Katherine Johnson

Lost in history, we found the unsung heroes whose story wasn't told, but who shaped the globe. Like Katherine Johnson.

She was born without a silver spoon, West Virginia mountain town,

1918: that's the year that she touched the ground.

A black girl born at a time,

When girls weren't prized for their minds.

And black folk had to fight to survive,

Under segregation laws that white folk had devised.

And though there were many obstacles in her path,

Katherine Johnson didn't let them hold her back.

She was drawn to numbers and mastered math,

And took hard classes for the fastest track

To college, she enrolled at age 15,

When she graduated, what would she be?

Meanwhile, a program had been created

That would lead to the dream of space exploration.

This was before computers had silicon chips,

Computers back then had a pulse in their wrists.

These women at NASA crunched numbers nonstop,

Without them the engineers couldn't do their jobs.

Then, war broke out,

men saw it firsthand,

And job discrimination was banned.

So, black women like Katherine joined NASA,

Though segregation split the group in half.

Different bathrooms, cafeterias, workspace,

Unequal treatment hurt in the worst way.

She wrote the book,

she paved the way,

she made the model.

She looked up at the moon,

and then asked us to follow.

We fly so high,

while on the ground,

Are unsung heroes,

I can see them now.

Johnson was inquisitive,

always asked why,

And in the face of barriers, her dream didn't die.

She never gave in, no, she wouldn't relent,

Though some meetings seemed only for men.

Johnson asked if there was a law against

Women attending them, and then she went.

By '58, America was face to face

With the Soviets in a Cold War race to space.

The Space Race, for Johnson especially,

Meant she was calculating rocket trajectories,

The paths they'd take, doing it right

Meant life or death for Alan Shepard's flight.

He didn't orbit the Earth, but, hey,

He was the first American up in space.

On John Glenn's first orbit of the Earth,

They used an electronic computer to make it work.

But John Glenn said no,

don't launch me yet,

I want Katherine Johnson to double check.

And when Neil Armstrong took a giant step

For mankind, well, you can bet,

That Johnson did the calculations to get

The Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

This computer was doing what they thought she could never do,

To me that's incredible, and that's why I'm telling you...

She wrote the book, she paved the way, she made the model.

She looked up at the moon, and then asked us to follow.

We fly so high, while on the ground,

Are unsung heroes, I can see them now.

• Katherine Johnson was awesome!

• Katherine Johnson built a house.

Tags

CCSS.RI.3.1

CCSS.RI.3.2

CCSS.RI.3.7

CCSS.RL.3.1

CCSS.RL.3.2

CCSS.RL.3.3

CCSS.RL.3.7

A black girl born at a time,

When girls weren't prized for their minds.

And black folk had to fight to survive,

Under segregation laws that white folk had devised.

And though there were many obstacles in her path,Katherine Johnson didn't let them hold her back.

Which of the following best describes the attitude toward girls at the time Katherine Johnson was born?

• Girls weren’t valued for their intellectual abilities.

• Girls were considered equal to boys in every way.

• Girls were highly valued for their contributions to math and science.

• Girls were given more opportunities than boys.

When girls weren't prized for their minds.

And black folk had to fight to survive,

Under segregation laws that white folk had devised.

And though there were many obstacles in her path,Katherine Johnson didn't let them hold her back.

Under segregation laws, African-American people were

• required to enlist as soldiers to fight in the war.

• separated from white people and treated poorly.

• encouraged to work with white people.

• asked to give their jobs to women.

Tags

CCSS.RI.3.1

CCSS.RI.3.2

CCSS.RI.3.3

CCSS.RL.3.1

She was drawn to numbers and mastered math,

And took hard classes for the fastest track

To college, she enrolled at age 15,

When she graduated, what would she be?

Meanwhile, a program had been createdThat would lead to the dream of space exploration.

What milestone Katherine Johnson reach at age 15?

• She calculated her first rocket trajectory.

• She began working at NASA.

• She began college.

• She began high school.

Tags

CCSS.RI.3.1

CCSS.RI.3.2

CCSS.RL.3.1

This was before computers had silicon chips,

Computers back then had a pulse in their wrists.These women at NASA crunched numbers nonstop,

Without them the engineers couldn't do their jobs.

Then, war broke out, men saw it firsthand,And job discrimination was banned.

So, black women like Katherine joined NASA,

Finish this sentence:

The human computers at NASA were

• young children with strong math skills.

• electronic machines made of metal and wires.

• women who did calculations with numbers.

• rockets that orbited Earth.

Tags

CCSS.RI.3.1

CCSS.RI.3.2

CCSS.RL.3.1

Johnson was inquisitive, always asked why,And in the face of barriers, her dream didn't die.

She never gave in, no, she wouldn't relent,

Though some meetings seemed only for men.

Johnson asked if there was a law against

Women attending them, and then she went.

How did Katherine Johnson respond when it seemed that certain meetings at NASA were only for men?

• She accepted that the meetings were only for men and didn’t ask to attend.

• She created special meetings that were only for women.

• She brought NASA to court and won the right for women to attend all meetings.

• She asked if there was a law against women attending and then attended the meetings.

Tags

CCSS.RI.3.1

CCSS.RI.3.2

CCSS.RL.3.1

CCSS.RL.3.3

By 1958, America was involved in a race with the Soviet Union to

• desegregate workplaces.

• explore outer space.

• develop new medical procedures for injured soldiers.

• build the smallest electronic computer.

Tags

CCSS.RI.3.2

CCSS.RI.3.3

Whom did Katherine help go into space?

• Alan Shepard went into space.

• Micheal Jackson for the moonwalk.

• Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 mission

• John Glenn's, orbit around the Earth

• Chris Stephenson trip to the sun

On John Glenn's first orbit of the Earth,

They used an electronic computer to make it work.

But John Glenn said no, don't launch me yet,I want Katherine Johnson to double check.

Why did John Glenn ask Katherine Johnson double check the math before he went into space?

Tags

CCSS.RI.3.1

CCSS.RI.3.2

CCSS.RI.3.3