NASA’s first black female engineer, Mary Jackson, and mathematicians Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan were honored posthumously with the Congressional Gold Medal during a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on September 19.

Members of their families attended the ceremony to accept the awards. The women’s work paved the way for the first U.S. astronauts to successfully orbit Earth.

All three “hidden figures” attended HBCUs, which House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries noted at the gold medal ceremony. Margot Lee Shetterly, author of the 2016 book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, was also at the gold medal ceremony.

“Hidden Figures” refers to a group of African American women mathematicians and engineers who worked at NASA (previously NACA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) and made crucial contributions to the U.S. space program during the mid-20th century. Their work had been overlooked for decades due to both gender and racial biases. The term became widely known after the 2016 book Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, which was adapted into a popular film of the same name.

“At a time in America when our nation was divided by color and often by gender, these women dared to step into the fields where they had previously been unwelcome,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson at the crowded ceremony. A contingent from Dallas, Texas, was present, including the son of the late Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, who proposed legislation for the women to be recognized with a Congressional Gold Medal.

Katherine Johnson, a mathematician, calculated flight trajectories for Project Mercury and the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon. Known for her skills in celestial navigation, she played a crucial role in ensuring the success of significant space missions. Johnson was a member of the AKA sorority and a teacher at a black public school in Marion, Virginia. She had lived with her family in Newport News and then Hampton since the 1950s. She passed away at a retirement home in Newport News in February 2023 at 101.

Dorothy Vaughan was a mathematician and computer scientist. She became the first African American woman to supervise a group of staff at NASA. Vaughan was an expert in FORTRAN, a prominent early programming language. She also helped transition from manual computing to electronic computers.

Mary Jackson made history as NASA’s first African American female engineer, breaking racial barriers and advocating for diversity and equal opportunities in STEM fields.

Although not featured in the movie Hidden Figures, Christine Darden’s career is extensively covered in the book. She was an aerospace engineer specializing in supersonic flight who worked on reducing sonic boom, making significant contributions to aerodynamics and fluid dynamics. Darden also advocated for women and minorities in science and engineering at NASA.

“The pioneers we honor today, these Hidden Figures – their courage and imagination brought us to the Moon. And their lessons, their legacy, will send us back to the Moon… and then…imagine – just imagine – when we leave our footprints on the red sands of Mars. Thanks to these people who are part of our NASA family, we will continue to sail on the cosmic sea to far off cosmic shores,” said NASA Administrator and former U.S. Senator Bill Nelson during the ceremony.

Black Virginia News/US CAPITOL