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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. What was Howard Vaughan's job?

2. Who was Matilda West, the black employee who was fired for disloyalty, related to?

3. How did Dorothy Vaughan get from her hometown to her new job at Langley?

4. What did black newspapers call the black soldiers who fought overseas during World War II?

5. Who did Dorothy Vaughan think the notice she saw on a bulletin board looking for mathematicians was meant for?

Short Essay Questions

1. What observation did black leaders make concerning the events occurring in Europe 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 Miriam Mann object to the "colored computers" sign in the cafeteria?

4. How did Dorothy Vaughan become Head of West Computing?

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

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

7. How did the Jim Crow laws make public transportation difficult for both blacks and whites in Newport News?

8. Why was Dorothy Vaughan taking a risk when she decided to sign a lease on a house in Newport News?

9. Why was it necessary for Melvin Butler to begin hiring black women as computers?

10. What was the attitude of the male engineers when a human computer made an error?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay describing and discussing the objections civil rights leaders had to the space program. What problems did they see with the space program? How did the space program relate to racial inequalities?

Essay Topic 2

Katherine Goble Johnson is an important figure in the book. How does Katherine’s story help the author to explore the themes of gender stereotypes, segregation, and discrimination? How did Katherine’s outlook help her to overcome discrimination? What personality traits did Katherine possess that helped her to succeed in a male-dominated workplace?

Essay Topic 3

Shetterly dedicates an entire chapter to Mary Jackson’s son entering a soap box derby. Write an essay explaining the purpose of this chapter. How does the chapter relate to the themes of the book? What information about the individuals focused on does Shetterly communicate through this chapter? What information does the chapter communicate about racial relations during the time period?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 983 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample