Thu 2/6 @ 7PM
Margot Lee Shetterly had several careers before she uncovered a story that gained her widespread attention. She was an investment banker and worked in the Mexican tourism industry. While doing the latter, she began to research stories about the barriers faced by Black women in science careers from the 1930s through the 60s, exploring especially the women working at NASA. She eventually focused in on three women mathematicians whose stories became the basis of her best-selling debut book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race. It won the 2017 Anisfeld-Wolf Award and was made into a hugely successful film released at the end of 2016. The film stands as a rebuke to the current campaign to eliminate “DEI” (Diversity, equity, Inclusion): DEI’s nonexistence in the ’60s was the minefield these women had to traverse.
Shetterly will be at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History this week to launch its new series, Conversations with Women in STEAM. She’ll be in conversation with chemical engineer Dr. Rebecca Liebert of the Lubrizol Foundation to talk about the role Shetterly’s book and the movie it spawned played in bringing attention to women in science-related careers. Shetterly will sign copies of her book after the program; books will be available for sale at the museum or you can purchase one along with your ticket. Get tickets here.
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