Review: Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race

Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I saw the film and assumed the book would be similar, i.e. a “based on a true story” semi-fictional account. But no. This is more of a history book than an historical novel. It is meticulously researched, but told in a somewhat plodding style. The people, brought to life so clearly in the film, are lost in the historical detail. It is a pity that such an interesting and compelling story is not told in a more interesting and compelling way.

That said, I still enjoyed the book and found much of the detail fascinating and occasionally horrifying. For instance, I was aware of the American civil rights movement in the 1960s but the description of the protagonists’ experiences in Hidden Figures brings to life the scandal of institutionalised racism as well as the (not so) petty indignities that were suffered day and daily. As a teacher, a couple of examples stood out. I was astonished to read that, in one school, the white janitor was paid more than the black teachers... including the headteacher. And, in relation to the state of Virginia’s reaction to a Supreme Court ruling that schools were to be integrated, the attitude of a white parent is frightening:

“In the fall of 1958, Virginia’s governor Lindsay Almond chained the doors of the schools in localities that attempted to comply with the Supreme Court’s Brown decision. Thirteen thousand students in the three cities that had moved forward with integration—Front Royal, Charlottesville, and Norfolk—found themselves sitting at home in the fall of 1958. “I would rather have my children live in ignorance than have them go to school with Negroes,” one white parent told a reporter. ...white students as well as black paying the price for the state’s racial crusade.”

Frightening because I suspect that level of intolerance is not far below the surface in our society today. When I read how nine black children, trying to go to school, had to be protected by the US Army from: “...the screaming, spitting, bottle-throwing white crowd that surrounded them.” I was reminded that it was not so long ago that a similar situation played out in Northern Ireland.

As a Computing teacher, I enjoyed reading about a time when computers were people. I also liked some of the small details. For example, I have clear memories of the TV pictures from Mission Control, with its rows of white men facing a huge map of the world but was amused to learn that the progress of the Mercury capsule was tracked by: “...a little cutout of a Mercury capsule, suspended on a wire.” Brilliant! High-tech meets Heath Robinson.

More interesting than enjoyable and more three and a half than four stars but still worth reading.

View all my reviews