State DOT Secretary Resigns, NASA’s African-American Female Mathematicians, “The Problem Of Whiteness” Course At UW-Madison Draws Ire

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• Honoring Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Astronauts Into Space

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  On Feb. 20, 1962, NASA launched one of the most important space flights in U.S. history when it sent astronaut John Glenn into orbit around the Earth. That stunning achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the work of four African-American women who served as the brains behind the flight.

  The four women — Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden — are now the subjects of both the new book “Hidden Figures” and a motion picture by the same name that will be released nationwide in January.

  The group of women computed the rocket trajectories and calculated reentry angles and everything else that was necessary to send a human into space and bring them back home safely. Lives were on the line, as was America’s reputation in the dramatic space race against the Soviet Union.

  And they did it during the throes of intense racial discrimination that came in the 1950s and ’60s, said Margot Lee Shetterly, the book’s author and the daughter of one of NASA’s first black engineers.

  “And we’re talking about Virginia in the Jim Crow south where racial segregation was a legal necessity,” she said. “These women were put into a separate office. Technically, they were called the West Computing office, but colloquially they were known as the ‘colored computers.’ And although they did the same work as their white female counterparts… they were also forced to use a colored bathroom and sit at a segregated table at the cafeteria.”

  Despite the discrimination, the women rose through the ranks of the space agency — as they did previously at their historically black colleges — and broke some of the most fortified glass ceilings in the labor force.

  “It was sheer talent. This is the kind of job that you don’t get through the door if you’re not good at it. That’s just the simple fact. You have to be able to literally do the math in order to get into the door,” Shetterly said.

  Shetterly said she hopes the book and the subsequent movie will honor their accomplishments and motivate the next generation of black engineers.

  “I’m hoping one of the things the book and the movie will do will is sort of put a mirror to those people who are already working in the profession and who have had successes in years past,” she said. “And really help students of today who may have innate mathematical or scientific talent, but for a number of reasons feel that the field is not for them, and that they’ll reconsider.”

• Department Of Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb Resigns

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  Governor Walker announced on Thursday that Department of Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb has resigned from his position. The decision to step down comes shortly after debates over Governor Walker’s budget and Wisconsin road funding. WPR’s capitol bureau chief gives us the details.

• Hidden Figures: The Four African American Women Who Helped Launch America Into Space

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  Four black women, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden were responsible for some of NASA’s greatest successes. Their story, told by a writer who knew them personally, highlights a key chapter in American history – a time when Jim Crow laws ensured NASA remained segregated.

• A new course being offered at UW-Madison titled “The Problem of Whiteness” has become controversial nationwide. We’ll speak with Scott Jaschik, Editor of ‘Inside Higher Ed’, about the course, the controversy, and lawmakers’ reactions to the course.