‘Hidden Figures’ Reveals the Heartache of American History

Theodore Melfi’s 2016 biopic film provides a glimpse at how integral Black women have been to building America

Photo by NASA (Courtesy of Picryl)

NOTE: The follow article contains some SPOILERS for the film ‘Hidden Figures.’

Grossing more than $230 million at the box office in 2016, Hidden Figures has been a movie I’d wanted to check out for a long time. It took me more than six years, as I rarely go out to the movies and I don’t subscribe to any on-demand cable services. Last month, I randomly noticed it being aired on FX cable network — and decided to record it.

The film stars Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monáe, and Octavia Spencer as, respectively, Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan. These three real-life mathematicians broke racial and gender barriers at NASA in the 1960s, as Black women in a field traditionally dominated by White men.

Directed by Theodore Melfi, Hidden Figures premiered to largely favorable reviews. The initial script was written by Allison Schroeder. In hindsight, it would have been preferable to hire Black women for these positions of director and screenwriter; numerous creative liberties were taken, in terms of the film’s historical accuracy.