I will do my best not to foolishly inquire why it took so long to bring the achievements of these three amazing women of color to the screen, but you owe yourself a treat by seeing Hidden Figures. Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe, Hidden Figures shocks as it uplifts, placing you squarely in an America of the early sixties and letting you experience the grossly unfair struggles of three brilliant women without ever beating you over the head, which makes the film all the more moving and inspiring. Beautifully performed by Henson, Monáe, and Spencer with an able assist from Kirsten Dunst, Kevin Costner and Jim Parsons, Hidden Figures is a deserving box office hit. All I can say is, it’s about time.
Per Refinery 29, fundraising efforts are springing up across the country to enable girls to see Hidden Figures — Read more here. There is a reason girls don’t go into the STEM professions and it has nothing to do with a lack of ability, but a lack of encouragement. If you can see it, you can be it. Offering girls positive role models is the best way to ensure a pathway forward.
Here is the synopsis offered by 20th Century Fox
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As the United States raced against Russia to put a man in space, NASA found untapped talent in a group of African-American female mathematicians that served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in U.S. history. Based on the unbelievably true life stories of three of these women, known as “human computers”, we follow these women as they quickly rose the ranks of NASA alongside many of history’s greatest minds specifically tasked with calculating the momentous launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, and guaranteeing his safe return. Dorothy Vaughn, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson crossed all gender, race, and professional lines while their brilliance and desire to dream big, beyond anything ever accomplished before by the human race, firmly cemented them in U.S. history as true American heroes.
Don’t miss it!