Two-time Emmy nominee for her role as Cookie from “Empire” Taraji P. Henson, Oscar winner for “The Help” Octavia Spencer and Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Janelle Monae are far from unknown, but their characters Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson, respectively, were virtually unheard of. That is, until the production of this year’s Oscar-nominated “Hidden Figures.”
The accomplishments of women, especially black women, are too often overlooked. We are taught the names of white men like Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth. We are even taught the name of Yuri Gargain, the first man in space, but also a Russian during the Cold War era. But we are rarely taught the names of the people who got them there, and we are almost never taught the names of the women who got them there.
So when a movie like “Hidden Figures” showcases Katherine G. Johnson over John Glenn, it really matters. We know John Glenn’s story. It has been told over and over in history books, films and in popular culture. But no one teaches us about Katherine G. Johnson. Teachers and textbooks just do not seem to care, but “Hidden Figures” has come along and suddenly someone does.
The subject matter of “Hidden Figures” may mean that if you are white, you might not care about “Hidden Figures” the same way a woman of color might. You might have brushed it off as just another space movie. You may have wanted to see it for the Hollywood stars like Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons or Kirsten Dunst. But for a person of color – especially for a woman of color – “Hidden Figures” is painfully significant. Oscar nominated for Best Picture and a commercial and critical success, it really, really matters. So often the triumphs of women and of people of color go ignored, and when gender and race overlap, it is easy to feel invisible.
So do not let “Hidden Figures” be forgotten. Show this in your classroom, to your children, to your siblings, nieces and nephews. Show this to your proverbial racist uncle. You remember John Glenn’s name, now refuse to forget the names of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson.