Hidden Figures

and progress to the social sphere

Coworkers got used to finding Mary standing quietly at their desks, enlisting them in her latest attempt to apply the engineer’s values of discipline, order,

Mary, however, was determined to clamber over every fence she encountered and pull everyone she knew behind her.

She pushed Levi (and his teachers) to allow him to take the most challenging math and science classes he could handle, and she coached him on his science projects.

No NASA father had anything on Mary Jackson

Parents who spent their days designing, building, fixing, and operating machines of transportation signed their sons up and gave free rein to their own tinkering instincts. They got to spend time with their children and let the parental mask slip just a bit, giving their offspring a glimpse of the curious child they themselves had

She was ready to spend all the time it took to help her son, Levi, build a humdinger of

Mary Jackson scrutinized every aspect of the model—its smoothness, its symmetry and alignment, its weight distribution—her trained eye and intuition sensitive to anything that might lower its aerodynamic fitness

Mary Jackson scrutinized every aspect of the model—its smoothness, its symmetry and alignment, its weight distribution—her trained eye and intuition sensitive to anything that might lower its aerodynamic fitness.

Parents (usually fathers; Mary was one of the very rare derby moms) were supposed to stand back and offer only advice, but it was usually hard to tell who savored the engineering project more, the parent or the child.