#Katherine johnson nasa address today series#

Katherine Johnson working as a 'computer' at NASA in 1966. This article features properties in the National Register of Historic Places that are related to their stories. Nevertheless, African American women played a critical role in the Space Race and rose to new heights as mathematicians, computer programmers, team project leads, and engineers at NASA. African American women faced additional barriers because of racial discrimination. At the time, opportunities for women to advance in their careers were limited. The agency did not open these positions to African American women until 1943 to address labor shortages during World War II. NACA began hiring white women as computers in 1935. Many of these women got their start as “human computers,” performing complicated calculations that supported the work of male engineers.

During the 1950s and 1960s, they joined dozens of other African American women who crunched numbers and processed data for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and its successor, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In 2016, the film Hidden Figures skyrocketed Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan to household names. The content for this article was researched and written by Jade Ryerson, an intern with the Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education.

#Katherine johnson nasa address today series#

Series What Matters Episode Katherine Johnson: NASA Pioneer and 'Computer' Producing Organization WHRO (Television station : Norfolk, Va.Woman computer with NASA. We'll see you next time for another look at what matters. And we'll be glad to take your calls at that time as well. That's here say weekdays on 89.5 FM noon to 1. And on the radio, I hope you'll join us for more local talk. You can also join us on Facebook as well. That's what and that's where you'll find any number of ways to get in touch with us. And what if among them is the next Katherine Johnson? To watch this program or any of our past broadcasts, be sure to visit our website. Staring us in the face is the fact that there are 65,000 students in this country graduating from high school with good grades, extracurriculars and community service, and no hope of going any further. Was blocked by Senate filibuster in December, but no amount of legislative gymnastics will stop this tragedy and the making. In exchange, these immigrants would have been required to complete two years of military service, or two years at a four-year institution of higher learning. high schools, are of good moral character, arrived here as minors, and have been in the country continuously and illegally for at least five years before the bill becomes law. The Dream Act would have granted conditional permanent residency to undocumented immigrants who graduate from U.S.

These students don't want to expose their parents, but they do want an education and the ability to contribute to this country that they call home in the same way any American citizen does. If you think it's as easy as going down to immigration and stepping your foot on that pathway to citizenship, think again. Without documents, it's a terrible choice. Taking low paying jobs or being lured by the promise of riches in criminal enterprise. Return to a country they don't know where there may no longer be any family, or live in the shadows like the parents do. Without access to college, these students face a stark future. Rope walk for students who grown up in this country, but are not legally present. Right now, colleges set their own admission policies, and Federal law prohibits undocumented students from getting federal financial aid. Federal law prohibits them from getting in-state tuition, even though they may have lived in the state most of their lives, and now comes a bill in the Virginia General Assembly from Delegate Christopher Peace that would make Virginia the fourth state that prohibits undocumented students from even entering Virginia colleges at all. Children brought to the United States by their parents through no fault or intention of their own can go to school through 12th grade here, but as graduation looms, so do some very unpleasant realities. So how many Katherine Johnson's are out there this year in 2011 with undiscovered gifts that we can nurture and leverage? Well, if their parents are undocumented immigrants, we may never know. It's a gift for Katherine Johnson, and I can't help but wonder whether she would have discovered that gift and shared it with a space program if she hadn't had parents who insisted on getting her the best education that could be had. Right, you know you have a head for numbers.