Name_______________________
HIDDEN
F I G U R E S
Where and when does the movie take place? Who
was President of the United States at that time? How
is this president connected to the Space Race?
Where in the movie do you see Jim Crow laws and
customs in place? (Give at least three examples)
How did you feel when you witnessed this overt
discrimination?
Do you think the movie paints an accurate picture of
racism in the south under Jim Crow? Why or why
not?
How was the police officer’s demeanor when he first
approached the NASA computers? How does his
demeanor change when they begin discussing the
Space Race and Russia?
Describe the coffee scenes in Katherine (Goble)
Johnson’s Space Task Group office. (4 different
scenes across the whole movie.) What do these
changes represent?
Describe the IBM computer NASA installed at the
start of the space race. What did they have to do to
get it into the room where it would be set up?
Katherine is regularly excluded from key meetings
because there is no protocol for a woman to attend.
Why is it important for her to attend these meetings,
and how does she prove to the men in the room that
it is to their advantage for her to be present?
What was Al Harrison’s (Katherine’s boss) reaction to
the Soviets’ victory in orbiting a man in space?
Describe the public’s interest in Gus Grissom’s orbit
around the Earth. What effect did Gus Grissom’s
orbits around the Earth have on the Space Race?
What parting gift does Katherine get right before her
wedding? What is the significance of the gift?
How did the fact that television news coverage was
live influence the public’s response to John Glenn’s
space flight? How did it complicate the work of
NASA?
Who becomes the supervisor at the end of the
movie? How does Mrs. Mitchell acknowledge this?
Do you think NASA was a socially progressive
organization in 1961? Why or why not?
Transformation is the story-line of the movie. What
characters are transformed? What characters are not
transformed in some way?