Katherine Johnson (1) (1918–2020)

You’re no better than anybody else, but nobody’s better than you. Katherine Johnson repeats her father Joshua Coleman’s words as a mantra throughout this excellent book. She sets her personal story in context with details about the cultural and political history of Jim Crow and the civil rights era, discussing how encounters with people who had control over her future often hinged on race. Her story is one of talent, hard work, patience, and determination. Her successes often came by being stubbornly competent and refusing to be discouraged until the people around her grudgingly recognized that they needed her skill. For example, she was brought into the Flight Research Division of NACA to analyze data from one flight test, and was expected to be returned to the computing pool afterwards, but, she writes: “Somehow the engineers ‘forgot’ to return me. Instead they just handed me the next set of calculations—and then the next. Then the next. Then the next. That’s when I realized that they needed me, Colored or a woman or not. And suddenly I found myself a research mathmetician!”… (more)

I first learned about Katherine Johnson in the movie and book "Hidden Figures". I've had this book on my TBR list and finally got to its place on the list. I learned quite a bit about sections of history that I didn't know before (NACA/NASA and the space race; the Civil Rights movement, etc.)

I admire that there were people (men and women) who could do these computations by hand (prior to mechanical computers--I say that because I remember in "Hidden Figures" being confused when they called people computers because today that term is used more for machines). Numbers and math are not my forte so it's amazing to me that people can do that. I never thought much about the math that would be needed to get people to and from space until "Hidden Figures".

I appreciated learning more about Katherine's formative years and family as well as her education, career track, and experiences.… (more)

Autobiography of Katherine Johnson, of Hidden Figures fame. Born in 1918, she lived 101 years and truly led a remarkable life. This book tells of her early life in West Virginia, how her father ensured education for all his children, early influences in developing her gifts in mathematics, and how she ended up working in America’s space program. All this occurred in the face of widespread racial prejudice before civil rights legislation was passed. This book covers more than her life. She puts her experiences into the context of significant historical events of the 20th century. She overcame many barriers and endured multiple personal tragedies. We get a sense for her intelligence, humility, sense of humor, love for family, and perseverance. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. I found it inspirational.… (more)