Hidden Hero
Katherine G. Johnson is a hero. Not only because she was one of the African-American women mathematicians who helped win World War II, challenged the Soviet Union in the space race and put a man on the moon. Not only because she bucked the segregated system that denied blacks and women access to quality educations and professional careers. Not only because she worked sixteen-hour days while raising a fine family and staying active in her community and her church. Not only because she received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. But also because she was kind.
Johnson’s story, along with the stories of other women who worked as “human computers” for NASA during the war and into the space race, is told in the book, Hidden Figures; The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly, and in the movie Hidden Figures in which she is depicted by Taraji P. Henson. Mrs. Johnson had brains. She had courage. She had strength of character and many qualities of a hero. She was also kind.
Kind people think about others. When Katherine was a girl, she loved math. She excelled in school. She constantly asked questions. Her daughter Joylette Hylick, related this story: “The teacher would say, ‘Katherine, now why are you asking that? Because I know you know the answer. And [Katherine] would say, ‘I’m asking because you know they won’t.” She wasn’t asking for herself. She was asking so that her fellow students, perhaps afraid to ask for themselves, would understand the lesson. That’s kindness.
Katherine graduated from high school at fourteen and went on to college, where she took every math class offered. When she finished all of those, math classes were created for her. After graduation, she was offered a chance to attend graduate school, but she had obligations to family, so she took a job teaching math. She loved her students and tutored many even after moving on to work in the war effort. She didn’t forget those she had left behind. That’s kindness.
While working in the segregated and male-oriented aeronautic industry, Katherine continued to support those around her, even as she was kept out of meetings, for which she had done the important ground work, and as she used segregated bathrooms and sat at segregated lunch tables. Whenever she got a chance to put some other woman forward for a responsible position she did. That’s kindness.
After retiring, Katherine continued to be active in her church and sorority. She spoke at schools, encouraging students, especially young women, to pursue their dreams, to overcome obstacles, to believe in themselves, and to work hard. Working hard is necessary for changing the world.
Katherine is almost 99 years old and very much at full kindness capacity. She lives in a retirement community where she continues to help when and as she can. So many people want to interview her that her daughters have had to set limits. But her image, in the book, in the movie, and in real life, continues to encourage people everywhere that with courage, focus, hard work, and kindness, one person can make a difference in this world.
