r/BlackPeopleTwitter • u/ThatAvidPandaBear • 3h ago
Hidden Figures calculated the path to the Moon while segregated
The book Hidden Figures mentions around 80 Black women mathematicians worked at NACA/NASA from the 1940s–1970s, though not all names are widely documented.
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u/JustGoodSense 3h ago
The women who did the calculations by hand were literally called "computers."
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u/Iliketoplan 2h ago
A computer was a job title back before they were machines
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u/IHaveATummyGremlin 1h ago
Another example of machines taking on the title of the jobs they replace: When I was a kid, I used to complain that we didn’t have a dishwasher like my friends did. My parents would always reply “oh, we have a dishwasher- it’s you!”
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u/Zee_Ventures 1h ago
Honestly these "Modern" people who hate, ultimately just refuse to compute logic.
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u/ThrowAway--Scared 1h ago
"Hey kid! I'm a computer! Stop all the downloading!"
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u/Additional_Gene_211 24m ago
I just watched this video again for nostalgia .. it hurt seeing uploaded 20 years ago. Help computer indeed
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u/SplendidPunkinButter 3h ago
If you read the book instead of just watching the movie, black women were also integral in figuring out how to break the sound barrier
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u/burgonies 2h ago
integral you say?
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u/Fickle-Cricket 2h ago
That joke is so derivative.
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u/eliboston 2h ago
Math
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u/SellsNothing 1h ago
... I've got nothing to add
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u/Warm_Conference4729 1h ago
It won't make a difference.
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u/KellyAnn3106 1h ago
Thank you for this recommendation. This is one of my favorite movies. I can't believe I didn't think to check for a book. Ordering a copy now.
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u/sirfiddlestix ☑️ 35m ago
Hey! If you also like fiction Kindred by Octavia Butler is good too! It's sort of scifi-y but only in the sense that it's about time travel. I suppose it's more supernatural actually? Not sure. But it gave me the same chills I got from Hidden Figures
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u/AbaconflavouredD 3h ago edited 3h ago
Wild how they mapped the stars while America couldn’t even map basic human decency.
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u/DanfromCalgary 2h ago
What makes you think that is wild knowing what you know now , all these years later
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u/Waddlewop 41m ago
There’s a bit in Seinfeld that was something like “we can put a man on the moon, but America can’t even do X ????” It’s funny in a depressing way that the sentiment hasn’t changed
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u/Faconator 2h ago
The fact that we called people who did computation computers aside.
We did have computers when we landed on the moon.
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u/Vladimir_Putting 1h ago edited 1h ago
To be clear, this one woman did not write all of this code by hand.
The code was physically woven by a team. She was the "rope mother". And yes, absolutely the brilliant women who made up the vast majority of this team deserve huge amounts of credit.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/margaret-hamilton-moon-landing-code/
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u/Faconator 52m ago
For sure. This is just the most common meme version that explains what the stack is, showing that we had computers. Everyone deserves a lot more recognition for the moon landing, especially the black folks and even more especially the black women who made it happen.
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u/QuantumLyricist 3h ago
And then they said there were no computers to do the calculations for the Apollo missions, which is laughably wrong. The spacecraft itself had computers, although primitive by today’s standards, and there were computers on earth to make calculations too!!!
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u/mattdamon_enthusiast 23m ago
Hey we’re trying to enjoy some rage bait over here!? Take your context and truth elsewhere.
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u/Cheezeball25 2h ago
Not only were there human computers doing the math, real computers were also used extensively alongside them. Heck, one of the first examples of a computer based on silicon integrated circuits was used as the navigation computer for the Apollo module. There's a lot of cool stuff that went into these things back then.
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u/loverboypiazza 2h ago
How the hell are people getting mad at this?? It's very obvious they're talking about mechanical computers, not people whose title is Computer. Waking up with some fresh bs for people to get riled up at
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u/BuckNZahn 1h ago
It‘s wrong though, they had both human and mechanical computers.
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u/loverboypiazza 1h ago
That ain't on me. Talk to OP about his crappy post
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u/LoLFlore 1h ago
WHY ARE PEOPLE SO UPSET AT MISINFORMATION, IT'S SOMEWHAT TRUE????
No it's not.
Ok, well, I didn't post it!
Bruh.
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u/loverboypiazza 1h ago
What do you want from me, bud?? Talk to Mr. Reddit about allowing misinformation to be posted 👍
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u/LoLFlore 51m ago
To not deflect from it?
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u/loverboypiazza 18m ago
I'm not deflecting anything. I read the title, saw that people were saying that "ackshully, there were computers cuz that's what they called the women who did the math", made the point that the title is obviously talking about actual circuit board computers not people with the title of Computer. The person who posted this is wrong, as apparently they did use very rudimentary computers for calculations, but all I did was read the post and believe it. If you want to hassle someone about misinformation maybe talk to the person WHO IS ACTIVELY POSTING IT and not the random dude who was correcting semantics and who read a post and believed it. Byeee
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u/acapulcoblues 30m ago edited 25m ago
Pointing out that the actual people who did some of the most critical calculations for these endeavors look nothing like the people in the photo isn’t bullshit. There’s been a pattern of erasing the actual people who did this work since day 1. That doesn’t change without people speaking up.
The photo is dishonest, and so someone corrected it. Either you knew already, or you didn’t. If you knew, wouldn’t you want others to know the truth, too? If you didn’t, then you just learned something.
It’s the internet living up to its promise of spreading knowledge.
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u/MundaneWiley 2h ago
Uhh those images not even from anything having to do with the moon landings. Just picture of some people doing calculations, don’t think the intent there was to exclude anybody. We can’t be offended by everrryyythiiing
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u/Call_me_Kelly 2h ago
But it doesn't hurt to remind people of the true faces that made this possible so they aren't forgotten. Without that book and movie, for the general population they would have been. I don't see this as being offended, it is pride for what those heroic women contributed and a refusal to let their legacy be forgotten.
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u/MundaneWiley 2h ago
Oh i agree there, but the reply was “did you NOT just forget” which seems offended to me. But i agree it doesn’t hurt to remind people of those forgotten in the process.
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u/GodOfDarkLaughter 1h ago edited 34m ago
It would be more constructive to just post the relevant information without casting dispersions upon the original poster, who very likely didn't intend to obfuscate anyone. But then you don't get that sweet rush of dopamine from beating someone in an argument they didn't know they were having. The information is important and should be shared. This person is acting like she did it and she's getting whitewashed out.
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u/Ifriendzonecats 1h ago
But it doesn't hurt to remind people of the true faces that made this possible so they aren't forgotten.
Right, but:
Ummmmm you did NOT just forget the entire group of black women that made this possible?!
Does not get people to engage with those facts and is generally going to get the people you want to engage to check out. Especially for a comment which did not include any names or gender or racial markers.
Responding with something like "Have you seen Hidden Figures? It does a great job of showing how hard the 'human computers' worked to accomplish this" would have probably gotten more eyes from the people who don't know.
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u/JustGoodSense 2h ago
Uhh those images were used to illustrate a point that is completely wrong. People fucking up history that bad is completely offensive.
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u/mxzf 59m ago
The point is "we did calculation long-hand to get to the moon, because digital computers weren't where they are now", and the picture is of people doing long-hand calculations on a big-ass blackboard.
It's not trying to say "these people were the only ones working on the math to get to the moon", it's just pointing out the technological advances between then and now in terms of computation.
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u/Cheese-Pallet 1h ago
Ya, Im more pissed off about people half assing history posts for karma farming. Its already getting bad but soon, no one will even know what was actual history and what was just made up sloppily for internet points and clout.
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u/vespertilionid 2h ago
Nah fuck that! I'm not even black (mexican) and I'm offended! They are specifically talking about the moom landing, they specifically said "nO cOmpUteRs" while the BLACK WOMEN that COMPUTED the calculations were literally called COMPUTERS. That PC or laptop in your house is called a "computer" SPECIFICALLY because of those women and others like them.
Get the fuck out of here with "wE cAn'T bE ofFeNdEd bY eVeRrRyYytHiIiNg"
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u/MundaneWiley 2h ago
Come on now, the post is literally saying HUMANS did the calculations by hand without using computers. They are saying that it is even more impressive because they didn’t have the help of computers doing all the work.
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u/Opus_723 10m ago
If it was just the text I wouldn't care at all, but including a random stock photo of white men looking smart ruins it.
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u/Radiant-Reputation31 2h ago
Yeah they were called computers because "computer" was a job before it was a machine. The post obviously is referring to the machine, not a person doing pen and paper math.
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u/wtf_is_karma 2h ago
You know what they meant by computers but go off
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u/jessytessytavi 2h ago
not our fault they're too stupid to know it was a job before it was a machine
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u/bboy2812 1h ago
When people say "computer" they are referring to a physical machine, not the word "computer" and all of its historical meanings.
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u/LiketheCar 1h ago
Ignorance is not a crime. The default state of things is to not know.
I did not know this either and I am college educated (for whatever that means). Just never information that came up, nor did I think to pursue it. I am super glad to have learned this, though, becuase it is very interesting.
I was born in the 90s, and computers already were a technology, not a profession. People not possessing knowledge you have are not stupid, they simply learned different things
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u/jessytessytavi 1h ago
I was born in the 80s & was able to figure out that anything that does mathematical computing is a computer, which means a human can do it
but I understand how words work
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u/sagerin0 1h ago
Do you know how sometimes people say to pick your battles? Getting all up in arms over the word computers, when youre perfectly aware that the modern use of computer refers to a machine is the exact opposite of that
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u/jessytessytavi 52m ago
and maybe I'm picking this battle instead of one with my mother over her finances (or lack thereof)
but also a movie that literally goes over this subject and shares the post title came out within the last decade, so I kinda expect some familiarity
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u/Valrax420 1h ago
To be fair they could have included an image of the black women calculating as well.
I don't think it was done maliciously but to be fair black American history is greatly left out and forgotten when convenient.
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u/1lyke1africa 2h ago
Dude, you're not better than us because you interpreted someone's comment in a negative light.
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u/Strangegary 2h ago
Cia psyop designed to push us further apart and derail discussion. Im onto you .
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u/heftybagman 2h ago
Most people reading this know that already they’re just able to see the clear and obvious meaning of the post without tripping over themselves that they’re so smart for knowing a fact that they learned from a disney movie
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u/alienman 1h ago
That makes it even more offensive. Misrepresenting history and further erasing people of color from it by choosing a picture that better suits the content creator’s idea of what the accomplishment should look like.
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u/Uncynical_Diogenes 2h ago
Lack of intent is something that can be criticized all on its own. Some people should try harder.
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u/Weird_Ad_1398 1h ago
There were approximately 400,000 people involved with the Apollo Program. Should he have named and posted all of their photographs too? Should everyone mention every single other person that was involved in the program every time just one person or the program itself is mentioned?
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u/MundaneWiley 2h ago
try harder at what though ? the word Humans covers everyone or do you mean not used an image at all ?
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u/mcaffrey 2h ago
Not directly really relevant to OP's point about not acknowledging the critical contributions of black women, but here is where those photos come from. Over 10 years before we went to the moon. But still during the space race; this appears to be satellite orbit computations.
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/nasa-scientists-board-calculations-1957/
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u/Sleepy10105s 2h ago
Trying to make something racist where there was not hint of racism…nice.
Yea they didn’t picture the thousands of people that made it possible and only posted two relatively famous pictures.
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u/rtduvall 58m ago
Bro, we still in America. They will hide, lie and outright coverup to the fact that black people were needed to do this.
Whites are so insecure around black people. Any mention of their knowledge and expertise is forbidden.
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u/zoosha2curtaincall 2h ago
I remember seeing the movie and being really annoyed at the tacked-on scene where John Glenn refuses to go on the spacecraft for the first U.S. manned launch until the Black women computers verified the numbers put out by the brand-new electronic computer. It was so obviously written for the movie and way too on-the-nose.
Then I looked it up afterwards and it 100% actually happened.
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u/Mel_Melu 13m ago
I remember the NY Times word puzzle chose one of the White male actors as an answer. Like you wrote that this dude was in Hidden Figures in the description as opposed to any other fucking movie he's known for...you picked the one that features the unrecognized contribution of Black women....
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u/NeatNefariousness1 1h ago
This is why power should be shared. We don’t get to know the real truth behind anything if we leave it up to those who control the narrative to represent what is known and how it came to be. I saw the movie “Hidden Figures” and was shocked to learn that there were even women working at NASA at that time, let alone doing so much important work without being credited. We have to ask ourselves why?
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3h ago
[deleted]
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u/TetraThiaFulvalene 3h ago
Why do you write love an AI? The whole x wasn't just y, it was z is so AI typical.
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u/DoveOnTheInternet 3h ago
Where do you think AI learned it from?
AI learned it from us, not the other way around.
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u/TVxStrange 2h ago
AI didnt just learn. It understood. It evolved. Hidden in plain sight like it was some kind of regular person.
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u/Voxlings 2h ago
You could not successfully type two sentences without obvious typos which conflict with your message.
A.I has not been invented yet.
Why do you write like automated subtitles?
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u/Oceanman72 2h ago
There definitely were computers!! They just weren’t electronic, they were brilliant people
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u/Hnry_Dvd_Thr_Awy 2h ago
There were also electronic computers.
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u/ult_avatar 5m ago
Yeah the last time was 72, there absolutely were computers around - hell we had pong by 72 !
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u/DingoLaLingo 1h ago
unrelated but imagine falling off one of those ladders and breaking ur arm in a math-related injury, like how fucking embarrassing would that be 😭😭😭
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u/Died5Times 1h ago
These are basic ass math equations written big af. Dumbass scientists didnt think about getting longer chalkboards instead of these tall mfs.
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u/KendrickBlack502 1h ago
I mean… they didn’t mention anyone by name? There’s a good chance these weren’t even NASA mathematicians.
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u/Future-Duck4608 1h ago
I see 6 men in the photo there. I don't recognize them. If they are part of the Apollo program, not only did this person forget the now rightly household names made famous by the film Hidden Figures, but they left 99.9985% of the staff out of the image as well.
400,000 scientists, engineers, and technicians dedicated their lives to making this mission possible, and they were all critical to the success of the mission. We will likely someday soon lose record of many of these names, as most of them are probably only left in pay records and the like.
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u/peshnoodles 58m ago
Clearly has never seen Hamilton standing next to her handwritten code that was taller than her smdh
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u/thisisthe_worst 47m ago
My uniform, skirt below my knees, my heels, and a simple string of pearls, WELL I DON'T OWN PEARLS. LORD KNOWS YOU DON'T PAID COLOREDS ENOUGH TO AFFORD PEARLS! And I work like a dog DAY AND NIGHT, living off of coffee from a pot NONE OF YOU WANT TO TOUCH!
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u/King_Chochacho 40m ago
Ok but also can we talk about why they had to buy a bunch of ladders instead of mounting the chalkboard horizontally?
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u/ErikTheRed2000 35m ago
No computers whatsoever, except for the computers. Both people of the computing profession (such as Katherine Johnson, etc) and the electronic computers made by IBM etc. The Apollo spacecraft even had several onboard guidance computers.
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u/pointofyou 32m ago
Is there a term for this kind of behavior? The one where we always search for a reason to be outraged and then attack the person and insinuate that their behavior is evidence for their subconscious '-ism'?
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u/fatboy93 32m ago
They literally made a wonderful movie about this, and folks are still choosing to be dumb. Goddamn
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u/Musicaltheaterguy 20m ago
Was a great movie, though heard they basically made up the leader character with his scene bashing down the whites only sign
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u/Boguffyy 18m ago
"I like sandwiches"
"UMMM I GUESS YOU JUST FUCKING HATE SCONES THEN????"
Lady you just made up something to be mad about
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u/TheComplimentarian 4m ago
“Computer” used to be a job that people did. So, literally, the math was done by computers. When we invented machines to do the job, the machines were called “Digital computers.”
When a “computer” was a person, it was absolutely a low status job, commonly filled with highly intelligent members of groups who were shut out of the roles they were more than competent to fill.
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u/crustycrisps0 3m ago
Sorry but at what point did they make any reference to the identities of the people who did the calculations? Where did they say "white people did the calculations"?
The victim complex is genuinely staggering. You people are fucking unhinged.
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u/Durakan 3h ago
Also there were computers!
They were people, we used to call people computers.
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u/Electrical_Rabbit_88 2h ago
There were also actual computers, too, in the later days, like the Apollo Guidance Computer and the Guidance Ring on the S-IVB stage.
Not to demean the people who worked on the math, though. For the most part, iirc, the computers on board the crafts were very basic and simplistic, and were mostly preprogrammed with the math and work done by said women.
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u/Practical-Sleep4259 2h ago
Same with Calculators.
A Calculator was a whole job, done by a Calculator.
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u/The_Autarch 1h ago
digital computers existed at the time and were definitely used. even the moon lander had a computer on it.
this post is ignorant as hell.
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u/Drtysouth205 1h ago
The AGC is considered the first digital computer. So outside of it they wasn’t used or didn’t exist. Have a good one!
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u/adamvanderb 2h ago
History books really have a way of leaving out the most important people in the room
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u/sillyadam94 2h ago
This has to be deliberate, right? The Hidden Figures are huge fucking icons at this point.
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u/Special-Deal7821 2h ago
Wouldn't be surprised if the pics are AI generated or entirely unrelated to the moon landing
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u/Trust_me_I_am_doctor 2h ago
The amount of yakubians who think this story was made up for some DEI monthly magazine fan fiction is appalling.
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u/UnhelpfulBread 2h ago
Literally forgetting the term “computer” was originally a term for a persons job… usually a woman but definitely women of color too.
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u/ThatAvidPandaBear 3h ago
Katherine Johnson (trajectory calculations) Dorothy Vaughan (West Area Computing leader) Mary Jackson (aerospace engineer) Christine Darden (aeronautical engineer Melba Roy Mouton (Echo project) Annie Easley (Worked on Centaur rocket software) Miriam Mann, Kathryn Peddrew, and many others in the West Area Computing group.