![]() ![]() NASA segregation was as real as it was in the rest of the country. Ongoing Segregation IssuesĪs progressive and forward-looking as Hampton Roads may have seemed at first glance to someone like Dorothy Vaughan, it was still a segregated city of the American South at the height of the Jim Crow era. However, NASA segregation was far from over. The opportunity for a black person to work as a computer in an aeronautical laboratory (and not as a janitor or cafeteria worker) was something altogether new and extraordinary. This enabled the first generation of black female professionals to get in the door at Langley. Under pressure from African-American civil rights leaders, the Roosevelt Administration took steps to desegregate the industry and open up defense jobs to black female applicants as well. Perhaps the most lasting and significant domestic effect of World War Two was its role in accelerating the dismantling of the Jim Crow system of racial segregation that had prevailed throughout much of the American South for over a century following the end of the US Civil War. Although the United States was spared from the ravages of combat on its own soil, the war nevertheless profoundly reshaped the country’s economic, social, and political system. World War Two was the most devastating conflict in human history. Read how the women of Hidden Figures helped end segregation in NASA. But when the president ordered NASA (then NACA) to tap into the large workforce they were ignoring, women like Dorothy Vaughan and Katherine Johnson got the chance to prove themselves. NASA segregation reflected the segregation of the rest of the country. What can NASA segregation tell us about the rest of the country during the Civil Rights Movement? What can we learn from Hidden Figures segregation and the fight for equality? Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here. Shortform has the world's best summaries of books you should be reading. ![]() This article is an excerpt from the Shortform summary of "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly. ![]()
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