02978cam a2200493 i 4500 282855351 TxAuBib 20170119120000.0 151009s2016||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 9780062466440 0062466445 TxAuBib rda Lee Shetterly, Margot,. Hidden Figures : The American Dream and the untold story of the black women mathematicians who helped win the Space Race, (LP), pbk. / Margot Lee Shetterly. First Harper Luxe edition. New York, NY : Harper Luxe, [2016] xxiv, 543 pages (large print) ; 23 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Includes bibliographical references (pages [525]-543). "Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South's segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America's aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam's call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Even as Virginia's Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley's all-black "West Computing" group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens." -- From Amazon. 20170119. Math - women. United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration Officials and employees Biography. United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Women mathematicians United States Biography. African American women Biography. African American mathematicians Biography. Space race. Large type books. Large type books. African American mathematicians. African American women. Employees. Space race. Women mathematicians. Mathematics. Mathematicians. United States. Biographies. Biographies. Biography.