In the early 2010s, if you asked a random person who Katherine Johnson was, you’d probably get a blank stare. Most people didn't know about the women who literally calculated the trajectories for the moon landing. They were ghosts in the machinery of the Cold War. Then came Margot Lee Shetterly.
Honestly, she wasn't even looking for a blockbuster. Shetterly was just visiting her parents in Hampton, Virginia, for the holidays. Her dad, Robert Lee III, was a research scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center. They were driving around, and he casually started talking about the women he’d worked with—the "human computers."
Her husband, Aran Shetterly, was the one who actually voiced the question that changed everything: "Why haven't I heard this story before?"
Basically, that single moment of curiosity sparked a six-year obsession. It turned into Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. It wasn't just a book; it became a cultural reset.
The Nerd Who Changed History
Margot Lee Shetterly describes herself as a total "geek" growing up. While other kids were reading comics, she was busy clipping stock tables out of the newspaper and filing them into a binder. She loved the clean logic of numbers.
You’ve got to understand her background to see why she was the perfect person to write this. She graduated from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce in 1991. She didn't head straight for the archives, though. She went to Wall Street. She worked at J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch.
She knew how to handle massive data sets. She understood how institutional systems worked. When she finally sat down to research NASA’s history, she wasn't just looking for "inspiration." She was looking for evidence.
The Research Was a Total Grind
Writing a book like Hidden Figures isn't just about interviewing a few people. It’s about digging through dusty boxes in the National Archives until your eyes literally start to tear up. Shetterly spent hours in the NASA History Office in D.C. She traveled to Maryland, Texas, and Chicago.
She found phone books from the 1940s. She tracked down office memos and employee newsletters. Why? Because the names she was looking for weren't in the headlines. They were in the margins.
One of the most striking things she uncovered was that this wasn't just a story about two or three "exceptional" women. It was a whole ecosystem. Thousands of women—both Black and white—were doing the heavy mathematical lifting for the U.S. space program.
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Why Hidden Figures Author Margot Lee Shetterly Won't Stop
Most authors would take the win and move on after their book becomes a #1 New York Times bestseller and an Oscar-nominated movie starring Taraji P. Henson. But for Shetterly, the book was just the tip of the iceberg.
She founded The Human Computer Project.
It’s a digital archive meant to document every single woman who worked as a computer or mathematician at NACA (the precursor to NASA) and NASA between the 1930s and 1980s. She’s currently a scholar-in-residence at UVA, working with interns and professors to unearth even more names.
What People Get Wrong About Her Work
There’s a common misconception that Hidden Figures is just a "feel-good" story about overcoming racism. That’s a bit of a surface-level take.
If you listen to Shetterly speak, she’s very clear: this is a story about professional excellence. These women didn't just "get a chance." They were the best in the room. They forced the hand of the U.S. government during the Jim Crow era because the math didn't care about the color of their skin. If the math was wrong, the rocket blew up. It was that simple.
She also challenges the "lone genius" myth. We love stories about one person saving the day, but Shetterly shows that scientific progress is a team sport. Katherine Johnson was a titan, but she was part of a cohort.
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The Reality of Living in the Shadows
Shetterly’s work reminds us that history is often just a matter of who is holding the pen. The women of Langley weren't "hidden" to the people they worked with. Her dad knew them. The engineers knew them. They were only hidden from the public narrative because they didn't fit the mid-century image of what a "scientist" looked like.
It took a finance-background writer with a deep personal connection to her hometown to finally bridge that gap.
She often talks about "the persistence of injustice" but also the "grit to stand up against it." It wasn't always about dramatic protests. Sometimes it was just about showing up to a meeting you weren't invited to and refusing to leave until your calculations were heard.
Actionable Insights for History and Research
If you’re looking to dive deeper into the world Margot Lee Shetterly built, don't just stop at the movie. The film is great, but it condenses years of timeline for drama. To really understand the scope, you should:
- Visit the Human Computer Project website: It’s a goldmine of raw data and personal stories that didn't make it into the 2-hour film.
- Read the original nonfiction book: The prose contains technical details about the wind tunnels and the transition from human computers to IBM mainframes that are fascinating.
- Look into the West Area Computers: This was the specific segregated unit where the Black women worked. Understanding the geography of the Langley campus helps explain the hurdles they faced daily.
- Support local archives: Shetterly’s work was only possible because of preserved local records and oral histories. Many of these stories are still sitting in boxes in your own town.
Margot Lee Shetterly proved that "untold" doesn't mean "unimportant." It just means we haven't looked hard enough yet.