Katherine Johnson, Mary

Jackson, and Dorothy

Vaughan
Katherine Johnson: Early Life

Katherine Coleman was born in White Sulphur Springs,

West Virginia; on August 26, 1918. She had 3 older siblings.
At 5 years old, Katherine went to school, but she was moved
to 2nd grade because she was advanced. She went to 5th grade at
8 years old, but was moved to 6th. African American classes only
went to 8th grade where Katherine lived, so she traveled at age
10 to the Institute of West Virginia to finish high school.
In 1937, Katherine graduated from West Virginia State
College, where she got her bachelor of science degree in
Mathematics and French.
Katherine Johnson: Not so Early Life
While in graduate school, Katherine met and married
James Goble.
When he died, she married James A. Johnson, and took
his name. The couple are still alive today.
Katherine taught at a Virginia High School for several
years, but in 1953, she began working as a pool mathematician.
Most people in the pools were women, and they were
segregated. Whenever the researchers needed math done, the
pool workers did it.
Katherine was transferred to a flight research program,
which challenged her skills.
Mary Jackson: Early life

Mary Winston- Jackson was born on April 9,

1921 in Hampton, Virginia. Her parents were Ella
and Frank Winston.
Mary went to the all black schools available
in Hampton, and graduated from George P. Phenix
Training School in 1937.
She earned a dual bachelor's degree in math
and physical science in 1942 from the Hampton
Institute.
Mary Jackson: Not So Early Life
After college, Mary worked several jobs including
Teacher, librarian, and receptionist. In 1951, she worked in
a pool of human computers.
After a few months, Mary got tired of being treated
unequally because she was a black woman. She was going
to resign, but a supervisor heard her complaints and
offered her a job working for him. She accepted, began
taking engineering classes, and was soon promoted to
aeronautical engineering.
Unfortunately Mary Jackson died on February 11,
2005, at the age of 83.
Dorothy Vaughan: Early Years

Dorothy Johnson was born in Kansas City on September 20,

1910, to Leonard and Anne Johnson. When Dorothy was 7, the
family moved to Morgantown, West Virginia.
In 1925, Dorothy graduated from Beechurst High School,
and got a Bachelor of Science degree 4 years later from
Wilberforce University in Ohio.
She married Howard Vaughan in 1932.
Dorothy Vaughan spent the next 11 years teaching math at
Robert Russa Moton High School until, in 1943, they moved to
Newport News, Virginia, where she was employed as a pool
mathematician.
Dorothy Vaughan: Not So Early Life

Despite the order Franklin D. Roosevelt created, that

prohibited discrimination against people based solely on race, local
laws required black mathematicians to work separately from white
mathematicians; and Dorothy was transferred to the West
Computing group.
Dorothy Vaughan became the first black supervisor at NACA
(Now known as NASA) in 1949, when she was promoted manager of
The West computing group.
Dorothy Johnson Vaughan died on November 10, 2008 in
Hampton Virginia.
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Accessed 30 Mar. 2017.
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Dec. 2016, www.nasa.gov/
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