Hidden Figures reflection paper

1. 1. What is said to be the main mission as depicted in the film?
The main mission depicted in the film is that the U.S government, particularly
NASA, wants to launch a person in outer space. One of their goals is to beat the Soviet
Union in the space race. This can also be observed since the time period is around the
cold war between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The government is
worrying that the Soviet Union may spy on them since they already launched a satellite
in space. They are aiming to build a spaceship that would be stable and not kill a person
once they are on the launching process.
2. Identify the primary roles of the three main characters in the film.
● Katherine G. Johnson: She is a mathematician and physicist. Her role in the
movie is for people in higher positions (especially the men) to see that they have
to remove (just like the sign of the colored bathroom) the labels of racism and
sexism to see the great potential of a person. Out of all the people in the movie
she has the greatest impact in both the mission and future work of NASA.
● Dorothy Vaughan: She is the head of all the colored women and assigns their
works. Later in the film she became a supervisor and one of the programmers for
the new computer. Her role in the movie is to break the racist outlook of colored
people in the workforce. The way she was degraded just because of her colour
and her bravery to conquer it all. She also possesses leadership skills that are
efficient in inspiring other coloured people to break the chain of racism that limits
their capabilities.
● Mary Jackson: She used to be an assistant for engineers but at the end of the
movie she is an engineer. Her role is very important towards every woman who
has colored skin or not because she broke the standards of universities to allow
women to study engineering. The bravery that Jackson has is an inspiration to
many people for them to find another way for them to take the opportunity they
were not given to.
3. Identify specifically the contributions of each of the main characters towards the
achievement of the mission.
● Katherine G. Johnson: Her contribution is that she did the mathematical
equations that allowed for the space ship to a trajectory and where it will land.
The computations she has allows scientists and engineers to predict where their
ships may land as well as see the different outcomes. Due to her abilities in both
physics and mathematics, many people trust her computation, even the astronaut
that was sent into space. On the day of the launching, there has been an error in
the IBM computer and Johnson recomputed to get the right figures for the launch
to be possible.
● Dorothy Vaughan: Her contribution is that she figured out how the IBM machine
works and studied the programming language of FORTRAN which allows the
space launch. She possesses great leadership skills that she taught the same
programming language to more colored women in NASA.

2. ● Mary Jackson: Her contribution is that she is one of the people who helped on the
structure of the space capsule. She also became an engineer at the end of the
story that enhanced her knowledge towards the structure of the spaceship during
the launch in the climax of the story. Her observation allows NASA to see the fault
of the capsule. Jackson rushed to phone NASA about it and tells them that the
astronaut should keep the retro pack in place during reentry rather than the first
plan that is jettisoning. Since the capsule may grow very hot as it goes to different
parts of the atmosphere. Her theory was right all along that allowed the astronaut
to go back safely.
4. What are the different instances you were able to observe that shows discrimination
against colored women? (Please enumerate five or more)
Based on the movie here are six instances were the colored women was
discriminated by society:
A. The racist policeman who assumed that the three women were criminals because
of their skin colour. When they said they were working for NASA he let them go.
B. The Colored Bathrooms
C. The Other Scientists giving Katherine G. Johnson a separate coffee pot.
D. Colored People and women are not allowed to enrol in the course of Aeronautical
Engineering. Mary Jackson had to go to court for her to be allowed to study.
E. The Library where Dorothy Vaughan and children were halted since the library is
only for whites.
F. The Separation of white and black people in the workforce. This can be seen in
how they eat their lunches and the parade where they meet the astronauts.
5. How are they able to change the outlook of the people towards colored women?
The discrimination of colored women has always been a hindrance to society, yet
it became a motivation for more colored women to strive harder. Since the mindset of
people from the past moulded generations to discriminate in both sexism and racism.
The best way to change this outlook is becoming open-minded. The labels of gender
and race is not a way to discriminate against a person especially if they have a lot of
potential. Though this words may always be said by anyone, one should apply this
mindset for people to not only stop discrimination but to inspire more people to do the
same thing. It is very beautiful that is not quite common anymore and there are more
women who have colored skin who are now working for NASA and other big
corporations that were once filled with racist men.