Photo by Teresa Crawford
Northwestern’s One Book series strives to bring together the Northwestern community around meaningful and insightful books. Each year, the incoming freshman class and transfer students receive a free copy of the all-campus book that all members of the Northwestern community are encouraged to read.
On Thursday, October 17, Margot Lee Shetterly, the author of Hidden Figures, visited Northwestern’s campus to talk about her experiences and her book. Hidden Figures was chosen to be the one book of the 2019-2020 school year as part of the celebration of150 Years of Women at Northwestern. It tells the story of the African-American women who achieved breakthrough success at NASA during a tumultuous era of Cold War pressures abroad and civil rights issues at home.
Speaking to a crowded auditorium at the Technological Institute, Shetterly shared her own stories as a Black woman with ties to NASA. Growing up with a father who worked at NASA, Shetterly felt a strong connection to the women who supported her father’s work and helped define what it meant to be an African American woman in the world. Hidden Figures was born out of her own desire to figure out where she fit in history, and it shows that history is not a series of individualized events; rather, it’s all interconnected, and there are more inspiring figures than we know hidden in the shadows. Now, people such as Shetterly work to bring them to light so that they are hidden no more.
The One Book at Northwestern has many other events coming up, all centered around inspirations drawn from Hidden Figures. Coming up this week, enjoy a free screening of Hidden Figures at Norris Center on October 30, 6:30PM, or enjoy a talk on the Apollo Luna samples on November 1 at 10:00AM. For a full calendar of events, visit the One Book website.