A group of Black women, crucial to NASA’s achievements during the space race and famously known as the “Hidden Figures,” were honored with a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony on Capitol Hill.
These trailblazing mathematicians and engineers considered essential to NASA’s work from 1930 to 1970, helped launch America into space by calculating rocket trajectories and orbits that put men on the moon, all while facing the dual barriers of racism and sexism.
On September 18, they were recognized for the pivtoal roles they played and awarded Congressional Gold Medals, which is the highest civilian honor in the United States. Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson were honored posthumously, while Christine Darden, the fourth “Hidden Figure,” was recognized for her contributions as an aeronautical engineer, according to NASA.
“This has been a long time coming,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson during the ceremony. This sentiment echoed through the room as these remarkable women were honored for their contributions, which helped lay the foundation for America’s success in space exploration.
Johnson credited the women with laying “the very foundation upon which our rockets launched, our astronauts flew, and our nation soared.” The space race may have been about rocket trajectories, Earth orbits, and putting men on the moon, but for these women, it was also about breaking barriers and reshaping what was possible. Their work many Black women in STEM careers.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called their contributions “innumerable” and said, “They proved an unassailable fact—our diversity is a strength.” The families of the four women were presented with the medals. Another medal was symbolically presented to all those whose contributions to NASA went unrecognized during the period.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson said their accomplishments “are all the more impressive” given the challenges they faced because of racism and sexism.
“Although we call them ‘Hidden Figures,’ we shouldn’t think of them merely as supporting characters in the American story of space exploration,” said Speaker Johnson. “They were the engineers and mathematicians who actually wrote the story itself.”
Margot Lee Shetterly, whose nonfiction book “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race” brought these women’s stories to light and inspired the Oscar-nominated 2016 film Hidden Figures, was also present at the ceremony alongside other lawmakers and dignitaries who recognized the monumental impact these women had. “By honoring them, we honor the very best of our country’s spirit,” said Shetterly.