Charleston Women Spring 2021

www. Char l es tonWomen . com | www. Char l es tonWomenPodcas t . com | www. ReadCW. com CW No Hidden Figures ThreeWomen and Their Pivotal Roles in the IAAM T he International African American Museum, located in Charleston, is scheduled to open in 2022. It will tell stories about journeys that began centuries ago in Africa and yet still continue. Millions of Africans, captured and forced across ocean waters, arrived at Gadsden’s Wharf in Charleston and other Atlantic ports. Despite the grueling labor, their resistance and remarkable ingenuity has shaped every aspect of our world today. The 2016 biographical drama film “Hidden Figures” was based on three brilliant African American women — mathematicians Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan. Employed by NASA, they calculated flight trajectories by hand, using analytic geometry. In 1961, they were the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit. Though their roles were significant and instrumental at the Langley Research Center, they were hidden — segregated —because of their race and gender. Most recently, thousands of individuals have become contributory participants in the dawning of the IAAM, a place to honor the untold stories of the African American journey. Not long ago, I learned about the pivotal roles three local African American women play in the materialization of this project. Unlike the women of NASA, they are visible for all to see. BY CATHY C . BENNE T T Lef t to R ight , Mar t i na Mora l e, Rev. DeMet t Jenk i ns and Cher y l German . Photos by J eanne Tay l or Photography.