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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What were the employees at Langley warned against doing outside of the workplace during World War II?
(a) Letting anyone know where they worked.
(b) Telling people there were black women working at Langley.
(c) Socializing with people of different races.
(d) Talking about their work.

2. How did Margery Hannah treat the black computers?
(a) She went out of her way to be extra nice to them.
(b) She ignored them.
(c) As equals.
(d) As inferiors.

3. How many women, both black and white, were working as computers when Dorothy Vaughan started at Langley?
(a) 500+.
(b) 200+.
(c) 100.
(d) 20.

4. What song did Mary Jackson tell her Girl Scouts that they would never sing again after she thought about the stereotypes the song promoted?
(a) Swing Low Sweet Chariot.
(b) Pick a Bale of Cotton.
(c) No More My Lawd.
(d) Early in the Mornin'.

5. Which of the following planes was used in the bombing of Japan?
(a) Chance Vaught F4U Corsair.
(b) Boeing B-29 Superfortress.
(c) North American P-51 Mustang.
(d) Douglas C-47 Skytrain.

6. How were black people expected to enter a bus due to segregation laws?
(a) Through the back door of the bus.
(b) They had to wait for all white passengers to enter first.
(c) By getting permission from the bus driver before entering.
(d) Through the front door of the bus.

7. What was special for the Vaughans and Manns about vacationing at Log Cabin Beach?
(a) It was the only place they were able to socialize with one another.
(b) Blacks and whites vacationed together there without segregation laws.
(c) Miriam and Dorothy could talk openly about their work.
(d) There were no "colored" signs.

8. What was the name of the personnel officer at Langley Research Center when Dorothy Vaughan began working there?
(a) Asa Phillip Randolph.
(b) Thomas Byrdsong.
(c) Melvin Butler.
(d) John Glenn.

9. Who was the man that was promoted to head the Stability Analysis section despite the fact that he had not finished college?
(a) R.T. Jones.
(b) Harry Byrd.
(c) Thomas Byrdsong.
(d) Melvin Butler.

10. Who was Matilda West, the black employee who was fired for disloyalty, related to?
(a) Mary Jackson.
(b) Miriam Mann.
(c) Dorothy Vaughan.
(d) Katherine Goble Johnson.

11. What did the U.S. government do to prevent black leaders like Josephine Baker and W.E.B. Du Bois from having an impact on relations with newly independent countries?
(a) Denounced them in the press.
(b) Put them in jail.
(c) Revoked their passports.
(d) Charged them with heavy fines.

12. What position was Dorothy Vaughan promoted to under Margery Hannah?
(a) Head computer.
(b) Engineer.
(c) Mathematician.
(d) Shift supervisor.

13. What laws were being used in an attempt to dismantle black communities after World War II ended?
(a) Segregation laws.
(b) Slum clearance laws.
(c) Federal housing approval laws.
(d) Wartime temporary housing laws.

14. Who hid the "colored computers" sign from the cafeteria?
(a) Dorothy Vaughan.
(b) Mary Jackson.
(c) Miriam Mann.
(d) Katherine Goble Johnson.

15. What did Langley do in hopes of turning the computers into junior engineers?
(a) Sponsored a course in engineering physics.
(b) Paired them up with engineers who acted as mentors.
(c) Paid for computers to go back to college.
(d) Required them to take classes at the local college.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Dorothy Vaughan's summer job before she began working at Langley?

2. What state was Katherine Goble Johnson from?

3. How did Katherine Goble Johnson return to teaching in 1944?

4. How did Shetterly know the woman that her father told her was a human computer, thus sparking her interest in the topic?

5. What neighborhood near Langley did Dorothy Vaughan eventually permanently settle in?

(see the answer keys)

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