Hidden Figures - Il diritto di contare

Look at the movie poster

🚀Who are the main characters? 

🚀Where does the scene take place ? 

🚀What can you see in the background ? 


VOCABULARY to describe the characters. Identify each character: Katherine, Dorothy or Mary? 

a) smart     clever    thinks outside the box       curious  

b) persevering     respectful      ambitious     takes her responsibilities seriously        
             
c) flirtatious     persuasive        determined     self-confident     playful (= scherzosa)

Listen to the plot of the film, recorded with the app From text to speech

In 1961 Katherine Johnson , Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson were working at NASA during the preparation for the launch of the astronaut John Glenn’s spaceship. Their life was not easy; they worked hard, and also had to face prejudice and injustice. At that time, in the USA, racial segregation was still a sad reality. African Americans were paid less, did not get promotion, and had segregated libraries, dining rooms, toilets and even coffee machines at work! Mary  dreamt to become an engineer, but many American colleges were not open to black people.She convinced a judge to permit her to attend night classes and became NASA’s and America’s first female aeronautical engineer.

Women also had to fight for the same rights as men. Katherine Johnson could not go to important meetings, just because she was a woman.

Katherine Johnson is the film’s main character. Her calculations helped John Glenn become the first American to orbit the earth. She continued working at NASA for a long time. In 2015, when she was 97, President Obama gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the most important awards for American citizens. But everyone  will  remember Katherine  not only for her great scientific talent, but also for her determination to challenge race and sex discrimination.