I finished My Remarkable Journey by Katherine Johnson on Saturday. As I said in my prior “So Many Books” post, she’s the brilliant mathematician who was the main character in the movie Hidden Figures. This is her own story, told by her (with two of her daughters as co-authors). She lived to age 101. This book was published in 2021, soon after she passed. This book feels like a huge gift from her to us!
I was sad to have it end. I really enjoyed the gift of spending time with her. I felt like I got to sit down and talk with her. I really appreciated the historical context of her life. Many of the key space race breakthroughs were taking place in the 1960s. So while she was calculating to get our astronauts to the moon, Black people in this country were fighting for the right to sit at lunch counters and vote and live life as equals. Two of her daughters participated in sit-ins while they were at college. They did not tell their mother in advance! They didn’t want to worry her.
Here are some photos of the book. This is the section about the planned July 16, 1969 launch to the moon.
“Rev. Ralph Abernathy, a confidante of and close advisor to the late Dr. King had led hundreds of protesters to the front gate of the Kennedy Space Center for a candlelight vigil to protest the launch.”
“Rev. Abernathy spoke, telling [NASA administrator Thomas] Paine and the cameras that a fifth of the people in this country didn’t have adequate food, clothes and medical care and that there was an “inexcusable gulf between America’s technological abilities and our social injustice.” He said the nation’s priorities were misplaced and urged that funds used for space exploration be spent to help those citizens suffering from the effects of poverty.”
Sound familiar? Money to technology rather than people.
Another chapter was titled “Ask Brave Questions.”
“I think the smartest people ask lots of questions. I’ve always loved being around smart people and the only way to know what they know is to ask questions. When it seemed my friends or classmates in school were too intimidated to ask our teacher a question, my hand shot up, and I asked for them.”
One day, her professor in college, Dr. William Schieffelin Claytor (he had recently received his PhD in math from the University of Pennsylvania in the spring of 1933, only the 3rd Black man in the country to receive a PhD in math), turned the question on her:
“Why is it that you’re always asking me questions when I know you know the answer?”
Katherine Johnson:
“I explained that he had not made the information as clear to all of the students as he had to me and that I wanted my classmates to understand too. That slowed him down, at least for a while. The point is this: if you want to know something or don’t understand, ask questions. The path to your destiny may start with a simple question.”
A surprise was the list of notes at the end. I am drawn to notes. I love finding out what informed people as they are writing a book. One of the resources was a treasure trove!!
The book referenced this page:
https://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis63.htm
But the whole site is amazing!!
Civil Rights Movement Archive
https://www.crmvet.org/about.htm
“The Civil Rights Movement Archive (CRMA) is a 501c3 nonprofit corporation based in California. We are a free, non-commercial, web-based archive created by civil rights workers active in CORE, NAACP, SCLC, SNCC and similar Southern Freedom Movement organizations during the 1950s and 1960s. We are part of the national African American Civil Rights Network.
“This website has been (and is still being) created by veterans of the Southern Freedom Movement (1950-1970). It’s an online archive to preserve and make available original-materials, histories, narratives, remembrances, and commentaries related to that movement. It is where we tell it like it was, the way we lived it, the way we saw it, the way we still see it.”
Their Annual Report for the Year 2025 is amazing!!!! 👏
https://www.crmvet.org/report25.htm
The other unexpected bonus at the end of the book was a series of photos of Katherine Johnson throughout her life, with her family.
I’m grateful I found my way to this book!! It was a quick read, and I’d highly recommend it.
May all beings be safe
May all beings be happy
May all beings be healthy
May all beings have peace
May all beings give and receive love and compassion
May all beings be free
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