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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Shetterly say was one of Katherine Goble Johnson's "great talents?"

2. How did Mary Jackson see her son's opportunity to build a soap box derby car?

3. What country were Americans concerned about their students being able to compete with?

4. What part of the Mercury Project did Katherine Goble Johnson request to work on?

5. Why did Dorothy Hoover leave NACA?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What was one major change that occurred when NACA became NASA?

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

5. Why did the East Computing girls laugh at Mary Jackson when she asked them where the bathroom was?

6. Why did NASA move the space program to Houston?

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

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

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

10. Why did Melvin Butler fail to inform the engineering staff that James Williams was black?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Shetterly periodically introduces a new individual in the book, which helps to move the story forward into the future. Write an essay describing the way in which Shetterly introduces individuals and how that keeps the timeline of the book moving forward. Why does Shetterly introduce individuals in the way she does? How does her introduction of new individuals show the way in which the work one woman did helped the next woman to succeed?

Essay Topic 2

The black women that Shetterly focuses on in Hidden Figures had a great deal in common. Write an essay discussing what the women had in common and how those traits helped them to excel in their careers. What were their educational backgrounds? What were their personalities like? How did the ways in which they looked at the world help them to succeed?

Essay Topic 3

Shetterly indicates that Langley was something of a social experiment in terms of integration. Write an essay describing the gradual integration of black employees into the general workforce of Langley. How did the work of the black women computers help to integrate Langley? What part did the attitudes of progressive white employees play in the integration of Langley? What changes in the outside world impacted integration at Langley?

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