Hidden Figures

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What does NASA stand for, and when was it established? What are NASA’s goals and objectives? What NASA missions, historically, are among the most well-known?

Teaching Suggestion: Depending on students’ background and interests, they may know detailed information about these questions, or they might proceed by making logical guesses. After attempting the questions independently, students might meet briefly in groups of 3-4 to compare their responses and share knowledge. In another approach to the question, readers might first brainstorm works of fiction or film that establish the topics of flight and space and that remind them of events in NASA’s history (e.g., The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, and From the Earth to the Moon). Some students may name more speculative space stories as they make familiar connections (such as Interstellar, The Martian, or Contact); consequently, this discussion provides a chance to categorize and clarify between the historical fiction genre, science fiction/fantasy, and nonfiction.

• Readers can find an overview of NASA’s work as well as in-depth details on current projects throughout the NASA site; the organization’s resource site “For All Mankind” provides information on the history of NASA.  
• NASA’s most recently designed Strategic Plan can help readers become familiar with the program’s goals, objectives, and rationales.

2. Characterize the American workplace in the 1960s. Comment on roles and professions within companies and organizations. Generally, who was discriminated against in terms of wages and opportunities? Why? When did this begin to change? Have we achieved equal pay for equal work?

Teaching Suggestion: Two major themes in this book are Racism in the United States and Sexism in the American Workplace. Students might be introduced to these themes through a brief discussion or research inquiry regarding the time period of the narrative (1950s-60s), the civil rights movement, and the women’s rights movement. Students should focus on the difficulties and discrimination faced by women and in particular women of color in the workplace to better understand the experiences they will read about in Hidden Figures. These and similar resources may help to build additional context.

• This article by Nina Banks at the Economic Policy Institute explores the history of Black women’s labor and access to employment from the 19th century to the present.
• The National Park Service compiled a history of women’s involvement in the labor movement and their efforts to address gender inequality.
• The US Department of Labor offers guidance on the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and what constitutes a violation of the act.

Short Activity

NASA has conducted hundreds of missions since it was first formed in 1958 as a successor to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Choose one of its missions from this page to research. Provide a short summary of the mission to the class. Use the following questions to guide your investigation:

• When was the mission conducted?
• What was it called? Why was it given that name?
• Who was involved in the mission?
• What happened on the mission? Was it a success? A failure? How did the mission contribute to the NASA knowledge base for future missions?

Teaching Suggestion: It might be useful to narrow the list of missions to those most relevant; for example, choosing one of the Mercury or Gemini missions offers a way to connect to NASA’s work that precedes or follows Katherine Johnson’s tenure with the organization.

• “Mission Inception” explains the process by which NASA conceives and decides on its missions.
• The NASA Science Fleet Chart maps where the government agency has sent and plans to send spacecraft.

Differentiation Suggestion: Visual learners and students interested in space travel or careers might create a timeline of two or more missions, specifically those that had several iterations, to mark change over time and the evolution of NASA’s work.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

The work of NASA’s engineers, scientists, and mathematicians was and is groundbreaking. Why do you think so many children dream of becoming astronauts? What characteristics about space and space travel seem to appeal to many people? How has popular culture encouraged interest in space and space travel?  

Teaching Suggestion: The Black women featured in Hidden Figures made history not only by working in the roles that they held at NASA but also by working on projects that would result in historical “firsts.” Readers might be encouraged to speculate about the awe, excitement, and emotions involved with all first-time discoveries and inventions, then discuss the ways in which space technology is different or particularly challenging.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who are visual learners and those interested in American history might collect a series of historical images regarding NASA, space flight, and space discoveries over time, such as these photographs from Popular Mechanics. Images might be shared in a slideshow or compiled in a shared file for reference during reading.