Although they may never completely shed the label, the women who worked for NASA as human computers during the space race are no longer "hidden figures," and they now have a medal to prove it.
On Wednesday (Sept. 18), the women as a group and four individuals who have come to represent their collective experiences were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors in the United States. As authorized by Congress, the medals were bestowed to Christine Darden and posthumously to Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan.
A separate Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal was also dedicated to all of the women who worked as mathematicians and engineers at NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) and NASA between the 1930s and 1970s.
"These women didn't just crunch numbers and solve equations," said Rep. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. "They actually laid the very foundation upon which our rockets launched and our astronauts flew and our nation soared."
"So today, for all their contributions to the space program and to society, it is my great honor to award these women with a Congressional Gold Medal," Johnson said.
