In the
movie called "Hidden Figures" directed by Theodore Melfi I could see
how things were in the 60's. At that time there were a lot of racism, so much
that even the laws promoted it. I think it's unfair that, for the simple fact
of being African-American, people have had to go through so much cruelty and
injustice. As shown in the film with the main characters (Katherine, Dorothy
and Mary), people of color could not formally have jobs, at least not in the
same way as whites. The film talks about African Americans being paid less,
they did not have official titles and their jobs were despised. The three
African-American women were excellent at their job and yet they were reminded
that their jobs were temporary (unless otherwise stated) and no matter how hard
and skillful they were, they were considered replaceable.
It is for
the above that I was impressed to see how Katherine and her friends managed to stand
out despite all the obstacles that an African-American had at that time. They
were able to show that they were better than other white people (those who were
supposedly qualified). However, the racism against them did not stop, but
increased the further they climb the stairs of success.
The film
also shows a story of how an African American passenger vehicle was attacked
with bombs and even then, it did not seem like justice was being done for that
fact. It is noted that African Americans were not respected for their rights (maybe
because they were not considered American citizens), and that is what makes it
amazing how Katherine managed to stand out with her abilities to perform
calculations and solve complex problems. In addition, it is also impressive how
Mary managed to be an engineer and how Dorothy managed to direct a whole team
of African Americans to work with IBM computers (Technology that was quite
novel and difficult to manage at that time).
