Jim Crow Laws in the 1960s: The Legalization of Discrimination and Segregation - by Gianna Sidhu - English 110

 

Gianna Sidhu
Professor Lewenstein
English 110
1 Feb. 2022

 

Fig. 1. Dorothy Vaughan and her children in the library from: Melfi, Theodore, Director. Octavia Spencer, actress.
Hidden Figures. Twentieth Century Fox, 26 Dec. 2016.

Jim Crow Laws in the 1960s: The Legalization of Discrimination and Segregation

 

    In the film, Hidden Figures, Katherine Johnson is the only Black woman working in the Space Task Group, which means she is constantly in a room surrounded by white men. This film takes place in the 1960s when segregation was legally allowed and enforced due to the Jim Crow laws. In one of the most emotional and intense scenes of the film Hidden Figures, Al Harrison asks Katherine why she is gone for forty minutes a day when she should be working. She exclaims, “There are no colored bathrooms in this building or any building outside the West Campus, which is half a mile away. Did you know that? I have to walk to Timbuktu just to relieve myself. And I can’t use one of the handy bikes. Picture that, Mr. Harrison.” Katherine’s frustration and anger at the racist circumstances show in this scene as she explains how segregation has led her to wasting time just to use the restroom. In another scene from this film, Katherine is trying to get a cup of coffee from the coffee pot while all of her coworkers watch her and look at her strangely. The next day, there is a coffee pot labeled “COLORED.” Katherine explains her struggles working there as an African-American woman as she states, “And I work like a dog, day and night, living off of coffee from a pot none of you wanna touch! So, excuse me if I have to go to the restroom a few times a day.” The coffee pot is a symbol of segregation  and discrimination that Black people experienced everyday in education, work opportunities, or in simple services. Katherine experiences this everyday in the workplace, and she expresses how she cannot help that it affects her work and her emotions.  Katherine's words represent an era of Jim Crow -- her working in NASA as a Black woman in the 1960s, surrounded by white ignorant men.

 

    In the 1960s, Jim Crow era laws limited African-American rights and resources. The History article titled “Jim Crow Laws” defines these laws as a “collection of state and local statutes that legalized segregation” which marginalized Black people and led to inequality in job opportunities, education, and voting. The Jim Crow laws affected African-American people heavily from the post-Civil War era to 1968, as these laws enforced segregation for hospitals, schools, theaters, restaurants, and even public parks. These laws claimed to hold the standard of “separate but equal”; however, these laws only enforced separation of the races with no equality. These laws legalized discrimination and allowed racism in the nineteenth and twentieth century. In workplaces that consisted of Black and white workers, Black workers usually were separated from their white counterparts. They could also not use the same facilities or resources as the other workers, which prevented Black people from having all of the tools they needed to succeed in some cases. In modern society, voter suppression is now being compared to the legal segregation in the 1960s as both disadvantaged and disenfranchised people of color.

 

    In her article, “94-year-old Battles N.C. Voter ID Law: Woman Had Faced Jim Crow Laws Early in Her Life” Jenny Jarvie interviews Rosanell Eaton who believes voter ID laws are similar to Jim Crow era laws that disenfranchise people of color. Jarvie spotlights this inspirational Black woman who has experienced changes of voting laws and Black rights throughout her life. Rosanell Eaton grew up in rural North Carolina, where she was one of the
first Black people to register to vote. Eaton was the granddaughter of a slave and has experienced racism, discrimination, and segregation throughout her life. Jarvie states, “Eaton, who has voted in every election since the 1940s and helped to register over 4,000 people to cast their own ballots, said the struggle to obtain ID is a hurdle that might prevent some from voting.” Jarvie expresses Eaton’s passion for helping other people of color vote for years, however, Eaton acknowledges that the new voter laws are affecting minorities and leading to voter suppression. New voter ID laws have been made in hopes of preventing voter fraud, but instead are impacting people of color more than fulfilling their purpose.

 

    Discrimination is the irrational prejudice and exclusion of someone from opportunities and resources due to differences such as race, sexuality, gender, or religion. Discrimination is in the general class of behaviors or treatments towards others. Discrimination does not necessarily mean racial discrimination, segregation, or racism. This term refers to the general idea of excluding someone over differences and prejudices between people. The Jim Crow laws are laws that legalized segregation and racial discrimination in the ninteenth and twentieth century. In the film Hidden Figures, three African-American women work at NASA as mathematicians and engineers where they face racism and discrimination due to their race. They are banned from using the same bathrooms as their white coworkers and even from sharing the same coffee pot. In one scene, Dorothy Vaughan is at the city library with her children. While she is browsing the library shelves, a white librarian comes up to her and tells her she can only check out books from the “colored” section. Vaughan then goes to the “colored” section where she finds one single book shelf with way less books than what’s available to the white people. This scene shows how the simplest resources were segregated and banned from Black people. I believe that the Jim Crow laws enabled racist and ignorant people to continue to discriminate and take resources away from Black people. Discrimination is taught and passed down by racist and prejudiced people who have not learned from the mistakes of their ancestors or from the mistakes of our country’s history. In Hidden Figures, not only does Dorothy Vaughan face discrimination and segregation at NASA, but so does every African-American person who works there. From watching this film, I can observe how the main three characters depicted in this film are brave, strong, and genius as they do their work brilliantly despite their treatment by their racist coworkers.

 

    Katherine Johnson is a persevering and determined historical figure who is depicted living in segregated America in the historical film Hidden Figures. Katherine Johnson’s discriminative experiences working at NASA in the 1960s, reveals her strong, brave and clever personality. Katherine Johnson deals with the ignorance and passive aggression from her white male coworkers everyday at work. Throughout the film, Katherine internally refrains from
arguing or disagreeing with the men who question her math work. She eventually has enough and exclaims how exhausted she feels due to the segregation and discrimination she faces everyday at work. In one scene in particular, Katherine faces discrimination from her coworkers who at one point stare at her strangely for serving herself from the same coffee pot as them. Everyday she must also run for twenty minutes back and twenty minutes forth to go to the
restroom since there is no restroom for her in that building. Though Johnson is treated badly by those around her, she cannot give anyone attitude or argue since they could all gang up on her and her boss can even fire her. Johnson must be careful as to how she is perceived by those around her who have more power and privilege than her. One day, however, when Johnson is asked why she spends forty minutes a day in the restroom, she expresses her frustration and anger due to her having to travel long distances by foot to just use the restroom. Johnson emotionally exclaims her feelings as she cries in front of her coworkers. Katherine Johnson perseveres and is motivated by her family and her desire to break barriers as a woman of color by working and contributing to NASA's mission.

 

    In the article titled “Katherine Johnson Biography” by Margot Lee Shetterly, the author describes Katherine as a hardworking mathematician who was heavily relied on. Shetterly states, “Glenn asked engineers to ‘get the girl’—Johnson—to run the same numbers through the same equations that had been programmed into the computer, but by hand, on her desktop mechanical calculating machine. ‘If she says they’re good.’” Katherine Johnson is a strong and brave woman who stands up for herself in a world full of discrimination and racism. She made history at NASA in the Space Task Group and set an example to women of color as to what they can achieve despite the barriers that have been set against them.

 

    In a scene from Hidden Figures, Dorothy Vaughan, a computer programmer and mathematician at NASA, is at the library with her children browsing for a book she needs to learn a language of a specific computer system. While she is looking, the white librarian comes up to her and tells her “We don’t want any trouble in here” to which Dorothy replies that she needs a book that is not in the colored section. The librarian then shrugs and replies “That’s just the way it is.” Dorothy Vaughan is then escorted out by security. This scene shows how seriously white people took segregation as they let their racist and ignorant views take away a simple resource from Dorothy. In this scene, the librarian is also automatically racially profiling Dorothy as she assumes that Dorothy is bringing trouble into the library simply based on the information of her being African-American and seeing Black people riot outside near the library.

 

    This racial discrimination took away resources and equal opportunities away from Dorothy and her learning as she was simply trying to take advantage of the local resources, which she found to be only available to white people. This scene is one of many that shows how discrimination and racism took away Dorothy Vaughan did have to learn FORTRAN, which was the programming language of the new IBM mainframe computer at NASA at the time, so that she could be picked by NASA when they needed a new programming team for the new computer systems. In the podcast “Fortran Reveals Hidden Figures” by Anecdote, the podcaster states, “She taught herself the FORTRAN programming language, then taught it to her team, who became NASA’s programming team” which confirms that Dorothy really did have to learn FORTRAN and had to search for resources to learn it. From this film, one can infer that the education and well-being of Black people was not a priority of America and its white leaders. Segregation and discrimination took away resources and facilities that  Black people would have had access to if it weren’t for the Jim Crow laws

Fig. 2. Movie poster for Hidden Figures displaying three historical characters: Melfi, Theodore, Director. Janelle Monáe, actress. Taraji P. Henson, actress.Octavia Spencer, actress. Hidden Figures. Twentieth Century Fox, 26 Dec. 2016.

    In the poster for the film Hidden Figures, three strong historical figures are depicted a confident and determined as they are shown front and center at the NASA headquarters.  Three Black women who worked as mathematicians and engineers at NASA,  these women are Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan. These women are all dressed in 60s women's fashion and behind them is a NASA rocket taking off. They are all wearing dresses that are blue and green. Their faces all look confident, determined and assertive. They are also standing on top of the NASA floor which is blue, red, and white. The creator of this poster wants the viewer to see three strong and assertive women being shown at the forefront of this scene which displays a NASA rocket taking  off which shows how important these women were in the process of the rocket and the orbit. These women are in the front of this image with the title of the film above them as it implies the message that in real life they were the hidden women who accomplished so much for NASA but were not recognized or given enough credit that they deserved at that time.The poster for this film is implying that these women are key players in the successful first orbit by an American man. These women of color might have been hidden or not given the credit that they deserved in the 1960s which leads to this poster showcasing these important Black women. This film and this poster reflect what these women went through, including the racism, sexism and segregation, and how they persevered and contributed greatly to the NASA orbit.

    This I believe: the film Hidden Figures argues that we can succeed and achieve so much more when we break barriers and lose all prejudices towards each other. This film focuses on how segregation impacts women at their workplace, and the lesson that can be learned is that  without segregation and racism in our lives, we could live greater, happier, and more productive lives. On Roger Ebert’s film review website, Odie Henderson reviews the 2016 film Hidden Figures, and expresses how much he enjoyed the film and felt inspired, and argues why this movie depicts important representation for women of color. Henderson states that this film was highly inspirational and powerful as it showed three qualified women of color working in computer engineering and mathematics in the NASA space program. I agree with Henderson’s review as he argues how important representation is for women and people of color as this film includes “its gentle assertion that there’s nothing unusual nor odd about people besides White men being good at math.” Henderson arranges his argument and review by going through each main character’s portrayal and analyzing their situations and backgrounds. He uses his own background as a person of color to describe how Hidden Figures displays the feelings of isolation of people of color from their white counterparts. He describes and uses examples to analyze the segregation and racism the three women face in their workplace. Henderson expresses how he may be biased himself since the film includes concepts of computers and the FORTRAN programming language which he has worked with since he has been a computer engineer for more than twenty-nine years. Henderson is also a person of color, however, these are not really biases, but rather ways that he can relate and appreciate the movie even more as he sees representation in this film. The author concludes the argument by stating how much he enjoyed the film and hopes that it gains as much popularity and success as Marvel movies or other fictional movies that are in theaters now. Henderson’s summary of the film and analysis of the discrimination that was displayed in the film, allows the reader to get a sneak peek of the movie and feel inspired by the representation and amazing history that this film displays.  He covered the main characters and some of their character traits as well as their situations and experiences as African-American people in America, and he also relates to the story as he is a person of color who has worked in the computer programming world for more than twenty-nine years. As a woman and person of color, I feel great inspiration and believe that everyone should watch this film and be educated on the racism from America’s ignorant past, and learn from these strong women’s successes. Segregation and discrimination in America led to great division and ignorance, and even today with voter ID laws, minorities and people of color are affected, however, by learning about our history and the mistakes of our past, we can be better and become more united and truly equal.

 

Works Cited

 

Groarke, John. “037 – Fortran Reveals Hidden Figures.” Anecdote, 30 Jan. 2019, https://www.anecdote.com/2019/01/fortran-reveals-hidden-figures-37/.

Henderson, Odie. “Hidden Figures Movie Review & Film Summary (2016): Roger Ebert.” Movie Review & Film Summary (2016) | Roger Ebert, 20 Dec. 2016,
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/hidden-figures-2016.

History.com Editors. “Jim Crow Laws.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 28 Feb. 2018, www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws.

Jarvie, Jenny. "94-Year-Old Battles N.C. Voter ID Law: Woman had Faced Jim Crow Laws Early in Her Life." Orlando Sentinel, Feb 06, 2016. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/94-year-old-battles-n-c-voter-id-law/docview/176 2970181/se-2?accountid=38876.

Shetterly, Margot. “Katherine Johnson Biography.” NASA, NASA, 22 Nov. 2016, www.nasa.gov/content/katherine-johnson-biography.
Melfi, Theodore, Director. Hidden Figures. Twentieth Century Fox, 26 Dec. 2016.