HIDDEN FIGURES Characters - Alphabetical

FIRST NAME LAST NAME DESCRIPTION Ralph Abernathy American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. Buzz Aldrin American astronaut. One of the two humans to land on the Moon. Harvey Allen NACA engineer. Harvey Allen An engineer at the NACA's Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory. J. Lindsay Almond Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals. Daisy Alston One of Dorothy Vaughan's co-workers. Marian Anderson American contralto. Neil Armstrong American astronaut and the first person to walk on the Moon. Joan Baez American singer, songwriter, musician and activist. Josephine Baker American-born French entertainer. Ida Bassette One of Dorothy's colleagues. Pearl Bassette One of Hampton's natives and a daughter of a black lawyer. Daisy Bates American civil rights activist, publisher, journalist, and lecturer. Ann Baumgartner The first American woman to fly a US Army Air Forces jet aircraft. Harold Beck One of Katherine's former colleagues. John Becker One of the top aerodynamicists. Rowena Becker John Becker's wife. Lawrence D. Bell American industrialist. Mary Mcleod Bethune American educator, stateswoman, philanthropist. Virginia Biggins A reporter assigned to the Langley beat for the Daily Press. John D. Bird Canadian engineer, scientist, and journalist. Aurelia Boaz A 1949 Hampton Institute graduate. Larry Brown An engineer. Yvette Nicole Brown One of Dorothy's acquaintances. Sara Bullock One of Dorothy Vaughan's colleagues. Mary Shep Burton One of the math aides who ran the trajectory analysis software. Melvin Butler The personnel officer at the Langley Mem. Aeronautical Lab. Roger Butler Dorothy Vaughan's former boss. Sherwood Butler The laboratory's head of procurement at Langley. William Davis Butts A Negro lawyer. Harry F. Byrd Former Governor of Virginia. Thomas Byrdsong Aerospace Engineer at NASA Langley Research Center. Cab Calloway American singer band leader. Scott Carpenter One of the selected "Mercury Seven" astronauts to the world. Roger B. Chaffee American naval officer and aviator and NASA astronaut. Lenoir Chambers A writer, and newspaper editor of The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk. Gloria Champine A research pilot with the NACA. Anton Chekhov Russian playwright and short-story writer. Mary Cherry One of the women who attended a war training class at Hampton. William S. Claytor American mathematician specializing in topology. Doris E. Cohen The NACA's first female author. Joshua Coleman Joylette's husband. Joylette Coleman A retired school teacher. Katherine Coleman Joylette's youngest daughter. Lucille Coltrane One of Langley's female employees. Claudette Colvin American nurse arrested for refusing to give up her seat. Arminta Cook One of Dorothy Vaughan's co-workers. Gordon Cooper American aerospace engineer, test pilot. Elbert Frank Cox The first African American to receive PhD in Mathematics. Walter Cronkite American broadcast journalist. Bing Crosby American singer comedian and actor. Kazimierz R. Czarnecki Polish aeronautics engineer who worked for the NACA. Aka: Kaz. Leonardo da Vinci Italian polymath of the High Renaissance. Christine Darden American mathematician, data analyst, and aeronautical engineer. Christine Darden American mathematician, data analyst, and aeronautical engineer. Frank Darling An oyster magnate. John W. Davis American politician, diplomat and lawyer. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. American US Air Force general and commander of the WW II. John W. Davis Jr. Prof. of Urology and Director of the Urosurgical Prostate Program. Paul Dembling The NACA's chief legal counsel. Elridge Derring One of the laboratory administrator. W. E. B. Du Bois American sociologist, socialist, historian, civil rights activist. Ed Dwight An astronaut trainee. Bob Dylan American singer-songwriter. Amelia Earhart The first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Annie Easley American computer scientist, mathematician, and rocket scientist. Dwight D. Eisenhower 34th U.S. President. Eric Epps A former teacher at one of the Negro high schools. Mark Ethridge A novelist, screenwriter, and communications consultant. James C. Evans An MIT engineering graduate. Maxime Faget Dir.of Engineering and Dev't at Manned Spacecraft Center - NASA Robert Fergusson Scottish poet. David Fetterman Christine Danden's new boss. Malcolm Forbes American entrepreneur. Dewey Fox A poet. Charles Foxx Julia's husband. Sylvia Fries NASA historian. Clark Gable American film actor. Yuri Gagarin Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut. Mahatma Gandhi Indian lawyer. Marvin Gaye American singer-songwriter. Lou Gehrig American professional baseball first baseman. Albert George American astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets. Althea Gibson American tennis player and professional golfer. Robert R. Gilruth American aerospace engineer and the first director of NASA. John Glenn United States Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut. Madelon Glenn One of the women who attended a war training class at Hampton. James Goble A chemistry teacher. Katherine Coleman's husband. Aka: Jimmy. Joylette Goble Jimmy's eldest daughter. Beverly Golemba A historian. Beverly E. Golemba Performed the mathematical calculations for the NASA program . Melvin Gough Langley's chief test pilot. Virgil Ivan Grissom United States Air Force pilot. Aka: Gus. Ernie Hairston A mathematician. Fred Haise American NASA astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot. Harold Hamer One who lectured on rocket propulsion. Aka: Al. Alexander Hamilton One of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Margery Hannah The white computer who served as the black women's first boss. Ruth Bates Harris NASA's deputy assistant administrator. Charles Foxx's mother. Dorothy Height American civil rights and women's rights activist. Jesse Helms Former American senator from North Carolina. James Hicks Amsterdam News editor. Oliver Hill American civil rights attorney from Richmond. Shirley Hunt Hinson One of the math aides who ran the trajectory analysis software. Adolf Hitler German politician and leader of the Nazi Party. Harry Holt The city's clerk of court. Homer A. Holt West Virginia lawyer and politician. Dorothy Hoover American physicist and mathematician. A pioneer of NASA. Rufus House Henry Reid's assistant. Charles H. Houston A prominent African-American lawyer. Vera Huckel The head of the Computing Section. Howard Hughes American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer. Langston Hughes American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. Lessie Hunter A graduate of Praire View University in Texas. Collis P. Huntington American industrialist. Carl Huss One who taught the physics of rhe solar system. Alice Jackson Black student who was denied by the University of Virginia. Levi Jackson Mary Jackson's husband. Levi Jr. Jackson Mary Jackson's son. Mahalia Jackson American gospel singer. Mary Jackson American mathematician and aerospace engineer at NACA. Wanda Jackson Mary Jackson's granddaughter. Eastman Jacobs The leading aerodynamicist who worked for NACA's Langley. Altona Johns A music teacher. Barbara Johns Vernon Johns' niece. Vernon Johns American minister. Altona Johns' husband. Fanny Johnson An author, poet and essayist from West Virginia. James A. Johnson Katherine Goble's second husband. Aka: Jim. Janice Johnson Assistant troop leader. Katherine Johnson American mathematician. Leonard Johnson Dorothy Vaughan's father. Lyndon B. Johnson 36th U.S. President. Robert Jones One of the premier aeronautical engineers of NASA. Kitty O'Brien Joyner American electrical engineer with the NACA for Aeronautics. Walter Kane Patricia's fiancé. Arthur Kantrowitz American scientist, engineer, and educator. Sam Katzoff Senior staff scientist at NASA. Jean C. Keating One of Langley's female employees. Jacqueline Kennedy Former First Lady of the United States. John F. Kennedy 35th U.S. President. Robert Kennedy United States Attorney General. Rose Kennedy American philanthropist, socialite. Elijah Kent One of Margot's father's buddies. Martin Luther King Jr. American Christian minister and activist. Frank Knox Secretary of the Navy. Christopher C. Kraft Jr. American aerospace engineer and NASA engineer and manager. Kathaleen Land A retired NASA mathematician. Emma Jean Landrum A member of Langley's tiny engineering sisterhood. Ben Lee Margot's brother. Dorothy Lee Accepted a position as a computer in PARD. Lauren Lee Margot's sister. Robert Benjamin Lee III Margot L. Shetterly's father. A climate scientist worked at Langley. John Robert Lewis American statesman and civil rights leader. Charles Lindbergh American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. Charles H. Loeb An editor and publisher. Jim Lovell American astronaut, naval aviator, and mechanical engineer. Hester Lovely One of Dorothy Vaughan's co-workers. Myrna Loy American film, television and stage actress. Henry Luce American magazine magnate. Annie Lucy Frederick's husband. Autherine Lucy The first African-American student to attend the Univ. of Alabama Frederick Lucy Dorothy V.'s acquaintance. Frank Malvestuto Former head of NASA Supersonic Aerodynamics Division. Christine Mann A rising senior at the Allen School for girls. Desma Mann Christine Mann's mother. Isabelle Mann One of Dorothy Vaughan's co-workers. Miriam Mann One of the women who attended a war training class at Hampton. Noah Mann Christine Mann's father. William Mann Miriam Mann's husband. Thurgood Marshall Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the US. Glenn L. Martin An early American aviation pioneer. John Mayer One who tackled orbital mechanics. Alton Mayo Handled on the problems faced by an object returning to earth. Joseph McCarthy Former American senator from the state of Wisconsin. Dudley McConnell An aerospace research scientist at the NASA. Minnie McGrow One of the women who attended a war training class at Hampton. Malcolm McLean The former administrator at the University of Minnesota Marilyn Monroe American actress, model, and singer. Irene Morgan African-American woman arrested in Middlesex County, Virginia. Alonzo G. Moron The black president of the Troop. Mrs. Moron Alonzo Moron's wife. Robert R. Moton American educator and author. Forest Ray Moulton American astromer. Melba Roy Mouton Assistant Chief of Research Programs at NASA. Emily S. Mueller One of Langley's female employees. Helen Mulcahy Former East Computer transferred to Langley's tech editing dept. Michael Max Munk German aerospace engineer who worked for NACA. Albert Murray A successful New York lawyer. Nichelle Nichols American actress, singer, and voice artist. Richard Nixon 37th U.S. President. Barack Obama 44th U.S. President. Catherine T. Osgood One of the math aides who ran the trajectory analysis software. Tom Paine A challenging NASA's administrator. Rosa Parks American activist in the civil rights movement. Mary S. Peake American teacher and a member of the black elite in Hampton. Henry Pearson Flight Research division chief. Mrs. Pearson Henry's wife. Kathryn Peddrew African-American woman with a degree in chemistry. Aka: Chubby. Marjorie Peddrew Kathryn's sister-in-law. Susie Peeler Dorothy's stepmother. William R. Perl American lawyer and psychologist. John Perry An engineer. John Mallory Phillips Hampton Institute's bookkeeper. W. H. Phillips An Englishman constructed a model helicopter. Mary Pickford Canadian-American film actress and producer. Ruby Rainey Former East computer. A. Philip Randolph American labor unionist, civil rights activist, and socialist politician. Joseph Rauh One of the US foremost civil rights and civil liberties lawyers. Henry Reid The engineer-in-charge at Langley laboratory. Herbert Ribner A researcher. Christine Richie Dorothy Vaughan's colleague. Paul Robeson American bass baritone concert artist and stage and film actor. Jackie Robinson American professional baseball player. Spottswood Robinson American educator, civil rights attorney. Gene Roddenberry American television screenwriter. Francis Rogallo American aeronautical engineer. Eleanor Roosevelt Former First Lady of the United States. Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd U.S. President. James Rorty American radical writer and poet. Ethel Rosenberg American citizens convicted of spying on behalf ofthe Soviet Union. Julius Rosenberg Ethel Rosenberg's husband. Sam Rosenberg A white economics professor at Hampton Institute. Bayard Rustin American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism. Lorraine Satchell One of Dorothy Vaughan's co-workers. Wally Schirra One of the selected "Mercury Seven" astronauts to the world. Al Schy Katherine's boss. Gil Scott-Heron American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author. Richard Seabass One of Cornell researchers. Alan Shepard One of the selected "Mercury Seven" astronauts to the world. Aran Shetterly Margot's husband. Margot Lee Shetterly American non-fiction writer. Ted Skopinski Describing the path taken by the space vehicle on earth's surface. JoAnne Smart One of the first black students admitted at University of Carolina. Benjamin Lee Smith The superintendent of the Greensboro public school system. Eunice Smith One of the first African American women work at the Langley. Willianna Smith Dorothy Vaughan's former colleague. Katherine C. Speegle One of Langley's female employees. Blanche Sponsler Margery Hannah's assistant. John Stack Aeronautical engineer. Weldon Staton One of Margot's father's buddies. Thelma Stiles One of Dorothy's acquaintances. Jack Swigert American NASA astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer. Henry Waters Taft American lawyer and author. The brother of Pres. William H.Taft. Ophelia Taylor A graduate from Hampton who was running a nursery school. Edward Teller American-Hungarian theoretical physicist. Theodore Theodorsen Norwegian-American theoretical aerodynamicist worked at NACA. Floyd Thompson Langley's assistant director. James Thompson A politician. Bettye Tillman One of the first black students admitted at University of Carolina. James Tingle Laboratory health officer. Gherman Titov Soviet cosmonaut. Spencer Tracy American actor. Harry S. Truman 33rd U.S. President. Virginia Tucker American mathematician who work at the NACA. Erma Tynes Worked as a human computer at Langley Air Force Base. Dorothy Vaughan American mathematician and human computer worked for NACA. Howard Vaughan Dorothy Vaughan's husband. Leonard Vaughan One of Dorothy Vaughan's children. Jules Verne French novelist, poet, and playwright. John Victory The NACA's long-serving executive secretary. Thomas Villa One that could not secure financing from local banks. Wernher von Braun German-born American aerospace engineer and space architect. Booker T. Washington American educator, author, orator, adviser to multiple presidents. Eunice Waymon American singer-songwriter. Aka: Nina Simone. James Webb Langley's director. Barbara Weigel One of Dorothy Vaughan's colleagues. H. G. Wells English writer. Matilda West Dorothy Vaughan's relative. Richard T. Whitcomb American aeronautical engineer. Ed White American aeronautical engineer and NASA astronaut. Ruth Whitman One of Langley's female employees. Sue Wilder An author. Roy Wilkins Activist in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Helen Willey American women computers working for NASA. James Williams Former Tuskegee airman who had fallen in love with airplanes. Jim Williams Analog designer. Julia Williams James Williams' wife. Paul Williams A mathematician. Woodrow Wilson 28th U.S. President. Ella S. Winston Mary Jackson's mother. Emily Winston Mary Jackson's sister. Frank Winston Mary Jackson's father. Dudley Weldon Woodard The second African-American to earn PhD in Mathematics. David Woods One of Margot's father's buddies. Carter G. Woodson American historian, author, journalist. Orville Wright One of American aviation pioneers. George Wythe The first American law professor and Virginia judge. Chuck Yeager US Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot. P. B. Young The owner of the Norfolf Journal and Guide. Pearl I. Young The first female technical employee of the NACA. Ann   One of Dorothy Vaughan's children. Carolyn   Mary Jackson's daughter. Charles   One of Coleman's children. Connie   One of Jimmy's daughters. Coretta   Martin Luther King Jr.'s wife. Donald   One of Dorothy Vaughan's children. Helen   Jimmy Goble's eldest sister. Horace   One of Coleman's children. Jocelyn   Margot's younger sister. Julia   Margot's aunt. Julia   Christine Mann's best friend. Kathy   One of Jimmy's daughters. Kenneth   One of Dorothy Vaughan's children. Levi Sr.   Mary Jackson's husband. Maida   One of Dorothy Vaughan's children. Margaret   One of Coleman's children. Michael   One of Dorothy Vaughan's children. Odetta   Albert Murray's wife. Patricia   Jimmy Goble's sister. Aka: Pat. Raymond   Rosa Parks' husband.