February 4, 2024
Today is February 4, 2024, the fourth day of Black History Month. The last two years or so, I post photos of my relatives and their accomplishments. I’m currently looking for a new job, focusing on Artificial Intelligence, and wanted to write (blog) about my journey. My journey into finding a new job and learning Artificial Intelligence.
It’s hard to explain but life can be strange sometimes. Society teaches you, are at least when I was growing up, the Black folks did not contribute much to history… expect for picking cotton and being a Civil Rights Leader. So even those it was infuriating, it wasn’t a surprise that I didn’t learn about Katherine Johnson until my 40’s. The strange part is, I took on that belief that Black folks didn’t contribute much while at the same time my Grandfather worked at NASA. I didn’t understand the significant of him working there because it was just normal that he worked there.
I wanted to write about this because representation is IMPORTANT! I was always good at Math, even when teachers tried to push on my that I wasn’t… out of their unconscious bias or white fragility. I just feel that if I had known about Katherine Johnson, and the other ladies at NASA, I would have enjoyed Math… Period. I was good a Math but, other than Geometry, I didn’t enjoy it.
I hope everyone knows about, and has seen, the movie „Hidden Figures“. According to NASA.gov, Katherine Johnson was a „NASA mathematician, trailblazer in the quest for racial equality, contributor to our nation’s first triumphs in human spaceflight and champion of STEM education“.
As I mentioned above, my paternal Grandfather also worked at NASA. I haven’t heard of other African American men working at NASA but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any. My Grandfather did not talk about his work at NASA. The little I know is from a paper I found around the house, here and there. A museum down in Thomasville, GA has more information… and it can be found at Jack Hadley Black History Museum. According to the museum, my Grandfather’s „scientific work led to the development of the United States Navy’s Polaris Submarine-Launched Missile System, the Air Force Anti-Ballistic Missile defense system and later satellites for communication and Global Surveillance’. The Jack Hadley Black History Museum has a website.
Reference(s):
Katherine Johnson at NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/katherine-johnson/
Jack Hadley Black History Museum: https://jackhadleyblackhistorymuseum.com/gallery/science-inventors/