Korean War, 99, 104
Negro treatment and, 103–104, 105
Rosenberg spies, 101
Soviet atomic capability, 98, 152, 301. See also Soviet Union Sputnik. See Sputniks US guided missiles, 162
Coleman, Joshua and Joylette, 23, 70–71, 76, 77, 134–135, 245
Coleman, Katherine. See Johnson, Katherine Coleman Goble Collier Trophy, 99, 110, 111
Colored Computers cafeteria sign, 43–45, 48
cafeteria segregation, 130, 146–147, 169–170
Colored Girls bathroom sign, 8, 43, 44
bathrooms segregated, xv, 48
East Side assignment, 108–109
opting out, 129, 146–147, 179
Soviet influence, 169–170
“colored” use in book, ix
Coltrane, Lucille (scientist), 179–180
Colvin, Claudette, 168
“come-heres” as newcomers, 7
compensation. See salaries “compressed-air” research, 56, 58
computers (electronic)
Analysis and Computation Division, 204–206, 218–219, 241
Apollo 13 crisis, 248–249
astronaut resistance, 215–217
Bell electronic calculator, 137–138
computational fluid dynamics, 254, 262
“fly-by-wire” Mercury missions, 216
human computers versus, xvii, 138–139, 211, 216–217, 219–223, 225
IBM. See IBM computers Katherine Johnson versus, xvii, 211, 216–217, 219–223, 225
men in computing, 205
Project Mercury, 205–206, 207
computers (human)
astronauts and, 188–189, 216–217
Colored Computers and Hampton, 47–48
Colored Computers cafeteria sign, 43–45, 48, 130
computers are electronic, 205
defending her numbers, 114–115
Dryden High-Speed Flight Research Center, 84–86
East Computing disbanded, 86, 87, 88, 165, 166, 167, 205
East Computing section, 39, 40, 84, 107–108, 172
electronic computers versus, xvii, 138–139, 211, 216–217, 219–223, 225
expertise over generalists, 165–166
first female computing pool, xvi, 4–5
Flight Research Division assignments, 57, 58–59
Head Girls, 91–92
Human Computer Project, 267, 268
incorporated into divisions, 165
Jewish with Negro friend, 102
Katherine Johnson celebrity, 225, 232, 249–250
Katherine Johnson vs. electronic, xvii, 211, 216–217, 219–223, 225
“math aides” of NASA, 190, 210
mathematicians versus, 143, 229–230. See also mathematicians men as, 205
Mustangs and Tuskegee airmen, 52
supervisor duties, 89
Virginia Tucker as head computer, 5, 40, 86
West Area segregation, 7, 37, 43–45, 48, 104–105
West Computing boom, 105, 107
West Computing dissolved, 171–173, 204, 218–219
West Computing downsize, 165–167
West Computing section, 39–40, 48–49, 81, 87, 88, 102, 250, 264
“woe unto thee,” 58–59
women as, xvi–xvii, 4–5, 59, 81–82, 83–84, 115, 166, 180
working outside Langley, 289
Cooke, Arminta (West Computer), 171, 204
Cooper, Gordon, 228
Copeland Park (Newport News, VA), 29, 62, 64, 67
Cox, Elbert Frank, 13
Cronkite, Walter, 111, 239–240
Crosby, Bing, 71
Cuba, 207, 222
Curtiss Wright computer pool, 82, 289
Czarnecki, Kazimierz “Kaz,” 109–110, 142–143, 197, 254–255
Darden, Christine (data analyst)
as data analyst, 231–232, 260–261
doctorate in mechanical engineering, 262–263
Hampton Institute, 202–203, 225
Katherine Johnson on, 250
sonic boom research, 261–262
Darling, Frank, 38
Darling processing plant, 38, 93
Darling Stadium, 225
“data analysts” for mathematicians, 259
Davis, Benjamin O., 51
Davis, John W., 72, 74–75
defense industry desegregation, 6, 15–16, 32
Delta Sigma Theta sorority, 40, 105
Dembling, Paul, 170
Derring, Eldridge, 90, 91
desegregation
Brown v. Board of Education, 135, 140–141, 153–154, 157, 304
defense industry, 6, 15–16, 32
Dorothy Vaughan textbook, xvii
“Four Freedoms,” 31
Girl Scouts, 198, 256
graduate school programs, 24–25, 75
Holiday Inn bar, 146
Langley Air Force Base, 168
Little Rock, 150
military, 104
Senator Byrd versus, 141, 168–169, 170, 184–185
universities, 24, 25, 75, 152, 157
Virginia schools, 203, 304, 306
See also segregation Double V, 35–36
Dryden High-Speed Flight Research Center (CA), 84, 163
Du Bois, W. E. B.
on black treatment, 103
death, 228–229
first Harvard doctorate to black, 13
The Souls of Black Folk, 33, 109
on teaching opportunities, 73–74
Dwight, Ed, 241
Dylan, Bob, 228
Earhart, Amelia, 53
Easley, Annie (scientist), 217–218
Eisenhower, Dwight D.
Introduction to Outer Space, 175, 305
military-industrial complex, 207
National Defense Education Act, 158
peaceful space launch, 162
secret bunker, 151
“small ball in the air,” 152
electronic computers. See computers (electronic) Engineering, Science, and War Management Training (ESMWT) programs, 46, 142, 283
engineers
black engineers, xiv, 113–114, 145–147, 230
“compressed-air” research, 56, 58
expertise over generalists, 165–166
Federal Women’s Program Manager, 256–257
“fresh-air” research, 57, 58, 122, 127, 298
Mary Winston Jackson, 143–145. See also Jackson, Mary Winston men uniquely gifted, 257
National Technical Association, 197
“no-air” research, 58, 83, 112
resource on Langley aeronautical, 298
women as, 16, 144, 158, 197–198, 255, 257, 302
women scientists, xvi, 179–180, 257, 305
Enos the chimpanzee, 222
Epps, Eric, 63, 118, 120, 252
Etheridge, Mark, 33
Evans, James C., 73
F for fighter planes, 57
Faget, Maxime, 180, 188
Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC), 6, 33
significance to blacks, 15–16, 32, 66
Fair Employment Practices Within the Federal Establishment (1948), 104
Faubus, Orval, 150
FEPC. See Fair Employment Practices Committee Ferguson, Robert, 252
Fetterman, David, 262
Fitchett, Blanche Sponsler, 91. See also Sponsler, Blanche Flight Research Division Aerospace Mechanics Division from, 182
computer assignments, 57, 58–59, 107, 122
“fresh-air” engineers, 57, 58, 122, 127, 298
high-speed to spaceflight, 163–164
Space Task Group, 183–184. See also Space Task Group Forbes, Malcolm, 71
FORTRAN language, 206, 254, 261, 262
Foxx, Charles, xiii
Freedom 7, 208–209
“fresh-air” research, 57, 58, 122, 127, 298
Friendship 7, 223–224
Fries, Sylvia, 257
Gable, Clark, 53
Gagarin, Yuri, 208, 209
Gas Dynamics Laboratory, 100–101
Gaye, Marvin, 251
Gehrig, Lou, 71
George, Albert, 262
Gilruth, Robert, 184, 189, 316
“girls” use in book, ix. See also women Glenn, John, 188, 214–217, 223–225, 250
Glenn, Madelon, 16
Goble, James Francis “Jimmy”
as chemistry teacher, 25, 69, 119
death, 133, 135–136
homeowner, 131, 132
marriage to Katherine, 74, 76
move to Hampton, 117–118, 120
Goble, Katherine. See Johnson, Katherine Coleman Goble Goddard Space Flight Center (MD) capsule position, 221–222
CO3E software program, 207
IBM 7090 pair, 206, 207, 215, 218
women scientists, 218, 255
Golemba, Beverly, xvii, 263
Gough, Melvin, 127, 316
Graham, Julia, 113
Greenbrier resort (“Old White”; WV)
bellman Howard Vaughan, 14, 23, 71, 77
bellman Joshua Coleman, 23, 71, 77, 135
bunker below, 151–152
celebrity guests, 71, 72
serving-class divisions, 72
Greensboro Four, 201
Grissom, Virgil “Gus,” 211, 233
Gup, Ted, 152
Hairston, Ernie, 227
Haise, Fred, 248
Ham the chimpanzee, 208
Hamer, Harold “Al,” 122, 176, 177, 234, 246, 248, 249
Hammond, Ann Vaughan, 263
Hampton (VA)
African feet ashore, 228, 311
Bay Shore Beach, 78, 93, 118
black neighborhood resource, 299
city official seal, 225
civil rights movement, 202–203
electricity rationing and wind tunnels, 56
Hampton High School Langley classes, 141–142, 144–145
John Glenn hero’s welcome, 224–225
Langley Lab and, 38, 53
prewar hamlet, 93–94
racial tensions, 31, 47–48, 142, 167–168
sounds of Langley, 3, 56
“Spacetown, USA,” xviii, 225, 273
Hampton Institute (VA)
black president, 97, 203
civil rights sit-in, 202