Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer and Taraji P. Henson bring to life the largely unknown story of three African American women who made a significant contribution to NASA in the 1960s. The landmark film Hidden Figures has released its first trailer, which finally gives screen-time to the women who provided the raw computing skills and mathematics to a largely white-male dominated work place.
Following a shortage of male-number crunchers, labor and civil rights leaders signed an Executive Order, which aimed to create ethical employment practices and prohibit racial discrimination in the defence industry, soon after, help wanted notices began to appear in ‘coloured’ newspapers across America.
Despite the aim of the Executive Order being to prohibit racial discrimination, the women were forced into segregation, paid less, and missed out on opportunities given to their male counterparts.
Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, are just three of the many African-American women workers who made enormous contributions to NASA. Their incredible story was finally made public when Margot Lee Shetterly’s novel Hidden Figures hit the shelves this month.
Now, Directed by Theodore Melfi, the extraordinary story makes its way to the big screen. The film, which features original music by Pharrell Williams, will makes its launch in Australia theatres from February 23rd, 2017.
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