Katherine Johnson was someone who was not only an African American but also a woman who lived through times in which both were extremely oppressed. She was born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia on the 26 of August, 1918. Since she was young, she greatly enjoyed mathematics and was very good at them as well. At only 10 years old, she became a freshman in highschool. In that era it was even uncommon for African Americans to continue school beyond the eighth grade. She attended West Virginia High School and graduated at the age of 14. At eighteen she enrolled in the West Virginia College, where she made quick work of the school’s math curriculum and found a mentor in math professor W. W. Schieffelin Claytor, who was the third African American to earn a PhD in Mathematics. Katherine graduated with highest honors in 1937 and took a job teaching at a black public school in Virginia.
Later on, she was one of three hand-picked African Americans that were chosen to attend the state’s flagship school, West Virginia University, by West Virginia State’s president Dr. John W. Davis. There Katherine Johnson left her teaching job to enroll in the graduate math program. But during her journey, she decided to leave school to start a family with her husband. She returned to her teaching when her three daughters got older and it was not until the 1952 that one of her relatives told her about open positions at the all-black West Area Computing section at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ (NACA’s) Langley laboratory.
Moving into her new job at NACA, she, along with the other African American women, were given the title of “computer.” As an African American women, work was often more difficult and oppressive her. She constantly questioned everything, asking why she would not be allowed to attend briefings and meetings. Once, she even asked if there was be a law against it. Later on, this would have allowed her to be who she is now known for by standing out. In 1960, Johnson, along with engineer Ted Skopinski, co-authored "Determination of Azimuth Angle at Burnout for Placing a Satellite Over a Selected Earth Position," a report laying out the equations describing an orbital spaceflight in which the landing position of the spacecraft would be specified. Eventually she would finally be assigned a true job that she in fact believed would be suited to her skills.
In 1962, NASA prepared for the orbital mission of John Glenn. There were mechanical computers that were in charge of tracing the capsule from Glenn’s Friendship 7 mission. But from the start, astronauts were were worried over them putting their lives in the hands of some computers. With this in mind, Glenn had asked for engineers to “get the girl,” showing that the trusted Katherine Johnson much more than the computers. She was assigned to run over what the computers had been working from. With this, Johnson had so much on hand as Glenn had said “if she says they’re good then I’m ready to go.” Because of Katherine, Glenn’s flight was an overall success and this had greatly marked a turning point through competition between the Soviet Union and the United States.
Katherine had to go through many tough times being an African American as well as being a woman. She was constantly being put down throughout her youth, such as not being allowed to go to certain schools or not having the same opportunities as white people. But she kept fighting and even with these put-downs, she was still able to graduate middle school and high school at such a young age. She constantly fought for her opportunities to be the same as others and that also helped her career.
When she joined NACA’s “human computers”, she would even be put down by people, including her co workers. The other African American women would also constantly tell her to calm down a bit as she would always expect to be treated the same as her white colleagues and she would demand that treatment. There were even times when she would be mistreated even as she moved on to personally work with engineers and the other white men at NASA. She was constantly looked at in a disrespectful manner. Being an African American woman she would have to use a separate restroom from white people. Since there weren't any other African Americans that worked within her facility, she would constantly have to run out of her building into another no matter in what conditions just to do something as simple use the restroom. This would take up a lot of time and would even affect her work. But at one point she finally had gotten enough of that treatment and complained to her boss who later tore down any signs that said she could not be there because of her race.
Katherine Johnson is now known as someone who not only greatly contributed to space exploration with her incredible calculations, but she also defied many race and gender “laws.” She was awarded with a plaque dedicated in honor of her as well as a building in NASA named after her. She was also awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2015.