Makayla Boone

Mrs Jenkins

EBA Honors English 10

24 Mar 2021

The Untold Story of the Four Women Who Helped Launch us Into Space

If you made a great impact on the United States would you want

your story to be shared? Would you want to encourage and inspire others

to follow their dreams even if it may include some challenges? In

Margot Lee Shetterly’s book Hidden Figures, she tells the story of four

brave African-American women who had to undergo hardships in a new

unfamiliar environment, while being scolded for things they couldn’t

change about them. As I read this book my English class talked and

learned about several different skills used when writing a nonfiction

book, specifically books based around business and leadership.

The first skill we talked about was characterization and how the

author portrayed their persona. In the beginning of the book, Shetterly

characterized the four people (Dorothy Vaughn, Mary Jackson, Kathrine

Johnson, and Christine Darden) as adaptable and hardworking. In the

beginning it explains that “each of them found their way to Langley

Laboratory, where they met one another, and other women like them:

smart, brave, confident and good at math”(8). This wasn’t gonna be an

easy ride, they were going into an unfamiliar environment where they

would be judged and ridiculed by callous people simply for the color of

their skin, but that didn't stop them from achieving their goals. They had

to prove they were just as capable as the non-colored people. Female

mathematicians had been working at Langley since 1935, “and it didn't

take long for women to prove they were just as good or even better at

computing than many of the male engineers” (13). But not only were

these four women fighting racism at Langley, they were also fighting

sexism. Most women at Langley were underestimated and were referred

to as “sub professionals” instead of mathematicians so they would have

to get paid less. Even though they had undergone all of these obstacles,

they still managed to succeed.

The following skill we learned was an acronym called SOAPS

(Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Speaker). Each of the words

provide different aspects that help put a non-fiction story together.

Starting with the subject, “...for women like Dorothy Vaughn, Mary

Jackson, Kathrine Johnson, and Christine Darden, World War II opened

the door to a career as a professional mathematician”(8). During the

1930’s many African-American women were being offered a job at

Langley Laboratory, to which most accepted. Knowing they weren’t

going into an easy job, most of these women prepared for almost

anything, being that they had to deal with segregation, racism, and

sexism. The occasion would be that Lee Shatterly grew up around many

mathematicians and people who worked in the NASA field. Knowing

these four women's stories and being able to somewhat relate really

sparked something in her and encouraged her to share their story. Next,

the audience was intended to be towards younger girls (specifically

those of color) because she wanted them to know that women who

looked like them made a huge impact on the United States. The purpose

was simply because Shetterly greatly felt a relation to these women. She

knew that “the contributions made by these African American women

have never heralded, but they deserve to be remembered - and not as a

side note in someone else’s account, but as the center of their story”(2).

She wanted people to know their story, hopefully inspiring them to do

something just as great. Lastly, the speaker throughout the book appears

to stay the same. Shetterly narrates Dorothy’s, Kathirne’s, Mary’s, and

Chrisine’s lives individually and shows how they all connected and

affected each other.

The next skill we learned was rhetorical appeal. Rhetorical appeals

consist of ethos, pathos, and logos, all of which help the author persuade

the audience. Shetterly uses pathos to try and show the readers what

these African-American women had to deal with. I would definitely

consider them brave because “walking into an unfamiliar environment

wasn't easy for the woman of the new West Area Computing Office...

(16). Even though these women were entering in anonymity, they were

still going to be recognized by one thing, their color. Having to go work

a job where you are trying to prove a point while also being

discriminated against couldn't have been easy. Logos were constantly

used throughout the book in percentages to show just how many people
of color worked at places, went to college, how likely they were to

succeed.

Then, we learned about diction and syntax. Diction refers to the

author’s choice of words. As I was reading she mentioned that when

Mary Jackson was finally able to attend a white school to get her degree

she was surprised, simply because she thought the white school was

going to be so much better, but in fact, it wasn’t. It was just as beat up,

broken, and smelly as hers. The author then goes on to say that

“throughout the South cities had maintained two separate and inefficient

school systems, which short changed both black and white students”

(118). Given the author's word choice, she seemed disappointed and

astonished. She stated that the cities could have combined their funds to

make one large school where all colors could attend instead of making

inadequate buildings where white and black people would learn

separately in apprehensive environments. Syntax refers to word order

and sentence structure. The way the author says “being on the leading

edge of the battle over integration was not for the faint of heart” really
gets to reader thinking (119). Mary Jackson was achieving something

great even though she was going through many hardships.

Lastly, we have leadership styles. Shetterly displays a charismatic

leadership role for all four women throughout the book. All four had to

undergo segregation while working at Langley, but they encouraged one

another and their peers to be strong. Since “Dorothy had worked hard to

support the careers of women like Kathrine Goble and Mary Jackson,

and give West Computing a reputation for doing work that was as good

as that of their white colleagues” she proved herself to be selfless (138).

She worked hard to prove that all her erudite co-workers deserved to be

at Langley and earned their spot there.

In conclusion, all of these skills were used to help put together an

amazing book. Margot Lee Shetterly was able to tell a touching story in

such a fascinating way that allowed the reader to really understand what

they went through and how they managed to overcome everything.

Dorothy Vaughn, Mary Jackson, Kathrine Johnson, and Christine

Darden all made history in the United States and their story is more than

worthy of being shared.

 Work Cited

Shetterly, Margot Lee. Hidden Figures. William Morrow and

Company , 2016.