Transfigured by Figures
Stories
Contents
"Transfigured by Figures" by Frank Ramirez
Transfigured by Figures
by Frank Ramirez
Exodus 24:12-18
Katherine Johnson’s autobiography Reaching for the Moon was published in 2019, when she was one hundred years old. It is written, according to the information on the book jacket, for readers aged 10 and up, and up is the key word. Adults will also enjoy this book that is about going up and up and up, not only into the realms of higher numbers, but also through the atmosphere into space.
And because Katherine Johnson was an African-American woman growing up in in the Jim Crow south, it’s also about rising up through barriers of gender and race. Hers is an inspiring story, and she tells it in part to inspire children of all backgrounds to become the person they are meant to be, and to follow their passions, no matter what barriers are put into their way.
From as far back as she remembers, Katherine loved numbers. She was always counting things. As a four-year-old she was so startled than an older brother was having trouble with math, that she decided on her own to walk to school one morning and start attending so she could help him. The disbelieving teacher became a believer and soon created a class for her.
According to Johnson, “My daddy always told me, ‘You are no better than anyone else, and nobody else is better than you.” His words helped her succeed, but throughout the book, John emphasizes for her young readers the limitations that white society put on her and her family. Her life revolved around the all-black church, the families in the homes on the all-black streets, the businesses where they could shop and the restaurants where they were allowed to find a seat.
Katherine was taught as a child to be very cautious about her behavior when she worked in white society, but she could not hide how intelligent she was. As she grew older, always skipping grades in school, she eventually found work as one of the black maids at a hotel serving an all-white clientele. A visiting French woman realized Katherine spoke French fluently, which led to private lessons from the French chef who also worked there.
Getting an education wasn’t easy, but with the support of her parents she achieved advanced degrees. Her fascination with numbers fueled her ambition, but white society imposed strict limitations on what she could achieve with her mathematical gifts. She became a teacher for African-American students in African-American schools. Ironically, because of the prejudice against African-Americans, the standards were higher for these teachers, so the quality of education was sometimes higher than other schools despite all the underfunding.
In 1949, she took advantage of an opportunity to work as a computer at the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, Virginia. Computers were not machines. They were women who performed the mathematical calculations for the engineers designing new aircraft. Langley was part of NACA, which would ultimately become NASA. The women who were computers were segregated by race. White women worked in one area, and black women worked in another.
Soon, however, Katherine’s advanced mathematical skills were recognized by the white male engineers in charge of various projects. They were impressed that Katherine wasn’t afraid to point out where they were wrong. They were impressed that she was always right. They were impressed by the complex questions she asked about their work that often led to improvements they’d never thought of.
In her book, she talks about how she viewed her work for NASA as vital in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. One scene she describes in her autobiography is especially telling. In the early days of the space program, the new mechanical computers were not always fully reliable. Katherine was very talented when it came to plotting the orbits of the first piloted spacecraft to ensure that the astronauts splashed down near the recovery vessels. There was a great deal of fear surrounding John Glenn’s safety as he prepared for the first American orbital flight. She writes:
“I was aware that John Glenn knew of my work. What I did not know at that time was that as he ran through his preflight checklist two days before the scheduled launch date, he was evaluating the data that the IBM computer had generated.
“’Get the girl,’ he said, uncertain of the data from the computer. ‘If she says they’re good, then I’m ready to go.’
“By ‘girl’ he meant me, Katherine Johnson—Negro woman, widow, wife, sister, daughter, mother of three. Human computer.”
Johnson calculated the numbers for launch, the orbits, and re-entry by hand, taking her calculations to two extra decimal points beyond what the computer provided, and only when she confirmed this time the mechanical computers got it right did Glenn go ahead with his successful orbital mission.
Katherine Johnson worked as a female in a male world, and as an African American in a white world. She commuted from her segregated neighborhoods, attended a segregated church, and went to segregated stores and restaurants. But once she arrived at work, she was simply one of the best mathematicians involved in the calculations for aircraft and spacecraft. She plotted and planned complex experiments for the wind tunnels to prove some of her own ideas. Eventually she became co-author on many of the papers for which she provided advanced computations, something that had not ever happened before. And though at first it seemed like some of the engineers weren’t comfortable being around her, some of them, recognizing her genius, became good friends.
Despite all the barriers separating them, the truth of calculations, which were beyond prejudice and beyond dispute, transformed and transfigured how Katherine Johnson looked in the eyes of her white co-workers. She was no longer black, and no longer a woman. She was simply an esteemed and valuable colleague: Katherine Johnson.
(Want to know more? Read Reaching For The Moon: the Autobiography of Mathematician Katherine Johnson, or turn to Hidden Figures: The American, and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, by Margot Lee Shetterly.)
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StoryShare, February 23, 2020, issue.
Copyright 2020 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"Transfigured by Figures" by Frank Ramirez
Transfigured by Figures
by Frank Ramirez
Exodus 24:12-18
Katherine Johnson’s autobiography Reaching for the Moon was published in 2019, when she was one hundred years old. It is written, according to the information on the book jacket, for readers aged 10 and up, and up is the key word. Adults will also enjoy this book that is about going up and up and up, not only into the realms of higher numbers, but also through the atmosphere into space.
And because Katherine Johnson was an African-American woman growing up in in the Jim Crow south, it’s also about rising up through barriers of gender and race. Hers is an inspiring story, and she tells it in part to inspire children of all backgrounds to become the person they are meant to be, and to follow their passions, no matter what barriers are put into their way.
From as far back as she remembers, Katherine loved numbers. She was always counting things. As a four-year-old she was so startled than an older brother was having trouble with math, that she decided on her own to walk to school one morning and start attending so she could help him. The disbelieving teacher became a believer and soon created a class for her.
According to Johnson, “My daddy always told me, ‘You are no better than anyone else, and nobody else is better than you.” His words helped her succeed, but throughout the book, John emphasizes for her young readers the limitations that white society put on her and her family. Her life revolved around the all-black church, the families in the homes on the all-black streets, the businesses where they could shop and the restaurants where they were allowed to find a seat.
Katherine was taught as a child to be very cautious about her behavior when she worked in white society, but she could not hide how intelligent she was. As she grew older, always skipping grades in school, she eventually found work as one of the black maids at a hotel serving an all-white clientele. A visiting French woman realized Katherine spoke French fluently, which led to private lessons from the French chef who also worked there.
Getting an education wasn’t easy, but with the support of her parents she achieved advanced degrees. Her fascination with numbers fueled her ambition, but white society imposed strict limitations on what she could achieve with her mathematical gifts. She became a teacher for African-American students in African-American schools. Ironically, because of the prejudice against African-Americans, the standards were higher for these teachers, so the quality of education was sometimes higher than other schools despite all the underfunding.
In 1949, she took advantage of an opportunity to work as a computer at the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, Virginia. Computers were not machines. They were women who performed the mathematical calculations for the engineers designing new aircraft. Langley was part of NACA, which would ultimately become NASA. The women who were computers were segregated by race. White women worked in one area, and black women worked in another.
Soon, however, Katherine’s advanced mathematical skills were recognized by the white male engineers in charge of various projects. They were impressed that Katherine wasn’t afraid to point out where they were wrong. They were impressed that she was always right. They were impressed by the complex questions she asked about their work that often led to improvements they’d never thought of.
In her book, she talks about how she viewed her work for NASA as vital in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. One scene she describes in her autobiography is especially telling. In the early days of the space program, the new mechanical computers were not always fully reliable. Katherine was very talented when it came to plotting the orbits of the first piloted spacecraft to ensure that the astronauts splashed down near the recovery vessels. There was a great deal of fear surrounding John Glenn’s safety as he prepared for the first American orbital flight. She writes:
“I was aware that John Glenn knew of my work. What I did not know at that time was that as he ran through his preflight checklist two days before the scheduled launch date, he was evaluating the data that the IBM computer had generated.
“’Get the girl,’ he said, uncertain of the data from the computer. ‘If she says they’re good, then I’m ready to go.’
“By ‘girl’ he meant me, Katherine Johnson—Negro woman, widow, wife, sister, daughter, mother of three. Human computer.”
Johnson calculated the numbers for launch, the orbits, and re-entry by hand, taking her calculations to two extra decimal points beyond what the computer provided, and only when she confirmed this time the mechanical computers got it right did Glenn go ahead with his successful orbital mission.
Katherine Johnson worked as a female in a male world, and as an African American in a white world. She commuted from her segregated neighborhoods, attended a segregated church, and went to segregated stores and restaurants. But once she arrived at work, she was simply one of the best mathematicians involved in the calculations for aircraft and spacecraft. She plotted and planned complex experiments for the wind tunnels to prove some of her own ideas. Eventually she became co-author on many of the papers for which she provided advanced computations, something that had not ever happened before. And though at first it seemed like some of the engineers weren’t comfortable being around her, some of them, recognizing her genius, became good friends.
Despite all the barriers separating them, the truth of calculations, which were beyond prejudice and beyond dispute, transformed and transfigured how Katherine Johnson looked in the eyes of her white co-workers. She was no longer black, and no longer a woman. She was simply an esteemed and valuable colleague: Katherine Johnson.
(Want to know more? Read Reaching For The Moon: the Autobiography of Mathematician Katherine Johnson, or turn to Hidden Figures: The American, and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, by Margot Lee Shetterly.)
*****************************************
StoryShare, February 23, 2020, issue.
Copyright 2020 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
