Margot Lee Shetterly - Böcker

The Top 10 Sunday Times Bestseller NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTUREOscar Nominated For Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay Set amid the civil rights movement, the never-before-told true story of NASA’s African-American female mathematicians who played a crucial role in America’s space program. Before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of professionals worked as ‘Human Computers’, calculating the flight paths that would enable these historic achievements. Among these were a coterie of bright, talented African-American women. Segregated from their white counterparts, these ‘colored computers’ used pencil and paper to write the equations that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.Moving from World War II through NASA’s golden age, touching on the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the women’s rights movement, Hidden Figures interweaves a rich history of mankind’s greatest adventure with the intimate stories of five courageous women whose work forever changed the world.

From the #1 bestselling author of Hidden Figures, another untold, overlooked account of black perseverance and success: this is the story of the American Dream and the power brokers who built black Baltimore. In midcentury Baltimore, a bustling city of strivers and immigrants, there are two households alike in power and vision. One family, the Murphys, is the epitome of respectability, the owners of an Afro-American newspaper and reigning monarchy of black society in the city. The other is on the wrong side of the law, their upbringing threadbare and ambitions unrealized until one of the children, Willie Adams, parlays every ounce of intelligence and tenacity he has into a numbers-running empire. At a time when white banks refuse to extend credit, Willie slowly becomes black Baltimore’s last resort, reinvesting his profits into businesses small and large. Then he becomes a vital part of white Baltimore’s economic success too.This narrative, which sweeps from the 1930s to the 1970s, is a rags-to-riches story and a thrilling tour of the interconnected black bourgeoisie and black underworld. It’s the tale of business empires on the rise and of two families looking to challenge inequality through economic power. It’s a spiritual prequel to the television series The Wire, and Baltimore’s own version of Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City. It pays huge testament to the black women making change in this era, from Willie Adams’ wife Victorine Quille who was the tactician behind his success and a star in her own right, forming the first political organisation for black women in Maryland and becoming the first woman elected onto Baltimore’s city council, to Lillie Mae Jackson who was known as the mother of civil rights and grew Baltimore’s chapter of the NAACP into the largest in the country.And how did this booming city take a downturn, now known for its never-ending hard times, its homicide, police corruption, urban blight and streets of abandoned buildings? Baltimore is a microcosm of the American Dream. Even as we lament what the modern city might have been, the legacy of the Murphys and the Adamses give hope for what Baltimore could become again.

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Golden Globe-winner Taraji P. Henson and Academy Award-winners Octavia Spencer and Kevin Costner Set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow South and the civil rights movement, the never-before-told true story of NASA's African-American female mathematicians who played a crucial role in America's space program-and whose contributions have been unheralded, until now. Before John Glenn orbited the Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of professionals worked as "Human Computers," calculating the flight paths that would enable these historic achievements. Among these were a coterie of bright, talented African-American women. Segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws, these "colored computers," as they were known, used slide rules, adding machines, and pencil and paper to support America's fledgling aeronautics industry, and helped write the equations that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.Drawing on the oral histories of scores of these "computers," personal recollections, interviews with NASA executives and engineers, archival documents, correspondence, and reporting from the era, Hidden Figures recalls America's greatest adventure and NASA's groundbreaking successes through the experiences of five spunky, courageous, intelligent, determined, and patriotic women: Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, Christine Darden, and Gloria Champine. Moving from World War II through NASA's golden age, touching on the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the women's rights movement, Hidden Figures interweaves a rich history of scientific achievement and technological innovation with the intimate stories of five women whose work forever changed the world-and whose lives show how out of one of America's most painful histories came one of its proudest moments.

Based on the New York Times bestselling book and the Academy Award—nominated movie, author Margot Lee Shetterly and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award winner Laura Freeman bring the incredibly inspiring true story of four black women in STEM who helped NASA launch men into space to picture book readers! Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden were good at math…really good. They participated in some of NASA's greatest successes, like providing the calculations for America's first journeys into space. And they did so during a time when being black and a woman limited what they could do. But they worked hard. They persisted. And they used their genius minds to change the world. In this beautifully illustrated picture book biography, we explore the story of four female African American mathematicians at NASA, known as "colored computers," and how they overcame gender and racial barriers to succeed in a highly challenging STEM-based career, becoming heroes of the Space Race."Finally, the extraordinary lives of four African American women who helped NASA put the first men in space is available for picture book readers," proclaims Brightly in their article "18 Must-Read Picture Books of 2018." "Will inspire girls and boys alike to love math, believe in themselves, and reach for the stars."