were first hired at Langley during the height of WWII, when the NACA personnel manager at the time, Melvin Butler , faced enormous pressure to keep Langley properly staffed during wartime. Langley creates the “West Computers,” named for their segregated space in the West Area, and hires (among other mathematicians) Dorothy Vaughan. Vaughan is a hardworking, frugal, brilliant high school mathematics teacher, mother of four (and later more), who applies to the job at Langley after seeing Butler’s multiple flyers for the position.

When Vaughan arrives at Langley, overcrowding and Jim Crow laws have tensions running high, as the American Negro is conflicted in their search for the “double V” (victory abroad, over the Axis powers, and victory at home, over racism and inequality). Restaurants that won’t serve Dorothy Vaughan will happily serve Germans from the POW camp in the area. At Langley, attitudes toward the computers range from friendliness to hostility, with most engineers ambivalent—as long as computers can do math, they’re useful, white or black. One of Vaughan’s fellow West Computers, Miriam Mann , steals the “COLORED COMPUTERS” sign from their segregated cafeteria table, a small act of protest until Langley stops replacing the sign.

The computers do long, complex equations by hand, supporting engineers who are trying to improve aircraft. Vaughan works at the NACA for seven months before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and when WWII ends, she keeps her job at Langley, unlike many women across America. Research becomes more experimental after wartime pressures lift, and in 1947, an American aircraft breaks the sound barrier. As research becomes more specialized, it makes sense for computers to specialize as well, joining engineering teams so their math is more accurate for specific experiments. The white supervisor of West Computing, Blanche Sponsler , leaves Langley for health reasons; in her absence, Vaughan steps up as supervisor, the first black supervisor at the NACA, though it takes the NACA two years to make the title official.

Mary Jackson joins West Computing in 1951. She’s 26 years old, with degrees in math and physical science, and she’s passionately involved in the Hampton community (especially Girl Scouts). There’s a nationwide fear of spies and communism, as the tension between the United States and the USSR rises. The USSR uses America’s racist domestic policies as leverage to gain allies in non-white nations, so President Truman desegregates the military and tries to instate some anti-workplace-discrimination practices. After two years at West Computing, Jackson is sent by Vaughan to work on a specific engineering project, where she encounters racism from some East Computers. She complains to Kazimierz “Kaz” Czarnecki , an engineer who offers to let her work for him instead. With Czarnecki’s support, and after petitioning the City of Hampton to let her take classes at a white school, Jackson becomes the first black female engineer at the NACA.

Katherine Johnson joins West Computing in 1953 (at the time she was known as Katherine Goble, having taken the last name of her first husband, who dies of an inoperable tumor in 1956, but she’s most famous as Johnson, so this summary will refer to her as such). Johnson is at Langley two weeks before Vaughan assigns her to a project for the Flight Research Division, where she stays; Vaughan talks to Johnson’s boss, Henry Pearson , to make the position official and get Johnson a raise. Vaughan also predicts the rise of non-human computers, and she encourages other women to take programming courses.

In 1957, as the USSR launches Sputnik and there are protests over desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas, Christine Mann (later Christine Darden) is a high school student, mathematically inclined and politically engaged. The next year, under enormous pressure to beat the USSR into space, the NACA dissolves West Computing, then is reorganized, becoming NASA. When West Computing is dissolved, Vaughan loses her position as supervisor and is “one of the girls” again. Johnson gets remarried, and she excels with the Flight Research Division. In 1960 she authors a paper on azimuth angles—one of few women to be recognized as authoring a report.

The 60s see NASA’s rise on a national and global stage, as work at Langley is thrown into the spotlight. Vaughan reinvents herself as a programmer, taking engineers’ problems to machine computers instead of her old West Computing pool. In 1962, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, using calculations Johnson checks by hand. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech. Christine Darden joins Langley in 1967, Dr. King is assassinated in 1968, and Neil Armstrong touches down on the Moon in 1969. America wins the race to the Moon, but the civil rights movement feels like it’s at a standstill. Johnson, Vaughan, Jackson, Darden, and the thousands of black folks who helped make the Moon Landing possible watch the televised broadcast of white men, alongside 600 million others worldwide. Johnson feels hopeful, though, as the moon landing confirms her belief in progress: Once you take the first step, anything is possible.

The epilogue of Hidden Figures recounts the protagonists’ remaining tenure at Langley. Jackson pivots to become Langley’s Federal Women’s Program Manager, helping other women get the jobs and promotions they deserve. Johnson is the most famous of any NASA computer, black or white. Darden gets a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, though she feels she missed the height of the Langley space-race activity. Vaughan retires in 1971, and though her name doesn’t appear on any report, she contributed to countless numbers of them—and her greatest legacy is still at work, in the young women like Darden still in the office at Langley.

Hidden Figures Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Hidden Figures is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What is the area rule?

I think this has something to do with professional blacks not having the same areas as whites. Not knowing her way around the East Area, Mary asks the white women she is working with for directions to the bathroom. She is humiliated by their...

How are societal norms changed economic need

All of the women featured in Hidden Figures serve as examples of the power of hard work. This theme is explored in their professional achievements as well as their personal lives, where their reliability and engagement boosts their community. On...

Mobilization

They analyzed data and performed mathematical calculations for the research taking place at NACA.

Study Guide for Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures study guide contains a biography of Margot Lee Shetterly, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Hidden Figures
• Character List

Lesson Plan for Hidden Figures

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Hidden Figures
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Hidden Figures Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Hidden Figures

• Introduction