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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Margery Hannah treat the black computers?

2. Which Executive Order desegregated the military?

3. What was the original name of NASA?

4. Who was West Computing's section head when Dorothy Vaughan first came to Langley?

5. What notable member of the U.S. Navy visited Langley shortly before Dorothy Vaughan arrived?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the goal of NACA during World War II?

2. How did Shetterly's childhood affect the way she thought of blacks working in science, math, and engineering?

3. Why did Joshua Coleman rent a house for his wife and children that was 125 miles away from their home?

4. Why did William Claytor create special classes just for Katherine Goble Johnson?

5. Why did millions of American women lose their jobs after V-J Day?

6. Why were Howard and Dorothy Vaughan an uneven match for one another?

7. What did Mary Winston Jackson try to teach the girls in the Girl Scouts troop that she lead?

8. What did some supervisors at Langley do to encourage talented female computers to remain on the job?

9. What does Shetterly want for the women she writes about in Hidden Figures?

10. Why were employees of NACA warned not to speak of their work outside the office during World War II?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Shetterly makes a case for historical events affecting the opportunities made available to African Americans and women in mathematics and science. Write an essay describing and discussing the ways in which the events occurring in the world created these opportunities. Why was it necessary to hire African American women at Langley? What demands were placed on the researchers at Langley that required additional employees? How did the civil rights movement affect the hiring and advancement of black women at Langley?

Essay Topic 2

Mary Jackson’s humanitarian work outside of Langley informed the direction of her career. Write an essay describing the work that Mary did outside and inside of Langley and how the two were interconnected. Why did Mary make the move to Human Resources and how did her humanitarian work influence the work she did in that department?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay comparing advances in aeronautics to advances in the civil rights movement. How do the two interconnect? Do the two advance at the same rate? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 879 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample