Creola Katherine Johnso, later known simply as Katherine Johnson was born, August 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. 

She had four older siblings. 

Katherine always had strong mathematical abilities from a young age.  Because the county she lived in didn’t offer classes for African American students past the eighth grade, her parents planned for their children to attend a high school. 

The school was located on the campus of West Virginia State College.  Can you imagine Katherine being enrolled at the age of ten?  Her learning time was split between the two institutions. 

She graduated from high school at the age of fourteen and attended West Virginia State College.  Of course she took every mathematical class offered by the college. 

Mentorship Is Important 

She had several mentors.  Her mentor, W. W. Schieffelin Claytor, challenged her and created and added new mathematic courses just for her. Again, proving that mentorship is important.

After the United States Supreme Court ruling in 1938, that required States which provided public higher education to white students to provide it to black students as well, either by establishing black colleges and universities or by admitting black students to previously white-only universities, Katherine was the only woman selected to attend West Virginia State University.

She decided to become a research mathematician even though it was a difficult field to get into for African Americans and women. 

Later she was hired by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics or NACA. 

Colored Computers 

Confident in her ability she stood on the foundation that she belonged in the field. She didn’t allow the segregation laws at the time deter her. Her area was called the “Colored Computers”. 

Her confidence would later be proven when she calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepard, the first American in space.

The movie Hidden Figures is based on her life and the lives of other female African American women. 

Picture credit: Wikipedia and NASA

Picture credit: Dan Cristian Padure @Unsplash.com