thesis statement about katherine johnson

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• BOOK REVIEW
• 14 June 2021

Katherine Johnson’s memoir charts her bold trajectory to NASA and beyond

• Ainissa Ramirez 0

Ainissa Ramirez ( www.ainissaramirez.com ) is a materials scientist and author of The Alchemy of Us . She has written a series of forthcoming children’s picture books on Black inventors. Twitter: @ainissaramirez

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My Remarkable Journey: A Memoir Katherine Johnson, Joylette Hylick & Katherine Moore, with Lisa Frazier Page Amistad (2021)

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Nature 594 , 323-324 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01585-9

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Katherine Johnson of ‘Hidden Figures’ tells her story in a posthumous memoir | Book review

As you might expect, numbers are at the center of "My Remarkable Journey: A Memoir."

My Remarkable Journey: A Memoir

By Katherine Johnson with Joylette Hylick, Katherine Moore, and Lisa Frazier Page

Amistad. 256 pp. $25.99

Reviewed by Lisa Page

I’m not good at math. As a kid, algebra destroyed me; geometry put the nails in the coffin. I graduated from high school, grateful that my teachers passed me, for effort, not achievement. So it was with awe that I read My Remarkable Journey , Katherine Johnson’s posthumous memoir about her life as a Black female mathematician.

You may remember Johnson from the 2016 book Hidden Figures and the film based on it. I wish I’d known about the story sooner. As Johnson’s NASA mentee Yvonne Darlene Cagle writes in the foreword: “Why didn’t all little girls know, especially little girls of color? Why did I have to go through so much hurt and heartache in life when I could have looked at her and held my head high and stepped through with such poise, comportment, and grace? Why couldn’t I have had that voice that spoke, not just to the world, but to my heart, to my resolve?”

Now, we know. Hidden Figures turned Johnson into an international star when she was in her late 90s. Her story — rising from anonymity and discrimination to become a research mathematician whose precise calculations helped many vital projects, including John Glenn’s 1962 orbit of Earth — has inspired many. Johnson received a standing ovation when she appeared onstage, in a wheelchair, at the 2017 Academy Awards, surrounded by the trio of actresses — Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe — who portrayed the women at the center of Hidden Figures . Johnson may not have won an Oscar, but she broke many barriers throughout her life, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among other honors, before she died, at age 101, last year.

As you might expect, numbers are at the center of My Remarkable Journey: A Memoir. Numbers never intimidated Johnson — in fact, they thrilled her. The symmetry, the structural interplay of equations and formulas, were always in her head.

"The thing I loved about math, more than any other subject, was that there was a definite right or wrong answer," she writes. "I loved counting everything I saw, and I always pushed myself to go higher and higher."

Johnson says she got her math ability from her father, Josh Coleman, who was a generation removed from slavery and had only a 6th-grade education. "Daddy's mind was quick with numbers," she explains. "He could add, subtract, and do complicated math problems in his head. He also could look at a tree and instinctively know how many logs he could get from it."

The book was written with her daughters Joylette Hylick and Katherine Moore and completed by them after Johnson's death. The memoir offers a more personal perspective on the story first made famous by Margot Lee Shetterley's book. Johnson discusses some of the disparities between her life and what we saw on screen. Most endearingly, we hear Johnson's wonderful and often witty voice. "I've been around longer than sliced bread, which didn't become one of the century's great inventions (or at least the thing by which everything good is compared) until 1928," she writes in the opening pages. Of her meeting with President Barack Obama in 2015, she says: "so many people, especially the women, have asked me how it felt to be kissed by President Obama. All I can say is it was thrilling."

Johnson was born in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia in 1918. Her parents moved to White Sulphur Springs to provide their children with education beyond 7th grade. Black children outside the town didn't have this option at the time. During summers, the children and their father worked as bellboys and valets at the Greenbrier, an expansive resort nearby.

A precocious child, Johnson skipped several grades and graduated from elementary school at the age of 10. At 15, she started college at West Virginia State University (formerly West Virginia State College), where she excelled in French, English, music, and not surprisingly, math. She was mentored by William Waldron Schieffelin Claytor, who had a Ph.D. in math, "only the third Negro in the entire country to receive a doctorate degree in math." It was Claytor who suggested that Johnson become a research mathematician. He created a course, "Analytic Geometry of Space," for her. Johnson got her first job, as a teacher, at the age of 19.

"I grew up and was told by law that I had to sit in the back of buses, climb to isolated theater balconies, and use colored water fountains and bathrooms, because of my race," she writes, "but I chose to believe Daddy. I was just as good as anyone else, but no better."

Johnson’s story is not just about one woman’s success but about the entire 20th century, including changing roles of women in the workforce, the civil rights movement, and the “Space Race.” Her achievements were considerable.

For instance, in 1940, West Virginia University decided to admit three Black students to integrate the campus. Johnson was one of them — the only woman in the group — and she jumped at the chance to go to graduate school. But it was a cultural adjustment. For the first time in her life, she was in a predominantly white institution.

"I don't know if the other students knew who I was or, given the light complexion of my skin, that I was a Negro," writes Johnson. By then she was married, and she dropped out when she got pregnant.

The couple raised three daughters, eventually moving to Newport News, Va., for better jobs. She worked as a substitute teacher in 1952, teaching "quadratic equations, geometric construction, logarithms, polynomials, whatever they needed," she explains. Her students "got the message early that math is everywhere, and it's not to be feared." Eventually she applied for a job at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, the predecessor to NASA) and was hired in 1953 as a mathematician, then called a "computer."

Widowed in 1956 at age 38, Johnson continued her professional ascent. The civil rights movement unfolded, changing America forever. The Space Race began, and she was part of it all. She didn’t retire until 1986 and had witnessed many advances into space, supplying her math skills to the end. In her later years, as the accolades came streaming in — 13 honorary doctorate degrees and four major buildings named in her honor among them — Johnson maintained a remarkable humility. “If I’ve done anything in my life to deserve any of this, it is because I had great parents who taught me simple but powerful lessons that sustained me in the most challenging times,” she writes. “I was always proud of my work, but for Pete’s sake, I didn’t do anything alone.”

Lisa Page is coeditor of “We Wear the Mask: 15 True Stories of Passing in America.” She is assistant professor of English at George Washington University. She wrote this review for the Washington Post.

Home / Growth and Turmoil, 1948-1977 / Cold War Beginnings / Life Story: Katherine Johnson

Life Story: Katherine Johnson (1918–2020)

Nasa mathematician.

The story of a Black mathematician whose calculations contributed significantly to American space exploration.

Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson , 1959. Courtesy of NASA on the Commons.

This video was created by the New-York Historical Society Teen Leaders in collaboration with the Untold project .

Katherine Coleman was born on August 26, 1918, in West Virginia. Katherine’s parents were determined their four children would complete college. This was an ambitious goal for a Black family in the South. At that time, the school system was segregated. The Black school had only two rooms for seven grades. And, in order to reach the nearest Black high school, the Coleman family had to move 80 miles. 

Katherine was incredibly smart and finished high school when she was just 13 years old. After high school, she enrolled at the historically Black college, West Virginia State. By 18, she graduated with a double degree in French and math. Within a few months, Katherine took a job teaching and met fellow educator Jimmie Goble. 

Katherine and Jimmie married in 1939. That same year, Katherine accepted an invitation to integrate West Virginia University as one of the first Black graduate students. Katherine loved high-level math, but she did not see the value in completing her graduate degree. As an educated Black woman, teaching was the most likely profession for her, with or without a graduate degree. After one year, Katherine returned to Virginia. She and Jimmie soon had three daughters, born in 1940, 1943, and 1944.

By 1947, Katherine returned to teaching with Jimmie. During summer break, Jimmie worked as a chauffeur and Katherine as a maid because their teaching salaries were not enough to cover their expenses.

In 1951, Katherine and Jimmie’s home caught fire. Looking for a fresh start, they moved to Newport News, Virginia. Jimmie’s sister lived there. Also, there were federal government facilities nearby where Katherine might find work.

Katherine soon learned of a job opportunity that seemed too good to be true. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was hiring women with math experience. The women were called computers because they completed all of the calculations for the male engineers on staff. At this time, the United States was involved in a cold war with Russia. Both countries were eager to create aircraft for national defense. And NACA’s computers were critical to complete this work.

Although NACA was segregated, it was required by federal law that federal government employers not discriminate on the basis of race. Therefore, NACA had two divisions of computers—one for white women and another for Black women. The hiring requirements for Black computers were different than for white computers. Black computers needed college degrees and high GPAs. White computers did not. Because of this, the engineers often preferred working with the more knowledgeable Black computers. Katherine drove to the NACA facility and requested an application. One year later, NACA offered her a job. 

On Katherine’s first day, she was amazed. She was in a room full of Black women professionals, all with their own desks and computing machines. Two weeks after she started, an engineer walked into the Black computers’ office seeking help. Katherine was singled out by her boss, who said Katherine was one of the brightest computers on staff.

Katherine followed the engineer into an office full of white men. One of the team leaders asked her to review a set of calculations. Katherine immediately caught an error. She went to him and pointed out the mistake. Even though he was embarrassed, he admitted she was right. By speaking up and demonstrating her exceptional analytical skills, Katherine proved her value. Most computers were moved from project to project. Because the engineers did not want to lose her, Katherine remained a part of their team. 

I stood there astounded . . . Back then a room filled with so many professional [Black] women was a rare sight . . . not one of them was a teacher or a nurse . . . nor were any of them domestics.

Katherine found ways to fit into the segregated office. She refused to obey the segregated bathroom rules and avoided eating in the segregated cafeteria. She played cards and talked about aviation magazines with her white male colleagues during breaks. She even successfully demanded that she be allowed to attend high-level briefings. 

In 1956, Jimmie died from a brain tumor. Katherine was devastated. She turned to her work and her daughters for comfort and stability. 

After Russia launched two satellites into orbit, NACA became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The new goal was to put Americans into space. To achieve this, Katherine sometimes worked all day, stopped home to check on her daughters, and then returned to the office at night.

In 1958, Katherine met a man named Jim Johnson. Jim respected Katherine’s work and enjoyed spending time with her daughters. They married in 1959.

Meanwhile, Katherine was helping to figure out how to send an astronaut into orbit around the Earth. One of the biggest challenges was determining where the spacecraft would land. Katherine volunteered to calculate the path. Her final report on the topic was the first of its kind from the Aerospace Mechanics Division authored by a woman.

Two years later, astronaut John Glenn was preparing to be the first American to orbit the planet. NASA used a series of mechanical computers to calculate his path. But these new computers were not always reliable. After reviewing the plan, John made a specific request. He told NASA that if “the girl” said the math was right, he was ready to fly. “The girl” John had in mind was Katherine. She spent almost two days calculating the path by hand. On February 20, 1962, John successfully orbited the planet three times and landed safely on Earth. Katherine’s math stood up to the test. The Black press eventually learned of her role in the project. One Black newspaper celebrated her as a “mother, wife, and career woman!”

When President Kennedy challenged NASA to land on the moon, Katherine was a key figure on the team. She helped figure out how to launch a spacecraft into the moon’s orbit and how to connect an orbiting craft with the one that landed on the moon. In July 1969, the United States landed on the moon. But Katherine was neither at home nor in the office. She finished her calculations for the flight much earlier and was attending a college reunion. As the group crowded around a hotel TV to watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon, few of them knew how critically important Katherine was to that moment. 

When Katherine returned from the reunion, the moon landing was far from her mind. She was already working on a different project—calculations for sending a person to Mars!

Over the next 17 years, Katherine continued to work tirelessly at NASA. She ensured all three of her daughters graduated from college. She tutored students and advocated for better access to STEM education for Black girls.

Katherine retired from NASA in 1986. In 2015, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2016, her life was profiled in the movie Hidden Figures . And in 2017, NASA named its new computing facility after her. Katherine died in 2020 at the age of 101.

• aeronautics: The science of flying or traveling in the air.
• aviation: Flying or operating an aircraft or airplane.
• Cold War: A state of hostility between two nations that does not include open warfare. The most famous cold war was between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1990.
• lunar: Relating to the moon. 
• National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA): An agency of the federal government that studied flying and aircraft from 1915–1958. 
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): An agency of the federal government founded in 1958 that explores and studies space and other aeronautic topics.  
• Neil Armstrong: The first American astronaut to walk on the surface of the moon. 
• orbit: To move around a planet, star, or moon. 
• Presidential Medal of Freedom: The highest honor a non-military person in America can receive given by the President of the United States.  
• STEM: An acronym that stands for “science, technology, engineering, and math.”

Discussion Questions

• How did Katherine’s early life shape her career path? 
• Why did Katherine’s parents emphasize education? What does this tell you about the relationship between education and Black citizenship in America? 
• Why didn’t Katherine complete her graduate degree? What does this tell you about the intersections of education, employment, gender, and race?
• Why was Katherine so eager to work for NACA/NASA? What did the job mean to her? 
• Describe the role of the NACA/NASA computers. Why do you think those jobs were reserved for women?
• How did Katherine handle the racism and sexism she experienced at work?  
• Why do you think Katherine’s contributions to NASA were overlooked for so long? What does this tell you about history and public memory?

Suggested Activities

• 8.2: Cold War from 1945-1980
• 8.10: The African American Civil Rights Movement (1960s)
• Katherine is part of a long and often overlooked history of American women in STEM. Connect her life story to those of other women scientists, mathematicians, and engineers in  WAMS . 
• Katherine is also part of a long history of American women teachers. Connect her life story to those of other educators in WAMS , including Mary McLeod Bethune , Zitkala-Sa , and Jovita Idar . What did education mean to these women and why does that matter? 
• Katherine sometimes worked as a maid in the summer to bring in more income for her family. When she started her job at NACA, she was particularly proud to have a career that did not require her to do domestic work. Connect this life story to that of Dorothy Bolden to learn more about Black women and domestic work in the 20 th century. 
• Katherine often overcame racism and sexism in the workplace by working extra hard to demonstrate her intelligence. Compare her life to that of Chinese American scientist Chien-Shiung Wu , who took a similar approach to her work. 
• Katherine’s life and career were significantly shaped by her race. Learn more about the experience of Black women in the 20 th century by connecting her life story to those of Mamie-Till Mobley , Pauli Murray , Mary Church Terrell , and Mary McLeod Bethune . 
• Screen all or part of the movie Hidden Figures . Invite students to think about how the filmmakers depicted Katherine’s life. What feels realistic? What feels exaggerated for the movie? 
• Katherine Johnson intentionally wrote her memoir for a young adult audience! Consider assigning excerpts to your students so they can learn about her life in her own words. Ask students to compare her memoir to this life story. What elements were omitted? What was included and expanded beyond her comments? Why do you think these choices were made? 

AMERICAN CULTURE; AMERICA IN THE WORLD; SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE

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Katherine Johnson of ‘Hidden Figures’ tells her story in her own words

I’m not good at math. As a kid, algebra destroyed me; geometry put the nails in the coffin. I graduated from high school, grateful that my teachers passed me, for effort, not achievement. So it was with awe that I read “ My Remarkable Journey ,” Katherine Johnson’s posthumously published memoir about her life as a Black female mathematician.

You may remember Johnson from the 2016 book “ Hidden Figures ” and the film based on it. I wish I’d known about the story sooner. As Johnson’s NASA mentee Yvonne Darlene Cagle writes in the foreword: “Why didn’t all little girls know, especially little girls of color? Why did I have to go through so much hurt and heartache in life when I could have looked at her and held my head high and stepped through with such poise, comportment, and grace? Why couldn’t I have had that voice that spoke, not just to the world, but to my heart, to my resolve?”

The Black women who fought for political rights — and get little credit

Now, we know. “Hidden Figures” turned Johnson into an international star when she was in her late 90s. Her story — rising from anonymity and discrimination to become a research mathematician whose precise calculations helped many vital projects, including John Glenn’s 1962 orbit of Earth — has inspired many. Johnson received a standing ovation when she appeared onstage, in a wheelchair, at the 2017 Academy Awards, surrounded by the trio of actresses — Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe — who portrayed the women at the center of “Hidden Figures.” Johnson may not have won an Oscar, but she broke many barriers throughout her life, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and other honors, before she died, at age 101, last year .

As you might expect, numbers are at the center of “My Remarkable Journey: A Memoir.” Numbers never intimidated Johnson — in fact, they thrilled her. The symmetry, the structural interplay of equations and formulas, were always in her head.

“The thing I loved about math, more than any other subject, was that there was a definite right or wrong answer,” she writes. “I loved counting everything I saw, and I always pushed myself to go higher and higher.”

Johnson says she got her math ability from her father, Josh Coleman, who was a generation removed from slavery and had only a sixth-grade education. “Daddy’s mind was quick with numbers,” she explains. “He could add, subtract, and do complicated math problems in his head. He also could look at a tree and instinctively know how many logs he could get from it.”

The book was written with her daughters Joylette Hylick and Katherine Moore and completed by them after Johnson’s death. The memoir offers a more personal perspective on the story first made famous by Margot Lee Shetterley’s book. Johnson discusses some of the disparities between her life and what we saw on screen. Most endearingly, we hear Johnson’s wonderful and often witty voice. “I’ve been around longer than sliced bread, which didn’t become one of the century’s great inventions (or at least the thing by which everything good is compared) until 1928,” she writes in the opening pages. Of her meeting with President Barack Obama in 2015, she says: “so many people, especially the women, have asked me how it felt to be kissed by President Obama. All I can say is it was thrilling.”

Johnson was born in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia in 1918. Her parents moved to White Sulphur Springs to provide their children with education beyond seventh grade. Black children outside the town didn’t have this option at the time. During summers, the children and their father worked as bellboys and valets at the Greenbrier, an expansive resort nearby.

A precocious child, Johnson skipped several grades and graduated from elementary school at the age of 10. At 15, she started college at West Virginia State University (formerly West Virginia State College ), where she excelled in French, English, music, and not surprisingly, math. She was mentored by William Waldron Schieffelin Claytor, who had a Ph.D. in math, “only the third Negro in the entire country to receive a doctorate degree in math.” It was Claytor who suggested that Johnson become a research mathematician. He created a course, “Analytic Geometry of Space,” for her. Johnson got her first job, as a teacher, at the age of 19.

“I grew up and was told by law that I had to sit in the back of buses, climb to isolated theater balconies, and use colored water fountains and bathrooms, because of my race,” she writes, “but I chose to believe Daddy. I was just as good as anyone else, but no better.”

Johnson’s story is not just about one woman’s success but about the entire 20th century, including changing roles of women in the workforce, the civil rights movement and the “Space Race.” Her achievements were considerable.

The nearly forgotten story of the Black women who helped land a man on the moon

For instance, in 1940, West Virginia University decided to admit three Black students to integrate the campus. Johnson was one of them — the only woman in the group — and she jumped at the chance to go to graduate school. But it was a cultural adjustment. For the first time in her life, she was in a predominantly White institution.

“I don’t know if the other students knew who I was or, given the light complexion of my skin, that I was a Negro,” writes Johnson. By then she was married, and she dropped out when she got pregnant.

The couple raised three daughters, eventually moving to Newport News, Va., for better jobs. She worked as a substitute teacher in 1952, teaching “quadratic equations, geometric construction, logarithms, polynomials, whatever they needed,” she explains. Her students “got the message early that math is everywhere, and it’s not to be feared.” Eventually she applied for a job at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, the predecessor to NASA) and was hired in 1953 as a mathematician, then called a “computer.”

Widowed in 1956 at age 38, Johnson continued her professional ascent. The civil rights movement unfolded, changing America forever. The Space Race began, and she was part of it all. She didn’t retire until 1986 and had witnessed many advances into space, supplying her math skills to the end. In her later years, as the accolades came streaming in — including 13 honorary doctorate degrees and four major buildings named in her honor — Johnson maintained a remarkable humility. “If I’ve done anything in my life to deserve any of this, it is because I had great parents who taught me simple but powerful lessons that sustained me in the most challenging times,” she writes. “I was always proud of my work, but for Pete’s sake, I didn’t do anything alone.”

Lisa Page  is co-editor of “We Wear the Mask: 15 True Stories of Passing in America.” She is assistant professor of English at George Washington University.

My Remarkable Journey: A Memoir

By Katherine Johnson with Joylette Hylick, Katherine Moore and Lisa Frazier Page

Amistad. 256 pp. $25.99

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

University Libraries

Sciences library news, katherine johnson’s legacy & oral histories.

As recognized through the book and movie  Hidden Figures , Katherine Johnson  was one of the first African American women to work at NASA as a human computer. Born in 1918, she attended a two-room school in West Virginia. She excelled at school and skipped ahead several grades. She earned her bachelor’s degree in French and mathematics  at West Virginia State College (now called West Virginia State University) at the age of 18. She worked as a  school teacher until moving on to work at Langley Research Center. In 1961, she performed the calculations for the first U.S. human flight into space, checked the computer’s calculations for the first human orbit around the Earth, and continued her impeccable calculations through humankind’s first visit to the moon. She worked for NASA until 1986 and received many awards, including the NASA Lunar Orbiter Award, NASA Special Achievement Awards, and Mathematician of the Year.   In 2015, Johnson was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She died February 24, 2020  at 101 years old, leaving a legacy that lives on as an inspiration to future scientists.

Watch Katherine Johnson’s video oral histories:

• The History Maker’s Oral History Interviews with Katherine Johnson   (UI students, staff, and faculty only)
• The National Visionary Leadership Project’s Oral History Archive: Katherine Johnson  (Freely available online)

You can also check out  Hidden Figures on DVD , watch the streaming video , read the book , and watch NASA’s supplementary videos From Hidden to Modern Figures .

Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

SMITHSONIAN BOOKS

How Black Women Have Changed the Face of Spaceflight

From Uhura to Katherine Johnson, learn about Black women’s impact on space travel in this excerpt from “Afrofuturism.”

Matthew Shindell

On September 15, 2021, at age fifty-one, Sian Proctor became the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft, taking the controls of a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on its three-day orbital flight. She did so not as a NASA astronaut, but as a member of the four-person crew of the privately funded Inspiration4 mission. Flying in space was a lifelong dream for Proctor, but for much of her life, there were no astronaut role models who looked like her. Indeed, Proctor was already twenty-two years old when Mae Jemison became the first Black woman to fly in space in 1992.

Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures

Now in paperback! This timely and gorgeously illustrated companion book to an exciting Smithsonian exhibition explores the power of Afrofuturism to reclaim the past and reimagine Black futures

During the early years of NASA’s human spaceflight program, equality was decidedly not on display. But recently recovered history has revealed that though women and minorities were not the public face of NASA, employees such as mathematician Katherine Johnson, a Black woman, were critical to the successes of the human spaceflight program, including the Apollo lunar landings. Johnson’s successes, and those of her colleagues, were told in the book (and successful movie of the same name)  Hidden Figures . A groundbreaking NASA mathematician, Johnson spent her thirty-three-year career working at Langley Laboratory in Hampton. When the agency hired her as a “computer” in 1953, it had just opened some departments to Black women. Despite working in a segregated environment, Johnson rose through the ranks and performed calculations for some of NASA’s most significant space missions between 1953 and 1986. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 for her contributions to space travel.

NASA’s culture began to change, thanks in part to Black women working behind the scenes. In 1973, NASA fired and then was forced to rehire Ruth Bates Harris, the first Black woman to hold a senior position at the agency. NASA administrators labeled Harris a “disruptive force” after she authored an internal report decrying the “near total failure” of the agency’s equal opportunity programs. Despite being an early adopter of antidiscrimination policies, the agency’s staff was only 5.6 percent minority and 18 percent women (well below the government averages of 20 and 34 percent, respectively), and little diversity could be found in high civil service positions. As for the astronauts, the report pointed out, “During an entire generation—from 1958 until the end of this decade—NASA will not have had a woman or a minority astronaut in training.” Firing Harris only brought NASA congressional hearings and bad press, and made the agency look out of touch with a changing nation. Congress ordered NASA to double its equalemployment budget and threatened to closely monitor its equal opportunity hiring and promotion programs. In 1974, Harriett Jenkins took over as NASA’s assistant administrator for equal opportunity programs.

Nichols’s portrayal of a future space explorer brought her into contact with real spaceflight, and she found that many NASA employees were dedicated fans of Star Trek. After hearing NASA scientists speak at Star Trek conventions and touring several NASA facilities as a VIP guest, the actor developed a passion for the agency. Her interest in space and her participation in NASA events earned her a seat on the board of the National Space Institute.

When NASA began recruiting astronauts for its new Space Shuttle program in 1977, the agency was dismayed to see that few women or minorities applied. Jenkins, still leading the equal employment opportunity efforts, and Administrator James Fletcher invited Nichols to meet with them to discuss their recruitment problems. Nichols explained that NASA had a long way to go to convince women and minorities that they were serious about diversifying the astronaut corps. But Nichols was impressed by Jenkins, the first Black administrator she had met, and was convinced the agency was sincere. Nichols proposed that NASA contract her company, Women in Motion, to help with a new publicity campaign aimed at women and people of color. NASA accepted.

NASA gave Women in Motion six months to find “the astronauts of tomorrow.” Nichols threw herself into the task: in addition to a media blitz, she traveled the country, spoke at colleges and organizations in every major city, and delivered the message that is was time to change the face of spaceflight. Her work paid dividends. Harris's 1973 plea that the agency "must convince young minorities and women that is not NASA's intention to colonize the universe but that they too will have heroes and heroines in space," was answered in NASA's 1978 astronaut class. Notable astronauts added that year included the first woman to travel to space, Sally Ride; Guion "Guy" Bluford, Jr., the first Black American man to travel to space; and Frederick Gregory, NASA's first Black deputy administrator. Future astronauts Judith Resnik and Mae Jemison credited their careers to Nichols' campaign.

After the 1983 and 1992 flights of Bluford and Jemison, Black American boys and girls—and the country at-large—had new real-life space heroes and heroines. Since then, NASA astronauts Stephanie Wilson, Joan Higginbotham, and Jessica Watkins, along with Sian Proctor, have joined the ranks of spacefaring Black women—a remarkable, if still short list that offers hope for the future, yet also suggests the need for continued diligence. As Proctor’s example demonstrates, the rise of commercial spaceflight may create even more opportunities for astronauts of all backgrounds.

Afrofuturism  is available from Smithsonian Books. Visit  Smithsonian Books’ website  to learn more about its publications and a full list of titles. 

"Black Women Change the Face of Spaceflight" by Matthew Shindell excerpted from  Afrofuturism  © 2023 by Smithsonian Institution

Katherine Johnson Biography

This essay about Katherine Johnson focuses on her early life and the foundation of her future accomplishments. Born into a family that valued education amidst the racial and societal barriers of the early 20th century, Katherine’s prodigious talent in mathematics was nurtured from a young age. Relocating for better educational opportunities, she excelled in high school and college, guided by mentors who recognized her potential. Graduating college at 18, she faced limited career paths due to her race and gender but eventually joined NASA, where her calculations became pivotal in the success of the Mercury and Apollo missions. The essay emphasizes how Katherine’s childhood, marked by determination and support, laid the groundwork for her legendary contributions to space exploration and her enduring legacy as a symbol of overcoming obstacles through intellect and perseverance.

How it works

In the annals of American history, few stories are as compelling and inspirational as that of Katherine Johnson, whose formidable intellect and determination propelled her from the segregated classrooms of West Virginia to the hallowed halls of NASA, where her calculations helped send astronauts to the Moon. Yet, her journey to becoming a revered mathematician began long before she made her mark on the space race. It was in her childhood that the foundations of her remarkable career were laid, illuminating the path she would follow.

Born in 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, Katherine was the youngest of four children in a family that prized education and hard work. Her parents, Joshua and Joylette Coleman, recognized early on their daughter’s extraordinary aptitude for numbers. In a time when educational opportunities for African Americans were severely limited, particularly in the segregated South, Katherine’s parents were determined to provide their children with the best education possible. They went to great lengths to ensure this, including relocating the family to Institute, West Virginia, where Katherine could attend high school because the town they lived in did not offer schooling for African American students beyond the eighth grade.

Katherine’s brilliance in mathematics was evident from a very young age. She could count before she could read and was solving complex mathematical problems by the time other children were learning basic arithmetic. Her gift for numbers was not just about raw talent; it was her passion. She loved the clarity and precision of mathematics, the way it explained the workings of the universe. This love for mathematics was nurtured in a high school on the campus of West Virginia State College, where she enrolled at the age of ten. By the age of 14, Katherine graduated from high school and entered West Virginia State, a historically black college where she was mentored by mathematician W.W. Schieffelin Claytor, who recognized her potential and encouraged her to pursue a career in research mathematics, an unheard-of path for an African American woman at the time.

Katherine’s college years were marked by academic excellence. She took every mathematics course offered by the college, and Claytor even created new courses just for her. In 1937, at the age of 18, she graduated summa cum laude with degrees in mathematics and French, ready to take on the world. Yet, the path forward was not easy. The barriers for African Americans, particularly women, in the fields of science and technology, were formidable. Despite these challenges, Katherine’s determination never wavered. She began her career as a teacher, a common profession for African American women at the time, but her journey was destined to lead her much further.

In 1953, Katherine joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which would later become NASA. There, she shattered barriers and disproved stereotypes, proving herself an invaluable asset to the space agency. Her calculations were critical to the success of the Mercury and Apollo missions, including the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. Yet, it was her early years, in the classrooms of West Virginia, where her incredible journey began. Those years were marked by a confluence of talent, passion, and the unwavering support of her family and mentors, who believed in the power of education to overcome even the most daunting obstacles.

Katherine Johnson’s childhood is a testament to the fact that genius knows no bounds, and with determination and support, it can flourish even in the most unlikely of places. Her story is not just about the triumph of intellect; it’s about the triumph of the human spirit over the societal and racial barriers of her time. Katherine’s legacy is a beacon for future generations, reminding us that with talent, passion, and perseverance, the sky is not the limit—it’s just the beginning.

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Katherine Johnson

Official website of the katherine johnson foundation, katherine’s story.

“If I’ve done anything in my life to deserve any of this, it is because I had great parents who taught me simple but powerful lessons that sustained me in the most challenging times.”

– Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson was born on August 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Her mother was an educator, and her father was a farmer and a janitor.

Katherine was the apple of her father’s eye. He taught her that she was no better than anyone else, and that no one was better than her. This life lesson became the foundation of Katherine’s resilience and confidence.

Education Can Open Doors

Katherine’s parents were determined that their children must get a college degree and seized every opportunity to put her and her siblings into the best schools available. Katherine excelled, and started high school at just 10 years old.

At West Virginia State College, she met her mentor, mathematics professor Dr. William Claytor. He lit a spark in Katherine by telling her that she would make a good research mathematician and creating a class just for her called Analytic Geometry of Space, which helped prepare her for her future career in space exploration. She graduated from college summa cum laude in 1937, at just 18 years old.

Nearly two decades before the Little Rock Nine, Katherine Johnson was chosen as one of three Black students, and the first Black woman, to integrate West Virginia University and pursue graduate studies. She studied math, but soon left to start a family.

Katherine graduated from West Virginia State in 1937. Here she is with two of her classmates.

Katherine Johnson and her sorority sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. T M  

Katherine's Sorority Life

“i couldn’t wait to get to college to join alpha kappa alpha. i have enjoyed being part of uplifting our community through scholarship programs, mentoring, voter registration, and so much more for more than eighty years. i especially love the camaraderie and the strong network of college-educated, highly motivated black women.”.

Katherine’s high school math teacher inspired her to join Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. T M , which remained a constant in her life for more than 80 years.

She brought her gifts as a musician to AKA. She was the founder of the Lambda Omega chapter chorale and served as its director. She was also chapter president twice.

Katherine celebrated her 99th birthday with a cake that was out of this world.

“She was able to identify the potential in someone and then work with you to foster your talent and make you feel confident. The way she gave suggestions made you know that you could reach for the stars.”

– Maggie Macklin, Katherine’s Sorority Sister and Mentee

On her 99 th birthday, her sorors threw her a “PARTY OF THE NINES ” with representatives from The National Pan-Hellenic Council, colloquially known as “The Divine Nine,” in attendance. Each one presented her with a pink rose and gift. The day was spent singing songs, sharing mathematical facts, and celebrating Katherine.

Katherine in Her Community

Katherine and her family went to church every Sunday. She used to quiz her daughters and have them count everyone in attendance. Katherine was very involved in the church; especially the choir, because of how much she loved music and her skills at the piano.

An educator at heart, Katherine always wanted children to do their best at what they are interested in. She did not try and push someone towards a particular path or answer, but encouraged them to do the best that they can do and expand their minds with as much information as possible. She would frequently tutor students, teach neighborhood children how to play piano, and mentor her sorority sisters.

Katherine was a West Virginia native who grew up in White Sulphur Springs.

Katherine and Jim Johnson loved their life together.

Falling in Love

At Katherine’s first teaching job, she met James Goble. She called him Jimmie , but his friends and family called him “Snook.” He was one of 13 children, and the entire family loved music—just like Katherine. The two were married in November 1939 and had three daughters together. Jimmie died in December 1956, after a two-year illness. Katherine and Jimmie had done their best to hide his illness from the girls, and the family was devastated by the loss. Katherine’s resilience helped guide the family out of this tough time.

“When school resumed in January, I told the principal that the girls were not to get any pity or special treatment in the days ahead. I wanted our daughters to understand that sometimes life hurts, but we have to keep moving forward.”

She met her second husband, Captain James “ Jim” Johnson, years later at choir practice, and the two married in a small ceremony at her home. He lovingly called her “Kid,” even though he was younger than her.

Katherine’s Daughters

Katherine and Jimmie had three daughters:

Joylette , the eldest, inherited Katherine’s demeanor and shared a passion for music, particularly the piano, and math, of course. Growing up, she did not understand the gravity of Katherine’s contributions in the Space Race until her mother’s story appeared in the NY Amsterdam News in 1961, which even the family did not see until many years later. She followed in her mother’s footsteps and worked as a NASA mathematician.

Connie , the middle child, inherited her mother’s fearlessness. She was the family daredevil; a free spirit who would try anything. Connie was an educator for a number of years and also started her own business, Connie’s Trucking. Connie died suddenly in 2010, before her mother’s achievements were widely recognized.

“Connie was my alter ego, the free spirit of the bunch, the one who was untethered to places and things, who would follow her heart wherever it led. I’m still mad at Connie for leaving us so soon. But I find comfort knowing that she lived each day like it would be her last.”

Kathy , the youngest, inherited Katherine’s name and was always close to her mother and wanted to be in her favor. She was born just 10 days before Connie’s first birthday. The two were often treated as twins, and were in the same class together since the first grade. She also followed in her mother’s footsteps by becoming a teacher and guidance counselor for more than 30 years.

Katherine daughters Connie, Kathy, and Joylette.

Credit: Hugh Talman, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

Life After Fame

“i certainly never expected any glory. i was just doing the job i was hired to do. … i was always proud of my work, but for pete’s sake, i didn’t do anything alone.”.

At 97 years old, Katherine’s achievements became public knowledge. Her life after that was full of admiration and acknowledgements, ranging from the Presidential Medal of Freedom, over a dozen honorary degrees, major buildings and schools named in her honor, three published books, an onstage appearance at the Academy Awards where a movie inspired by her life and that of her colleagues was nominated for three awards, including Best Picture. She also had a multitude of plaques, framed certificates, and boxes of fan mail from all over the world. Throughout it all, she never lost her human touch in sharing her laurels.

Katherine and her husband Jim grew old together. Even in their 90s, when they both lived in an assisted living retirement community, they would ask their aides to turn their wheelchairs together so that they could give each other their traditional fist bump each night before bed. Jim died in 2019.

Remembering Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson died on February 24, 2020, at the age of 101.

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Home — Essay Samples — History — Katherine Johnson — Katherine Johnson: Short Life-History of a Hero

Katherine Johnson: Short Life-history of a Hero

• Categories: African American Biography Katherine Johnson

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Published: Apr 29, 2022

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Study finds media coverage focused on NASA mathematician's achievements, but treated discrimination as past problem

by University of Kansas

Without Katherine Johnson, NASA would not have landed a man on the moon. The 2016 film "Hidden Figures" told Johnson's story as a brilliant mathematician, a trailblazer who overcame racism and sexism to succeed at NASA in the 1950s and '60s. That monumental career was again examined in the media following her death in 2020.

A new study from the University of Kansas analyzed news coverage of Johnson's death, finding that coverage focused on her achievements first but also tended to depict the race- and gender-based discrimination she faced as a problem of the past.

Steve Bien-Aimé, assistant professor of journalism & mass communications at KU, analyzed 42 news items and opinion pieces following Johnson's death to determine how her life and career were presented in newspapers.

"To be one of the premier mathematicians sending people to the moon means you are really good," Bien-Aimé said. "I wanted to know are they talking about that, or that she was a rarity as a Black female NASA mathematician, or that she was a pioneer? Overall, journalists did a pretty good job of presenting her as a brilliant mathematician first."

Coverage focused first on Johnson as a person. She was at the top of her field, and her expertise was vital to one of the foremost scientific achievements, it noted. Coverage mentioned that she overcame severe racial and gender discrimination.

However, newspapers tended to treat racism and sexism as though they were issues of the past, not problems still facing society today, according to the KU study. Coverage also did not examine why structural racism and sexism were and continue to be problems or who benefits from them.

"Katherine Johnson's time in science butted right up against Jim Crow and the civil rights era. Some of her most notable NASA work came about a decade after Brown v. Board, but it's not like a court decision made all discrimination go away," Bien-Aimé said. "There was not a name put on who did it or why such discrimination existed. When you avoid that, you also avoid examining how or why structural inequities are built and maintained."

Coverage of Johnson's death and career was good at using person-first language, or the fact that first and foremost, she was a brilliant mathematician. While it noted there was an underrepresentation of women in the sciences during her career, coverage also lacked citations of other women in discussing her work and legacy, the KU study found.

Fewer than half of the news items quoted women who were not Johnson, and many of those that did quote Margot Lee Shetterly, whose book was the basis for the film "Hidden Figures."

"The coverage showed she was great at what she did. If you say she was a great Black woman mathematician, you are putting qualifications on how good of a mathematician she was," Bien-Aimé said. "She was a brilliant mathematician , and those other identities are important, but we should treat her the same as others. She was noteworthy because they don't go to the moon without her."

The research, published in the Journal of Black Studies , notes that coverage of Johnson's death can serve as an example of hegemony, or reinforcing the status quo in that people can assume why the type of discrimination she faced existed.

However, that can amount to disavowal, or not addressing difficult topics because the writer or those in today's society feel they did not cause the issue, Bien-Aimé said. It also presented a missed opportunity to discuss issues such as disparities of women and people of color in STEM fields today.

Such presentations of notable figures are important not only for how they discuss one person and their experiences but for what they can tell us about current society and journalism, according to Bien-Aimé. He also said that how journalists portray individuals such as Johnson is important because of the shrinking media landscape and how their voices are amplified, whether their coverage is positive, negative, or ambivalent.

"Journalists have a tough job, and having to produce more and more content all the time, it is hard to produce more robust stories," Bien-Aimé said. "But we have to know if we are able to look at these situations and ask, 'Why is it rare? What makes this a novel event?'"

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EL Education Curriculum

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• ELA 2019 G6:M4:U2:L11

Discover a Hidden Figure: Katherine Johnson

In this lesson, daily learning targets, ongoing assessment.

• Technology and Multimedia

Supporting English Language Learners

Materials from previous lessons, new materials, closing & assessments, you are here:.

• ELA 2019 Grade 6
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• ELA 2019 G6:M4:U2

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Focus Standards:  These are the standards the instruction addresses.

• RI.6.1, RI.6.3, RI.6.9, W.6.1, W.6.9b, L.6.2a

Supporting Standards:  These are the standards that are incidental—no direct instruction in this lesson, but practice of these standards occurs as a result of addressing the focus standards.

• RI.6.10, W.6.10, SL.6.1a
• I can analyze the way in which an author introduces and elaborates on Katherine Johnson's character in the text. (RI.6.3)
• I can gather evidence and develop reasoning for an argument essay about Katherine Johnson's remarkable accomplishments. (W.6.1)
• Opening A: Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 11 (RI.6.1, RI.6.3, RI.6.9)
• Work Time A: Gist on sticky notes
• Work Time B: Language Dive: Hidden Figures , Page 96 note-catcher (RI.6.1, RI.6.3, L.6.2a, SL.6.1a)
• Closing and Assessment A: Collaborative Argument Evidence note-catcher (RI.6.1, RI.6.3, W.6.1, W.6.9b, W.6.10)
• Read chapter 12 in  Hidden Figures in advance to identify plot points and vocabulary that may require clarification or sensitivity.
• Prepare the Language Dive materials and review the Language Dive Guide to familiarize yourself with what students will need to know and be able to do.
• Prepare copies of handouts for students (see Materials list).
• Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

• Work Time A: Explore and implement resources created for students interested in STEM, just as Katherine Johnson was, through websites such as  http://eled.org/0252 .

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 6.I.A.1, 6.I.B.6, 6.I.B.8, 6.II.A.1, 6.II.B.3, 6.II.B.4, and 6.II.C.6.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

• To support ELLs, this lesson features an entrance ticket that invites students to revisit the two texts from the previous lesson. Students use their completed note-catchers to answer simple questions about the texts' content, authors' methods, and authors' points of view. The structure of the questions is identical to what students will encounter on the end of unit assessment; engaging with these questions through a low-stakes entrance ticket supports ELLs' confidence and sets them up for success on the assessment. This lesson also features a Language Dive during which students analyze how a new hidden figure, Katherine Johnson, is developed in the text. This Language Dive also addresses L.6.2a, a critical Language standard that students will revisit in Unit 3.
• ELLs may find it challenging to understand why the focus structure chunk (, as one of the school's first black students, ) needs to be where it is in the Language Dive sentence. To support student understanding, the Dive presents the idea of dangling modifiers. Students learn that, if this chunk were elsewhere in the sentence, it would no longer be clear what the chunk is modifying (i.e., that the chunk refers to Katherine). If ELLs seem confused by this, remind them that dangling modifiers are part of an important Grade 7 Language standard (L.7.1c). As such, students do not need to fully understand dangling modifiers now, although their first attempt at making sense of them deserves celebration!
• desegregate (A)

(A): Academic Vocabulary

(DS): Domain-Specific Vocabulary

• Compare and Contrast Authors' Presentations of Events: Mary Jackson note-catchers (example for teacher reference) (from Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 10, Work Time A)
• Gists: Hidden Figures anchor chart (example for teacher reference) (from Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 1, Work Time A)
• Gists:  Hidden Figures anchor chart (one for display; from Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 1, Work Time A)
• Text Guide:  Hidden Figures (Young Readers' Edition) (for teacher reference) (from Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 1, Work Time A)
• Questions We Can Ask during a Language Dive anchor chart (one for display; from Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 9, Work Time B)
• Collaborative Argument Evidence note-catcher (example for teacher reference) (from Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 9, Opening A)
• Compare and Contrast Authors' Presentations of Events: Mary Jackson note-catcher (one per student; from Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 10, Work Time A)
• Hidden Figures  (Young Readers' Edition) (text; one per student; from Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Opening A)
• Collaborative Argument Evidence note-catcher (one per student; from Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 9, Opening A)
• Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 11 (example for teacher reference)
• Language Dive Guide: Hidden Figures , Page 96 (for teacher reference)
• Language Dive: Hidden Figures , Page 96 Sentence Chunk Chart (for teacher reference)
• Language Dive: Hidden Figures , Page 96 note-catcher (example for teacher reference)
• Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 11 (one per student)
• Sticky notes (one per student)
• Synopsis: Hidden Figures , Chapter 12 (one per student)
• Language Dive: Hidden Figures , Page 96 note-catcher (one per student)
• Language Dive: Hidden Figures , Page 96 sentence chunk strips (one per pair or group)

Each unit in the 6-8 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize students' understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

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WVU Libraries adding Katherine Johnson’s archives

MORGANTOWN, W.Va (WDTV) - WVU Libraries will be celebrating NASA mathematician and space pioneer Katherine Johnson on Friday.

Johnson, a West Virginia native, was the first African American woman chosen to participate in the West Virginia University graduate program back in 1939.

A ceremony honoring Johnson and her work is being held at 3:30 p.m. in the Milano Room of the Downtown Library.

As a part of the ceremony, WVU Libraries and the West Virginia and Regional History Center will be announcing the opening of the Katherine Goble Johnson Papers to detail Katherine’s life and career.

Featured speakers include Katherine’s daughters, Joylette Goble Hylick and Katherine Goble Moore, with remarks by Wes Deadrick, Director of NASA’s Katherine Johnson IV&V Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia and WVU President E. Gordon Gee.

Katherine’s autobiography, “My Remarkable Journey - A Memoir” will also be available for signing.

Copyright 2023 WDTV. All rights reserved.

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A Qualitative Study of How Childhood Trauma Shapes Adult Life

Katherine A Johnson , Tennessee State University

This qualitative dissertation aimed to examine the lived experiences of survivors of early life trauma. Research has shown that early life traumatic events are more common than typically thought, and early life trauma can lead to detrimental mental health. Currently, there is a gap in the literature, since no qualitative studies have examined survivors’ posttraumatic growth, resilience, and coping skills in the time since a traumatic childhood experience using a narrative approach with photo elicitation task. This dissertation aimed to close this gap by examining how a survivor dealt with their trauma, how they built resilience following the traumatic event(s), and how posttraumatic growth helped them overcome their trauma through a narrative approach and grounded in the social constructivist framework. A semi-structured interview and photo elicitation research approach was used to understand the participants’ experiences of childhood trauma and how they view themselves presently. Four participants (two male, two female) shared their experiences with trauma and their journey through life since. Their experiences were restoried to understand their experiences, and then, using thematic analysis, the themes that emerged were analyzed. These analyses determined that trauma has affected the rest of the participants’ lives in various themes: personality, emotions, mental health, curiosity, chaos, relationships with others, transformation, and gaining perspective. Further, the participants reported negative (alcoholism, avoidance, and suicidal attempts/ideation) and positive (spirituality, art, and help seeking) coping skills and most viewed themselves as resilient. Lastly, most of the sample has experienced some posttraumatic growth. The findings were then situated within the literature and recommendations for clinical practice and limitations are presented.

Subject Area

Psychology|Therapy|Personality psychology|Spirituality|Mental health|Behavioral psychology

Recommended Citation

Katherine A Johnson, "A Qualitative Study of How Childhood Trauma Shapes Adult Life" (2020). ETD Collection for Tennessee State University. Paper AAI27739899. https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI27739899

Since December 19, 2020

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DSH Interview Series: A/Prof Katherine Johnson

In this interview, A/Prof Katherine Johnson brings us on her journey that kicked off with a PhD, then leaving academia for a job in industry, returning to academia in the UK and Ireland, before coming back home to Melbourne. She also shares some of her ongoing research, how COVID-19 has changed her lifestyle, and shares quick tips for honours students who are about a month away from thesis submission.

p.s. Honours students, click the link below for a refresher on the thesis timeline that A/Prof Katherine Johnson put together for you at the start of the year.