"Hidden Figures" Race in Space & Racial Equality-Stars Taraji Hanson & Octavia Spencer

"Hidden Figures" is a magnificient film that uncovers the unacknowledged, significant intellectual & social contributions of 3 incredible black women during the 60's at NASA during a turbulent time of racial injustice.  Dir Theodore Melfi (St Vincent '14) remarkably entertaining & uplifting movie is astounding.  The year is 1961, Russia has launched the 1st astronaut into space; a disgrace to the US.   More shameful is the racial prejudice & social injustices in our nation.  Three brilliant & incredible women:  Katherine Johnson (a fabulous Taraji Henson) Dorothy Vaughan (a superb Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (an excellent Janelle Monae.)  These 3 friends & co-workers were mavericks in the fields of engineering, mathematics & technology at a time when women's roles were diminished and blacks were still being forced to the back of the bus, barred from white universities & subjected to the indignities of "colored only Jim Crow laws."  This is a wonderful movie for countless reasons.  These women took on numerous challenges & humiliations of racial prejudice & sexism with dignity & tenacity.  Human ingenuity is illuminated with grace, resilience and courage.  The race to launch a man in space was behind the urgency for resolving racial & social divides.  The mathematical formulations  were fast paced & fascinating.  The barriers broken down on the ground were infinitely greater than the race to put "our men in space."  There was a fine supporting case with Kevin Costner as Al Johnson head of NASA and Kirsten Dunst as a top personnel executive who develop respect, trust & admiration for their "colored" co-workers.   "Everyone at NASA pisses the same color." The accomplishments & contributions made by Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan & Mary Jackson are revelations that will no longer go unrecognized but factored into our nation's history.  I loved "Hidden Figures" which will surely be honored by the film academy.  Social injustice should also figure heavily into the equation.