Essay Sample on Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson was a former NASA employee, activist, and a mother. She was heavily discriminated against because she was an African-American woman that ‘couldn’t fit the role’ of someone in aerospace, which back then, was known as a ‘white man’s job’. While conquering racist and sexist stereotypes, she was raising a family of her own.

Johnson was born on August 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. While growing up and attending school, it was no secret that Johnson was academically gifted. At age 14, she graduated high school, and at age 18, she graduated college with a bachelor’s degree. After college, she got a job as an aerospace technologist at NACA (now known as NASA). After NACA was renamed to NASA, and many things were changed in the workplace, Johnson received many more opportunities. One of these opportunities was being asked to manually check John Glenn’s space expedition to ensure correct liability. Years later, she had yet to leave her hard work overlooked. In 2015, 29 years after her retirement, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor from former president Barack Obama. Five years later, in 2020, Johnson died from old age, but her legacy is still remembered. 

Johnson’s main contribution to the mathematics and science community was being involved in NASA’s 1961-1963 Mercury program. The Mercury Program was NASA sending six manned flights into space.  Johnson helped calculate trajectories and make return paths back to Earth if an emergency was to occur. Alan Shepard, an astronaut for Project Mercury even asked her to check calculations for his trip, knowing she was the most talented mathematician working on the project. Another one of Johnson’s accomplishments was breaking the stereotypical roles in, what was then, a toxic workplace. Segregation separated the races and offered significantly less opportunities to succeed for African-Americans. Johnson stood up to the corrupt system, and she fought for many more, who were in similar situations to herself. After gaining equal rights at NASA, many options of new work and pay raise became in reach. Katherine Johnson standing up to one business empowered many more to do the same. She is well credited for helping to integrate many associations.

All in all, Katherine Johnson proved herself in a world where chances weren’t handed to her with open arms. She worked tirelessly to break down walls of inequality and to get herself to the top. While many people didn’t believe in her, or her work, Johnson has deemed them wrong, once again.