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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why was there sometimes confusion over Katherine Goble Johnson's race?
(a) She was very light-skinned.
(b) She was also of Chinese descent.
(c) She had blue eyes.
(d) Her personality made people forget to think about her skin color.

2. What was the name of America's first manned space project?
(a) Apollo.
(b) Project Scout.
(c) Challenger.
(d) Project Mercury.

3. How old was Christine Mann Darden when she started the second grade?
(a) Ten.
(b) Eight.
(c) Five.
(d) Seven.

4. Why was it a challenge for black boys to enter into the All-American Soap Box Derby?
(a) Some area would not let black boys enter the contest.
(b) They had to get special permission from their science teachers.
(c) It was hard for black families to hear about the contest in the first place.
(d) They had to have an engineer sponsor them.

5. Where was Katherine Goble Johnson when she found out about the jobs available at Langley for black women?
(a) At church.
(b) At the laundromat.
(c) In a bus station.
(d) At a wedding.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the name of Mary Jackson's son who entered into the soap box derby race?

2. Why was it difficult for Mary Jackson to attend engineering classes at Hampton High School?

3. Where did NASA move the space program to in anticipation of the large number of people needed to accomplish the manned orbital flight?

4. What was the name of the white woman who went with Mary Jackson to speak to a group of black female students about science and engineering careers?

5. What innovation was added to the wind tunnels to make them more closely simulate flight conditions?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Mary Jackson think it was important for her son to participate in the soap box derby?

2. How did the governor of Virginia respond to the Brown v. Board of Education ruling and what was the result?

3. How did black families handle the closing of schools in Prince Edward due to defunding by segregationists?

4. What made the theoretical group an especially good place for women to work?

5. What happened that allowed Katherine Goble Johnson the opportunity to publish her first research report?

6. Why did Katherine Goble Johnson eat at her desk when she worked in the Flight Research Division?

7. Why did Dorothy Lee regret agreeing with a reporter when she said that women had to act like ladies in the workplace?

8. Why did Katherine and Jimmy Goble have to stay with relatives when they attended Jimmy's sister's wedding?

9. How did the disbanding of West Area Computing affect Dorothy Vaughan?

10. Why was Katherine Goble Johnson warned not to ask for a transfer to an engineering group when she started working at Langley?

(see the answer keys)

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