hidden figures
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Why Was NASA Astronaut Jeanette Epps Removed From International Space Station Mission? Racism, Her Brother Says
Last summer, it was announced that NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps would become the first African-American International Space Station crew member, after she was chosen to go on the June 2018 mission. Of course, we now know that those plans have changed, with news breaking last week that NASA had decided to pull Epps off the…
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Jeanette Epps Will Not Become the 1st African-American International Space Station Crew Member; NASA Pulled Her Off the Team
Last year, amid the buzz and hype of the movie Hidden Figures—which tells the story of three African-American women who were crucial in the launch of the first American into orbit—the story of NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps also took flight. Epps was scheduled to become the first African American to call the International Space Station…
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NASA Dedicates Building to Hidden Figures Heroine Katherine Johnson
When NASA’s Langley Research Center built its newest, state-of-the-art research facility in Hampton, Va., it was only right that they named it after Katherine Johnson, the NASA engineer and subject of the book and Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures. “You want my honest answer? I think they’re crazy,” the 99-year-old math genius said when she heard…
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Janelle Monáe Receives Honorary Dillard University Degree, Delivers Commencement Speech
Janelle Monáe recognized the fact that she didn’t graduate from college during her commencement speech at Dillard University, but that didn’t stop her from leaving the Class of 2017 with a few words of wisdom and picking up an honorary degree. Monáe, who played NASA physicist Mary Jackson in the movie Hidden Figures, spoke about…
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Even When White People Finally Get It Right, They Still Get It Wrong
In one of the most entertaining “spontaneous” bits I’ve ever seen performed at the Academy Awards, Jimmy Kimmel allowed a group of flabbergasted and starstruck tourists into the Dolby Theater to walk past the audience. This, of course, introduced the world to #GaryFromChicago and his wife — computer generated composites of every Black uncle and…
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Who Could, Should and Will Win at the 89th Academy Awards
I have a complicated relationship with the Academy Awards. As I’ve said before, when we need the approval and validation of the dominant group in order for us to see our own work as valuable, we engage in a form of internalized racism that centers whiteness even as we engage in the subversive work of…
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Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Mahershala Ali and Hidden Figures Win Big at SAG Awards
The 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards took place Sunday night, and on the heels of President HWSRN’s immigration ban specifically targeting Muslims, some award winners used the opportunity to speak out against the atrocities that unfolded over the weekend. Mahershala Ali took home the SAG Award for best supporting actor for his performance in Moonlight,…
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Octavia Spencer Buys Out Hidden Figures Screening for L.A. Families During MLK Weekend
Actress and recent Golden Globe nominee Octavia Spencer provided a free screening of her critically acclaimed film Hidden Figures for Los Angeles families who may not be able to afford to see it. The actress bought out the 8 p.m. screening Friday at a Baldwin Hills movie theater for the Martin Luther King Day weekend,…
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Unique Views Podcast, Episode 25: Here Comes the Hotepper
Eyes back! Did you miss me? That’s right—the granddaddy of them all, your favorite light-skin’s favorite light-skin, is back, and I don’t have long to be here because surely Patti LaDanielle, aka Mrs. Idris Elba, aka Danielle Young, is going to find another way to try to cancel me out with her Diana Ross-Beyoncé antics.…