[56], Philanthropic non-profit outside groups and other local efforts by individuals have offered free screenings of Hidden Figures by using crowdfunding platforms on the Internet, that allow people to raise money for free film screening events. But she recognized that she had to be the One who would create opportunity for herself and others rather than lamenting the inevitable change. [52] Aspiring astronaut Naia Butler-Craig wrote of the film: "I cant imagine what that would have been like: 16-year-old, impressionable, curious and space-obsessed Naia finding out that Black women had something to do with getting Americans on the moon. Although the United States Supreme Court struck down the separate but equal doctrine which provided the basis for discrimination in 1954, people of colour were still experiencing racism and segregation in everyday life, Brown vs. Board of Education: National Park Service). 1. [73] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale,[74] one of fewer than 90 films in the history of the service to receive such a score. The scene where a coffeepot labeled "colored" appears in Katherine Johnson's workplace did not happen in real life, and the book on which the film is based mentions no such incident. Other times, you need to speak to yourself and remind you that you are a leader! Dorothy Vaughn showed up to be the boss who brings others with her AND get to be the boss. Al Harrison, one of the main supporting characters in the film "Hidden Figures" is an aeronautics engineer overseeing the calculations for the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission; piloted by John Glenn. There is a reason Hidden Figures has been the top-grossing film for the last two weeks: beyond great performances, this is a story of empowerment, of black women overcoming the double barriers. Being the one to buck authority takes courage of great testicular fortitude, but someone has to be the One to do it. Mission Control decides to land Glenn after three orbits instead of seven, and Katherine supports Harrison's suggestion to leave the retro-rocket attached to help keep the heat shield in place. Through this blog post, I have argued that Al Harrison, from, History.com Staff. But his suggestion that a feel-good scene like that was needed for the marketability and overall appeal of the film speaks to the fact that Hollywood at large still has a long way to go in telling Black stories, no matter how many strides have been made. on 50-99 accounts. It is human nature.
