Katherine Johnson walked so Black girls everywhere could fly. One of those Black girls is Oscar winner Taraji P. Henson, who paid tribute to Johnson, the late NASA mathematician, whom she portrayed in Hidden Figures.
Henson posted a black-and-white photo of Johnson, who died Monday at the age of 101, on her Instagram account, writing in the caption, “Thank you QUEEN #KatherineJohnson for sharing your intelligence, poise, grace and beauty with the world!”
“I will forever be honored to have been apart of bringing your story to life,” Henson continued.
“You/your story was hidden and thank GOD you are #hiddennomore. God bless your beautiful family. I am so honored to have sat and broke bread with you all. My thoughts and prayers are with you!”
While Hidden Figures, which received three Oscar nominations, focused on three Black women who worked as “human computers” at NASA in the 1960s, Johnson was the only one still living when the movie was released in 2017. Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) died in 2008 and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) died in 2005.
“Because of your hard work little girls EVERYWHERE can dream as big as the MOON!!!” Henson wrote on the ‘gram. “Your legacy will live on FORVER AND EVER!!! You ran so we could fly!!!”