The woman at the heart of the New York Times bestseller and Oscar-winning film "Hidden Figures" shares her personal journey from child prodigy in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia to NASA human computer and her integral role in the early years of the U.S. space program In 2015, at the age of ninety-seven, Johnson became a global celebrity for her pioneering work as a mathematician on NASA's first flight into space. In her memoir Johnson provides a record of racial history that reveals the influential role Black educators played in nurturing the dreams of trailblazers like herself, and brings into focus the unrelenting grit required to make history and inspire future generations. -- adapted from jacket