![]() The good news? Slowly, things are getting better. Because that narrative has been buried for so long, we have created an industry that does not so easily invite - let alone accept - people of color and women. Which leads me to my point: When you dig into the origins of computing, women were the original software developers, including women of color. That’s much more of an unremarkable background than the “Minority Unicorn” ideology suggests. She proves that Black women are just as capable as anyone else. After college, she was introduced to research mathematics before eventually asking to go to NASA, where she taught, and learned as any other mathematician. Katherine had parents who encouraged her to study math, and had access to teachers and schools. On the other hand, she had an incredibly average childhood, got a good education, and excelled in a subject that she loved. On the one hand, yes, she is a rarity to have been a NASA superstar at the time, especially for such a high-profile project on a global scale. Katherine Johnson herself both proves and disproves the idea of the Minority Unicorn. This is a special request to begin with, but at the time, with race relations the way that they were in the United States, it was incredible. In the video below, you will hear that John Glenn specifically asked for Katherine to ensure the accuracy of his trajectory in space. I was initially inspired to dig deeper by this 2011 interview with Katherine Johnson on the show “What Matters” on PBS. But does that hold true in reality? It’s important to make sure that we take a deeper look into the life stories and careers of those like Katherine Johnson to challenge this theory. With the recent release of the movie “Hidden Figures,” we begin to scratch the surface of the “Minority Unicorn” in history and technology, which is the idea that women, specifically Black women in STEM, are rare and unique. When you think about Black women in STEM, you are likely to assume that they are rare.
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