Hidden Figures

Civil rights ain't always civil.

Hidden Figures, CC BY-SA 4.0

State Trooper: Not a great place for the three of y'all to be havin' car trouble. Mary Jackson: We didn't pick the place, Officer, it picked us. State Trooper: [glaring at Mary] You bein' disrespectful? Mary Jackson: No, sir. State Trooper: You have identification on ya? Katherine: We sure do. We're just on our way to work. At Langley. NASA, sir. Dorothy Vaughan: We do a great deal of the calculating getting our rockets into space. State Trooper: All three of ya? Mary Jackson: Yes, Officer. State Trooper: NASA. That's somethin'. Had no idea they hired... Dorothy Vaughan: [politely; the Trooper meant something else] There are quite a few women working in the Space Program. State Trooper: Damn Russians are watching us right now. Sputniks. [turning his attention back] You girls ever meet those astronauts? The Mercury Seven? Mary Jackson: Absolutely. State Trooper: Alan Shepard? John Glenn? Katherine Johnson: We work with those gentlemen all the time. State Trooper: Those boys are the best

Hidden Figures, CC BY-SA 4.0

Vivian Mitchell: Despite what you may think, I have nothing against y'all. Dorothy Vaughan: I know. I know you probably believe that.

Hidden Figures, CC BY-SA 4.0

Karl Zielinski: Mary, a person with an engineer's mind should be an engineer. You can't be a computer the rest of your life. Mary Jackson: Mr. Zielinski, I'm a negro woman. I'm not gonna entertain the impossible. Karl Zielinski: And I'm a Polish Jew whose parents died in a Nazi prison camp. Now I'm standing beneath a spaceship that's going to carry an astronaut to the stars. I think we can say we are living the impossible. Let me ask you, if you were a white male, would you wish to be an engineer? Mary Jackson: I wouldn't have to. I'd already be one.

Hidden Figures, CC BY-SA 4.0

Paul Stafford: How did you know the Redstone couldn't support orbital flight? That's classified information; it's top secret. Katherine Johnson: Well, it's no secret why the Redstone tests keep failing. It's fine for sub-orbital flight, but it can't handle the weight of the capsule and push it into space. Numbers don't lie. Al Harrison: [reading the censored test results documents] And you figured all that out with this? Half of that is redacted. Katherine Johnson: Well, what's there tells a story if you read between the lines. The distance from launch to orbit, we know. Redstone mass, we know. Mercury capsule weight, we know. And the speeds are there, and the data. Al Harrison: You did the math. Katherine Johnson: Yes, sir. I look beyond. Al Harrison: And how did you know about the Atlas rocket? That's not math. That data's not here. Like he said, it's classified. Katherine Johnson: ...I held it up to the light. Al Harrison: You held it up to the light? Katherine Johnson: Yes, sir. Al

Hidden Figures, CC BY-SA 4.0

Al Harrison: Where’s the machine? Ruth: Any day now, Mr. Harrison. Al Harrison: Any day now. What’s it called? The initials...the letters? Ruth: IBM. Paul Stafford: International business machine. Al Harrison: Space is business?! I need a mathematician.

Hidden Figures, CC BY-SA 4.0