This morning I saw the movie Hidden Figures with my daughter and her Girl Scout troop at a theater that had been rented to show it to a crowd of all Girl Scouts.
It was the perfect day to see it and a great bunch of girls to see it with.
I laughed. I cried. I felt shame and pride and joy.
Hidden Figures is a fantastic movie based on the even more amazing true story of three very special woman who changed a bit of the world as they made their mark on the U.S. space program (NACA which would later become NASA) in the 1960s and beyond.
Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson used their smarts to politely break down barriers, worked hard (I mean relentlessly hard, constantly, for years), and used their sharp, talented brains to the very best of their abilities.
It’s hard to imagine that less than 60 years ago women and men of different colors had to use separate bathrooms, separate drinking fountains, and were allowed such vastly different opportunities. That’s less than a single lifetime ago. It’s not some ancient fact from 300-plus years ago. People who lived that are still alive including Katherine Johnson (who is 98 as of this writing). On the other hand, some days I feel mankind should be so much further ahead in jettisoning antiquated ideas. There is still hope.
I’ve seen other movies and read books portraying the space program — The Right Stuff, Apollo 13 … It’s a fascinating time in our history. (And I hope the space program remains a part of our world for a long time.) It’s hard to image how those stories could be told without these women. I’m glad their stories are finally being shared outside the small circle of people who have known about them for decades.
These women are truly inspirational.
It can be easy to think, “I can’t.” These women didn’t let that get in the way even with other people telling them they couldn’t. Even with laws that slowed them down. Even as working mothers. They educated themselves, worked smartly, and succeeded.
It was so nice to see the movie in a room full of Girl Scouts from so many walks of life as they got to hear the story of Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary at NASA. The Girl Scout troop that organized the movie planned it well. An engineer from modern-day NASA spoke to the crowd about how she got to be an engineer there with the help of education and summer internships.
I know, even today, it is still hard for a lot of women to break into male-dominated fields.
After the movie, I dropped off my daughter and went in to work for the remainder of the afternoon. Then I ran errands — dropped off some cookie forms, stopped by the grocery store, and went to a homeowners’ association meeting. I cooked and ate dinner with my family. (I probably should have let them do more cooking, but it was just quicker this way.) And I’m finally blogging a bit. It’s been a full day. And I’m very thankful that I didn’t have to run several buildings over, a quarter of a mile away, just to use the restroom. (I think that would have done me in.)
The movie stuck with me throughout the day. And I have a feeling it will stick for quite some time.
I hope everyone had a great Martin Luther King Day.
aLightningbug 