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In a time when controversies were plentiful, three intellectually talented women went against the country’s norms. Because most men were expected to help serve our country in World War II and then in the Vietnam War, the country was in dire need of qualified mathematicians. The protagonists of Hidden Figures knew they were extraordinary from the start, but the conditions of the World War II era provided them an additional obstacle.

The essence of the story was a short but significant one; Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson and Katherine Johnson, all gifted mathematicians, helped win the space race during a time of high demand for workers. They all had an aptitude for mathematics and degrees to prove it. What they lacked was a society supportive of their talents.

In telling the story of these women, the author, Margot Lee Shetterly, ensured that readers will want to empathize with the characters. For example, Shetterly wrote about Katherine Johnson’s struggle in finding a job that fit her capabilities; she was a teacher and mom long before she was a labeled mathematician. When a job offer from Langley Research Center finally presented itself, Johnson put aside her love for teaching and doing whatever is needed to expand the knowledge of the lower-class students, to do what was best for her and her family, which meant following her calling. She knew that this would possibly be her only shot at such a respectable and successful career and that her husband and kids would wait for her as she pursued her dream.

The most important aspect of the novel was that the women were described holistically rather than individually. One step forward for Johnson meant one step forward for both Jackson and Vaughan, as well. This feature is of utmost importance to the story; it emphasized the significance of teamwork over individual talents. Even if one of these women was smarter than the others, Shetterly hid that from readers to ensure that a step in the right direction for one of them reverberated through the entire population of African-American women in the STEM fields of science, technologly and math.

Additionally, the author provided all the details possible on their lives as mothers, women and mathematicians.

However, Shetterly definitely could have excluded some extra details about mathematics and space in general. The extra commentary might be appealing to readers interested in the STEM field, but for the average reader it got slightly repetitive.

Nevertheless, one thing that Shetterly did exceptionally well was make readers interested in the space race.

At the first mention of the Soviet Union launching Sputnik in 1957, I found myself rooting for these life-changing women. Also, the story itself was extremely inspiring to me as a female. It made me feel like I can truly do anything I want with my life, whether it is a job typically meant for men or not.