Which biographical film tells the story of African American mathematicians at NASA?

Which biographical film tells the story of African American mathematicians at NASA? The answer is Hidden Figures.

Released in 2016, Hidden Figures dramatizes the work of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson at NASA’s Langley Research Center during the Space Race. Before NASA was created in 1958, Langley operated under the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA. The women worked as “human computers,” performing complex calculations that supported aircraft and spacecraft research.

The film is based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s nonfiction book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race. Taraji P. Henson plays Johnson, Octavia Spencer portrays Vaughan, and Janelle Monáe plays Jackson. Johnson calculated trajectories for Mercury and Apollo missions, Vaughan became NASA’s first African American supervisor, and Jackson became NASA’s first Black female engineer.

A common mix-up is confusing the film with Apollo 13 or The Right Stuff, which also depict American space history but focus on astronauts and missions rather than the mathematicians behind them. The film is historically inspired, though some scenes combine people or dramatize events.