The film is set in 1961, a time when Jim Crow laws were only about to be abolished. Even at a futuristic and advanced facility like NASA Langley Research Center, discrimination towards African-Americans was still evident, let alone towards African-American women. In fact, there was a separate facility for them who are mathematicians who compute for NASA. Their facility is generally referred to as the West Computing Group, housed in a building that stood a considerable distance from the main NASA research facility. Due to the presence of Jim Crow laws, bathrooms were segregated into "colored" and "white" and the only building that housed "colored" bathrooms was that of the West Computing Group. This made it difficult for Katherine Johnson to attend to her duties as a mathematician for NASA once she was already working at the main research facility. Even libraries were segregated according to one's ethnicity. African-Americans were not allowed to visit libraries for the "whites." This was evident when Dorothy was in search of a certain book that would enable her to operate the IBM. In general, discrimination was still very much alive. This is why Mary Jackson was initially reluctant to become an engineer for NASA, despite clearly having the intelligence and thus, the capabilities for it.
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Hidden Figure Movie Review: Setting
In the early years, Africans were enslaved because of the Europeans who brought them to the continent of America. In estimate, 6 million Africans were taken against their own will. Those enslaved were considered crucial for the economy, especially to South America because of their cotton industries. Due to the injustice, different revolutionary acts were spurred from the Africans. Some of which include the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Underground Railroad. Subsequently after the Civil War, slavery was gradually abolished through the efforts of President Abraham Lincoln's administration, among others. There was, however, the passing of Jim Crow laws, a collection of statutes that legalized racial segregation. These laws were present from 1865 to 1965. Fortunately, this did not hinder African-Americans from fighting against the unfair treatment. Due to several civil rights movements and the efforts of people like Ida B. Wells and Isaiah Montgomery amid others, the Jim Crow laws were eradicated as well.
Black History Timeline. (2009, October 14). Retrieved January 11, 2019, from https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-milestones