![]() ![]() Dorothy Vaughan was the first of the main characters hired as a mathematician by Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (later Langley Research Center). ![]() Likewise, because so many Black and White men were away fighting the war, women had greater access to employment than ever before. With a mandate to desegregate the federal workforce for the war effort during World War II, more opportunities became available for African Americans. Shetterly’s goal is to make known the stories of women like those she was acquainted with growing up. Each was largely hidden from the public view: Most people think of White male astronauts when they think of NASA, and the countless mathematical calculations that lie behind the agency’s accomplishments are known only to specialists. The title is a play on the meaning of the word “figures” in the sense of both people and numbers. The story focuses on four African American women as examples of the many such women who worked at Langley. ![]()
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