Continue 'Hidden Figures' (2016; 126 minutes)
Essential Questions to consider:
-What do the characters in Hidden Figures teach about dealing with adversity?
-How do the characters change during the film?
-In what ways to the main characters catalyze change in others?
-Who or what are the 'hidden figures'?
Read this film synopsis aloud before watching:
Hidden Figures tells us about a generally unheralded group of women whose brilliance and dedication provided a foundation for the space program—the black women known as “human computers” who worked at the NASA Center in Langley, Virginia. Faced with obstacles to their own education and to job prospects because of race and gender, these women succeeded in earning places and eventually respect in a workplace dominated by male supervisors and colleagues, many of whom were reluctant to hire women, and marked by segregated facilities, from office to restroom, that reflected the pre-civil rights era. Their story is also the story of the world in which they lived and worked—the racism and segregation that made their lives more difficult; the beginnings of the civil rights movement in the South; the Cold War with Russia that gave such impetus to the drive for superiority in space; and the space race itself.
Skim questions 1-10 on your group's copy of the 'Viewer Response Journal.' Have volunteers read each of the 10 questions out loud. All copies are numbered; please leave on the desks. Just keep these questions in mind as you're watching. We will answer the questions as a table group next class when we finish the film.
Begin film; record each period's end time on board.
