ipl-logo

Analysis Of Hidden Figures By Margot Lee Shetterly

443 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Minorities in the 50s

The 2016 film, Hidden Figures, is based of the book by the same title written by Margot Lee Shetterly. It is the story of the three women working as “human-computers” for NASA during the 1950s (Meyers, 2016). These women were part of a huge force of women, scientists, and mathematicians that “launched” the American space program into the lead of the great space race. There are many good articles covering the math mentioned in the movie and the problems with human obstinance during the time period, including “Hidden Figures and the Appeal of Math in an Age of Inequality” and “Exploring the Math in ‘Hidden Figures’”. The first article that I looked at was ‘Hidden Figures and the Appeal of Math in an Age of Inequality”. From this article I got two good points: math is …show more content…

Before I dive into explaining these ideas in the article, I would like to provide an example. Take into consideration movies. When you think of a movie, the first people you will think of are the actors and possibly the directors. So who gets the credit for the movie? The actors and directors. Rarely ever are the post-production editors, foley artists, mic holders, scene designers, or composers credited with making an exceptional movie. Now take this same concept and apply it to the race to get men into space. That is what this article is about. Too often do we give full credit to the astronaut. John Glenn was a hero, he orbited the earth seven times! But would he have been able to do that on his own without a team of scientists, mathematicians, and other “human computers”? The answer is a plain and simple no. At the time, NASA was at a standstill in its attempts to get a man into space. They had many black women

Show More
Related
350 Words | 2 Pages

Katherine Johnson was a strong African-American woman who isn’t often talked about. Only within the last two years at the age of 98, does she start getting recognition. A movie was released about her and the women working in the NACA´s branch in 2016. She is the woman who discovered the math that hadn’t yet been created, for launch and landing in the space race. Katherine made these amazing discoveries whilst dealing with constant segregation and oppression for being an African-American Woman.

Read More
599 Words | 3 Pages

Within this address President Reagan uses his unspoken credibility to show his empathy for those involved in the Challenger Disaster. Throughout the address he uses pathos to connect with those grieving the loss of such brave pioneers. President Reagan uses this opportunity to give hope to the nation that the expansion of space exploration has not come to a halt.

Read More
577 Words | 3 Pages

The 35th president of the United States, John F Kennedy, gave his “Race to Space” speech at Rice University In Houston, Texas under great pressure to “catch up” to the Soviets and their space program. He delivered this speech to challenge America to take a leading position in the Space Race and to encourage them in their studies to make it possible. To start, President Kennedy’s “Race to Space” speech calls upon the country to preempt the exploration of space using pathos, irony, and metaphor. Kennedy uses pathos throughout his speech but most notably when he states, “than those of the Soviet Union”. At the time this speech was given, the United States and the Soviet Union had extreme tension coming out of the cold war and entering the space

Read More
815 Words | 4 Pages

Who was behind the math at NASA when sending the first person to the moon? Many men were doing the math, but few women were too. The book, Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, is about four African American women who helped NASA with the math for sending the first people into space. The women didn’t go right into NASA, they started out small, teaching at schools. Getting jobs at NASA was hard since they were African American women.

Read More
736 Words | 3 Pages

We as Americans will always respect them, and never forget them. Lastly, President Reagan portrays the astronauts as heroes and explorers by portraying them as adventure seekers in the name of discovery. This causes the audience to believe that although they died, they would still live through advances in the space program. “And perhaps we’ve forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger Seven, we aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly.” By saying that, Reagan led many Americans to believe that this was indeed a very hard and scary job.

Read More
970 Words | 4 Pages

Earlier in the day, on the 28th of January, 1986, the Challenger space shuttle had been launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. This particular shuttle launch especially mattered to the American people, as one of the members aboard was an elementary school teacher, who was to be the first ever teacher in space. Millions of Americans tuned in to watch the launch, including millions of children, watching from their schools. The speech Reagan delivered was intended for the entirety of America, as so many people, of all ages, had witnessed the devastating event. Reagan’s words comforted and inspired America, and restored faith in NASA and the space

Read More
1002 Words | 5 Pages

On January 28th, 1986, Ronald Reagan, the president of the United States at the time, in his speech, entitled “Challenger Disaster,” addressed the Challenger Disaster. He supported this claim by first mourning over the tragedy, then he promoted NASA, also he tried to make sense of this calamity, and finally he informed the audience that the seven astronauts will never be forgotten and as a country we will be forever thankful for their service. Through Reagan’s use of tone, rhetorical analysis, and rhetorical tools he effectively persuaded America to mourn and appreciate the lives of the seven astronauts loss and to convince American people to continue their support for NASA and move forward as a country. Reagan unified America with his supportive

Read More
922 Words | 4 Pages

(Dennis 714) By giving the members of the space shuttle crew a recognition as “pioneers”, the speech was poised for a smooth transition from its nature as sincere eulogy into a rhetorical work with a deliberative occasion. As soon as audience received a message implying that Challenger was a beginning instead of an end and how discovery has its risk, Ronald Reagan was in a good position to elaborate his objectives on the space program. Surely, the transition between the bad news and the new hope is one of the greatest features of the speech.

Read More
683 Words | 3 Pages

In his article, Nicholas Carr first sets the stage by describing how the movie A Space Odyssey began and how the actor Bowman, who had nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is

Read More
1121 Words | 5 Pages

Seven of the pilots given the opportunity are chosen, and they eventually become remarked as renowned heroes. Their success causes the space program to take off and expand. Due to this, military pilots who looked down on the seven now are interested in

Read More
1150 Words | 5 Pages

He begins speaking about the disastrous occasion that was Apollo 1. Three astronauts were killed as a result of a cabin fire in 1967, but NASA has never experienced a calamity like this before. He mourns their loss, but also raises up their names in praise. “Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we’ve never lost an astronaut in flight; we’ve never had a tragedy like this.

Read More
487 Words | 2 Pages

Three weeks before the launch, Jim Lovell was in his son’s room explaining what happened between the three astronauts and the fire. Jim’s son looked up to him and admired him. When explaining to his son the lost, Lovell was very genuine. He showed great self-confidence in his up and coming mission, joking with his son that he would land better than Neil Armstrong. Lovell didn’t want to worry his son, or scare him for the launch approaching.

Read More
335 Words | 2 Pages

In “Hidden Figures”, emergent American director Ted Melfi is so motivated to compensate the three forgotten African-American female mathematicians who played major roles in NASA missions, that he almost mismanages. Melfi had shown directorial potentialities in 2014 when he released “St. Vincent”, a comedy-drama starring Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, and Naomi Watts. Still, the film ended up taking a vulnerable sentimental path in its development. Although based on a true story, “Hidden Figures”, which clearly suffers from comparable issues, renounces to the realism of the facts to become a polished crowd-pleaser.

Read More
272 Words | 2 Pages

Reagan applies oratorical devices and figurative language to explain to the nation the passion and bravery the seven astronauts have. He uses parallel structure and listing to imply the passion and bravery the Challenger crew have. “But, we never lost an astronaut in flight, we’ve never had a tragedy like this” (2). The parallel structure creates a cause and effect to the tragedy. Its shocking devastation, however, it shows the nation how the future is creating new things.

Read More
892 Words | 4 Pages

Brett Childers Dr. Robert Birdwell ENG-101-F06 English Composition 1 March 18, 2018 Stereotype of Race in the Workplace Tensions are running high at NASA following the successful launch of Sputnik, and the United States is racing to launch the first man into space before the Soviet Union. All the while three black women by the names of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson are straining for proper recognition of their talents. These women had to fight against workplace racism and segregation during the climax of the Space Race, and ultimately they contributed their talents to launching difficult and high-risk missions. They not only had to strain to exceed race and gender barriers, but also to become mathematicians and engineers in a field that was commonly a man’s field of work.

Read More

More about Analysis Of Hidden Figures By Margot Lee Shetterly

Related Topics

Open Document