Skip to content

Top Navigation

InStyle InStyle
  • News
    • All Fashion
    • Clothing
    • Accessories
    • Street Style
    • Look of the Day
    • Fashion Week
    • Future Of Fashion
    • All Celebrity
    • Awards and Events
    • Celebrity Transformations
    • All Beauty
    • Makeup
    • Best Beauty Buys
    • Health & Fitness
    • Skincare
    • All Hair
    • Celeb Hairstyles
    • Color Ideas
    • Long Hairstyles
    • Medium Hairstyles
    • Short Hairstyles
    • All Natural
    • All Lifestyle
    • Astrology
    • Travel
    • Weddings
    • Books
    • Food and Drink
    • Home and Decorating
    • Well Well Well
    • All Politics & Social Issues
    • Joe Biden
    • Jill Biden
    • Kamala Harris
    • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
    • Career
  • Pop Culture and Entertainment
  • About InStyle

Profile Menu

Join Now

Account

  • Join Now
  • My Profile
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout
My Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • My Profile
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Pin FB

Explore InStyle

InStyle InStyle
  • Explore

    Explore

    • If the Coastal Grandmother Trend Isn't for You, How About Its Alternative, Fancy Grandma?

      If the Coastal Grandmother Trend Isn't for You, How About Its Alternative, Fancy Grandma?

      It's just as comfy but a tad more exciting. Read More
    • It Seems Like Everyone Has False Lashes These Days — Here's Why

      It Seems Like Everyone Has False Lashes These Days — Here's Why

      There's a reason why they're trending. Read More
    • 8 Ways to Wear a Sheer Lace Dress, According to Stylists

      8 Ways to Wear a Sheer Lace Dress, According to Stylists

      The pros are weighing in on this trick, celeb-loved trend. Read More
  • News
  • Fashion

    Fashion

    See All Fashion
    This Easy Guide Is the Trick to Finding Your Signature Fashion Color

    This Easy Guide Is the Trick to Finding Your Signature Fashion Color

    It's all about your skin's undertones.
    • Clothing
    • Accessories
    • Street Style
    • Look of the Day
    • Fashion Week
    • Future Of Fashion
  • Celebrity

    Celebrity

    See All Celebrity
    The Best Beauty Looks From The 2022 Met Gala Scream Gilded Age

    The Best Beauty Looks From The 2022 Met Gala Scream Gilded Age

    Big hair, tiaras, and gold lids — oh my!
    • Awards and Events
    • Celebrity Transformations
  • Beauty

    Beauty

    See All Beauty
    The Dos and Don'ts of Mixing Skincare Ingredients

    The Dos and Don'ts of Mixing Skincare Ingredients

    Plus, when and how to use them.
    • Makeup
    • Best Beauty Buys
    • Health & Fitness
    • Skincare
  • Hair

    Hair

    See All Hair
    How to Get the Wet Look Without Making Your Hair Feel Crunchy

    How to Get the Wet Look Without Making Your Hair Feel Crunchy

    It's really quite simple.
    • Celeb Hairstyles
    • Color Ideas
    • Long Hairstyles
    • Medium Hairstyles
    • Short Hairstyles
    • All Natural
  • Lifestyle

    Lifestyle

    See All Lifestyle
    The One Nail Polish Color Your Zodiac Sign Should Wear for Taurus Season — and Why

    The One Nail Polish Color Your Zodiac Sign Should Wear for Taurus Season — and Why

    Leos should wear glitter, of course.
    • Astrology
    • Travel
    • Weddings
    • Books
    • Food and Drink
    • Home and Decorating
    • Well Well Well
  • Politics & Social Issues

    Politics & Social Issues

    See All Politics & Social Issues
    50 Badass Change Makers

    50 Badass Change Makers

    The world may feel heavy at the start of 2022, but this list of change makers has us optimistic for brighter days to come.
    • Joe Biden
    • Jill Biden
    • Kamala Harris
    • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
    • Career
  • Pop Culture and Entertainment
  • About InStyle

Profile Menu

Join Now

Account

  • Join Now
  • My Profile
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout
My Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • My Profile
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Pop Culture and Entertainment
  4. The Most Powerful Part of Hidden Figures? The Women, Of Course

The Most Powerful Part of Hidden Figures? The Women, Of Course

By Glynis Costin Updated Jan 05, 2017 @ 12:45 pm
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Hidden Figures LEAD
Credit: Hopper Stone/ Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

In the early 1960s, three African-American female mathematicians who worked at NASA headquarters in Virginia as "computers" helped launch astronaut John Glenn into orbit. The behind-the-scenes actions of these unsung heroines helped put America ahead of the Russians in The Space Race, boosted confidence in the U.S. Space program, and changed history. But it wasn't until many years after their brilliant contributions that these women were finally recognized. Hidden Figures (based on Margot Lee Shetterly's book of the same name) tells their true story.  

Their journey was unsurprisingly fraught with rampant sexism and racism, from the opening scene in which a white cop pulls up to them on the side of the road and questions them as they attempt to fix their Chevy Impala, incredulous that a woman (Octavia Spencer as Katherine Johnson) can repair a car.  "It's the starter," she says triumphantly. He's even more amazed when the three women tell him they work at NASA.

RELATED: Taraji P. Henson Steals the Show in Flaming Red Gown at Hidden Figures Screening

Impressed, the cop ends up escorting them to work, prompting Mary Jackson (played by Janelle Monae) to quip, "Three negro women are chasing a white police officer down the highway in Hampton, Virginia, 1961. Ladies, that there is a God-ordained miracle." From there we see the three friends both in and out of the workplace, dealing with segregated bathrooms, coffee stations, libraries and buses, not getting credit for their work, being denied education and promotions, consistently being underestimated by men, and the list goes on and on.

On her first day working a with a group of male engineers, one of them hands Katherine Johnson (played by Taraji P. Hensen) a trash can to empty. Her work partner (played by Jim Parsons) attempts to derail her by blacking out crucial numbers in reports she needs to analyze, insisting they are classified. He also removes her names from the reports they co-author.

While the film obviously presents racism and sexism in a critical  light, it nevertheless portrays the time period itself in more of a Mad Men kind of nostalgia—from the colorful dresses and skinny ties to the rotary phones, gingham picnics and cat-eye glasses. There are also a few moments that feel a bit contrived—like when Mary almost gets stuck in a NASA lab where dangerous tests are being conducted because her high heel gets caught (Yes, we get it! She's a woman who wears pumps!). Or when Katherine's boss Al Harrison (played by an even keeled Kevin Costner) dramatically tears the "Colored" sticker off the coffee pot Katherine has been forced to use then destroys the "Coloreds Only" bathroom sign with a hammer, declaring,  "Here at NASA we all pee the same color."

RELATED: Michelle Obama Hosts a Star-Studded Private Screening of Hidden Figures at the White House

Still, the history of conquering racism and sexism in America is about slowly chipping away at injustices—and the end result here is a feel good movie about an important subject and a fascinating moment in our history.

Here, we celebrate the most powerful part of Hidden Figures: the women.

Start Slideshow

1 of 4

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Taraji P. Henson

Taraji P. Henson
Credit: Hopper Stone/ Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

HOW YOU KNOW HER: As the acid-tongued, fur-wearing matriarch Cookie on Fox's Empire. She also earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 2009.

IN THIS FILM SHE PLAYS: Katherine Johnson, a brilliant mathematician and widowed mother of three who helped calculate the launch coordinates and trajectory needed to launch U.S. astronaut John Glenn into outer space.

BEST MOMENTS: After weeks of suffering in silence, Katherine erupts into anangry speech explaining to her boss why she is perennially late (she has to run to the inconveniently located  "coloreds only" bathroom). When she talks her way into a "classified" meeting and ends up doing a calculation nobody else could do, impressing astronaut John Glenn (played charmingly by Glen Powell) who calls her "the smart one," and when she tells off a handsome military officer (Mahershala Ali,) for underestimating her, which of course, only makes him like her more and romance ensues.  

WHAT'S NEXT?: An untitled filmco-starring Tika Sumpter in 2017 and, of course, more Empire.

1 of 4

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 4

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer
Credit: Hopper Stone/ Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

HOW YOU KNOW HER: You've seem her in major films like The Help, Fruitvale Station, Allegiant and more.

IN THIS FILM SHE PLAYS: The no-nonsense Dorothy Vaughan, another NASA mathematician who is denied promotion to supervisor even though she's already doing the job.

BEST MOMENTS: Sensing how computers will make her job obsolete, Dorothy teaches herself and her co-workers how to program. When a librarian won't lend her the book she needs because it's not from the "colored section" she steals it, justifying the behavior to her surprised child, declaring, "I pay taxes, too!"

WHAT'S NEXT?: The film Gifted this April alongside Chris Evans. 

2 of 4

3 of 4

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Janelle Monae

Janelle Monae
Credit: Hopper Stone/ Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

HOW YOU KNOW HER: Best known for her music (including hit song Tight Rope), she's also a CoverGirl spokesperson. Her film debut was in this year's critically acclaimed Moonlight as a supportive second mother figure to a troubled teen.

IN THIS FILM SHE PLAYS: Mary Jackson, another NASA employee and the sassiest of the three friends. She wants to become an engineer but is prevented from taking the classes she needs due to Virginia's Jim Crow Laws—the state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the south.

BEST MOMENTS: When she petitions a judge, cleverly flattering him that his judgment will be an important step in the Civil Rights Movement, which convinces him to let her take night courses. One night when she even convinces her workaholic pals to let loose, drink, and dance.

WHAT'S NEXT?: More music and working on her charity Fem The Future—a grassroots movement to raise awareness of and opportunities for women and those who identify as women. Based on this year's debuts, she will also likely be in more films (we hope!).

3 of 4

Advertisement

4 of 4

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Kirsten Dunst

Kirsten Dunst
Credit: courtesy

HOW YOU KNOW HER: As the ambitious head cheerleader in Bring it On, plus The Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette, Spiderman, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, FX's Fargo and more. 

IN THIS FILM SHE PLAYS: Vivian, the condescending boss who oversees the female mathematicians at NASA. 

BEST MOMENTS: When Dorothy asks her why she's not being promoted even though she'sdoing the job of a supervisor Vivian replies cooly, "Well, that's NASA for you." And then, when she awkwardly tries to connect/apologize to Dorothy as the two share a moment in the newly non-segregated restroom.

WHAT'S NEXT:  Beguiled with Nicole Kidman this June, and then Woodshock, written and directed by Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the designers of the fashion label Rodarte.

4 of 4

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Glynis Costin

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 4 Taraji P. Henson
    2 of 4 Octavia Spencer
    3 of 4 Janelle Monae
    4 of 4 Kirsten Dunst

    Share & More

    Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message
    InStyle

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Accolades Licensing
    • Content Licensing

    Connect

    Follow Us
    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Sign Up
    MeredithInStyle is part of the Meredith Beauty Group. © Copyright 2022 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. InStyle may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright InStyle. All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.instyle.com

    View image

    The Most Powerful Part of Hidden Figures? The Women, Of Course
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.