'Hidden Figures' shows triumph of intelligence over segregation

LACONIA — The Laconia Human Relations Committee, in cooperation with the Laconia Public Library, will show the film, Hidden Figures, on Monday, May 1, at 6:15 p.m. This is another in the International Film Series shown monthly from September through June at the Library.

Three brilliant African-American women at NASA -- Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson -- serve as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation's confidence, turned around the Space Race and galvanized the world. This 2017 film is based on the true stories of these three women.

Katherine Johnson calculates and crunches the numbers that are so critical to the space program's future. The first IBM computers were just being brought into the space program. Her mathematical abilities were astounding. They were relied on long into the time when computers began to be available. She was at the nerve center of planning for John Glenn's first manned flight, as well as others, yet treated as black people were treated in the most segregated and disparaging ways of the 1950's.

The women carry the title, computer. These computers are kept apart from the rest: meaning they are segregated from all of the white staff. They have their own bathrooms, their own cafeterias, their own coffee machines. Integration is not, it would seem, to be a part of NASA's future any more than it would be Virginia's. Yet, they work through these conditions with grace and spirit, while taking care of their families and community relationships.