The University of Virginia Film Festival (November 9-12, 2017) presented in Charlottesvlile, Virginia the "Hidden Figures" film. This biological drama is based on Margot Lee Shettery's book by the same title. The film is about black female mathematicians who worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the legal segregation era in the1950s and early 1960s.
     Katherine Goble/Johnson, an African American assisted in flight training in 1953, a move that became permanent. When the SpaceTask Group was created in  1958, Katherine became a member of the group named Flight Research Division.  It was Katherine's contribution that helped make it possible for John Glenn, selected in 1959 as one of the Murcery Seven military pilots by  NASA, to fly on February 20, 1962 the Friendship 7 mission, and become  the first American to obit the earth.
      Before commenting further on the Hidden Figures film, I want to reveal a communication I sent James Webb, director of NASA about two weeks after John Glenn first made an obit of the earth. I requested that Webb add an African American to the next list of astronauts. It was not easy for an African American to participate in America's Space Program and as stated below it took a number of years for an African American to become an astronaut despite involvement of these African American females as revealed in the HIdden Figures film.
       While surfing the Internet I came across a portion of a letter I sent to James Webb, director  of NASA on NevadaLabor.com" News Bulletin that stated,  "On March 7, 1962 in Alabama, Montgomery black leader Uriah J. Fields (a former aide to Martin Luther King Jr.) called on  NASA director to put an African American on the list of astronauts."
     About two decades ago Steven L. Moss contacted me and said that he was writing a thesis for a master's degree that focused on "NASA and Racial Equality 1961-1988." He said he read where I had communicated with James Webb of NASA and wanted to ask me a few questions. Referencing my letter to Webb in his thesis he said, "Fields told Webb that Black Americans took pride in the astronauts' achievement but wanted to see a black man in the next astronaut selection." Referring to the March 12, 1962 letter Webb sent me, he writes, "Webb and NASA maintained that the selection of the original seven Mercury astronauts and future Spacemen was based on technical qualifications and program requirements. The director insisted that the agency considered qualified applicants without regard of race, color or creed."
        As far as my research has determined, I, Uriah J. Fields, was the first African American to publicly call on the director of NASA to select and African American astronaut. However, it was five years after I communicated with Webb, in 1967 when Major Robet J. Lawrence became the first African American to be selected as a military astronaut. In December that year he died in a jet plane crash.
     In August 1979 Guion S. Blueford, Jr., became an astronaut and in August 1983, twenty-one years after my commuication to Webb, he was the first African American to go into Space aboard the "Challenger."
      Yes, it is true as I heard Martin Luther King, Jr, say more than a few times, "The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice." It is true even with/in space.
      It was Apollo 11, Spaceflight that landed the first  two humans on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Americans landed "Eagle" on July 20, 1969. Armstrong, was the first on the moon. Aldrin followed him. Five other Apollo missions have landed on the moon and 10 other astronauts have walked on the moon and even added a little fun driving around and playing golf, They brought back to earth some rocks. There have also been other earth-shaken and heavenly-attuned, if not unimaginable, feats of humans in Space.
      James Webb, the seond administrator of NASA, was selected by President John F. Kennedy who said that we will put a man on the moon in the 1960s.  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was established on July 29, 1958 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 2009 President Barack Obama selected African American Charles F. Bolden to be administrator of NASA. He served in that position from July 17, 2009 until January 20, 2017.
   Having said the aforementioned, now I will briefly comment on the Hidden Figures film. I am appreciative to promoters of The University of Virginia for  having included Hdden Figures as one of the films presented in Charlottesville during the Virginia Film Festival, my gratitude I extend to Margot Lee Shetterly, author of the book Hidden Figures, and to the producer and characters featured in the film. This film has significant messages for all Americans, especially  young people who need to know that knowledge and competence can effectively deal with racism which remains a systemic plague in American society.
       I am disappointed with this film for having, like many books and films about African Americans, extolled the  black woman over the black man,  giving him a lesser  role  than the black woman or showing him to be irresponsible, and very often, a deserter of his family. This is not generally true with books and films that portray white women and white men.
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Uriah J. Fields is a clergyman, author and composer/troubadour. He was a leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and a veteran of the Korean War.

Copyright 2017 by Uriah J. Fields