Political Quotes

“in honor of African-American History Month and in support of efforts to promote education and training in 21st century careers involving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, I want to bring the attention of this body to the stories of three remarkable African-American women. Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson broke through barriers of gender and race as trailblazers at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, more than a half century ago. Together with my colleagues Senator Tim Kaine and Congressman Bobby Scott, we honor these women. Before John Glenn orbited Earth or Alan Shepherd walked on the Moon, several hundred female mathematicians used pencil and paper, slide rules, and adding machines to perform the complex equations which launched America's journey into space. Among these ``human computers,'' as they were known, were Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson--three women who have become symbols for many other women, many of them women of color, who worked at NASA Langley's West Area Computing Group complex and helped America dominate space and aeronautics research. Virginia author Margot Lee Shetterly grew up surrounded by this little-known history, much of it relayed by her father, who also was an internationally recognized scientist with NASA's Langley Research Center.…”