Tag: Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson: Inspiring to Remember

Photo by Sandi Phillips Miller, Class of 1976

This week, we learned that Katherine Johnson had died at age 101. The photo above appeared on Facebook — launching me into an exploration. Although I knew the basics behind this statue, and the woman it honors, there was more to discover!

I won’t go into depth here about her life, as it has been well documented in many places, especially this week. A few great examples can be found here.

Johnson’s death occurred at an interesting point on the calendar. Right between Black History Month and Womens’ History Month. She is the ultimate example of the reason that we need to know more about both.

Katherine Johnson

Although Katherine Johnson did not attend West Virginia Wesleyan, there is a statue of her on our campus. She stands between Christoper Hall of Science and the David E. Reemsnyder Research Center as a daily reminder of the possibilities within all of us.

Her Alma Mater, West Virginia State University, also has a statue of her on their campus. Both were  inspired by the movie, Hidden Figures. Katherine graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1937, at the age of 18 years old with majors in both Mathematics and French.

The Power of the Pen (and Art)

If not for author Margo Lee Shetterly, all of the power of Katherine Johnson’s story would likely still be unkown. Her 2016 book, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, inspired the movie of the same name. Margo has also started a project called The Human Computer Project to find all of the Human Computers from those early days of NASA and to remember their contributions. She wrote about four, but there were hundreds.

If not for the movie, Ellen Mueller would not have been inspired to commission this statue to be created by Andy Thorne. Ellen, who taught in the WVWC Art Department from 2012-17, wanted to celebrate a West Virginian who had overcome challenges to reach excellence. When she saw Hidden Figures, she knew she had found the perfect person! And also that this story needed to be shared. Ellen noted that:

Since 2011, WVWC has had at least 14% of the student population from a minority. This sculpture is a way to help minorities on campus know that they are welcomed and honored here.

Andy Thorne, a native West Virginian and a sculptor, worked as a Visiting Artist with Ellen and her 3-D Design Class to show them how a commissioned sculpture progressed from idea through the steps of making it a reality. This weekend I had the chance to talk with Andy, who has since moved to Florida, and he is so happy to have had the opportunity to work with Ellen and her students — especially on this project which highlights such an amazing West Virginian.

If not for the statue, the photograph at the top of this page would not have been taken by Sandi Phillips Miller (class of 1976) and shared on Facebook this week upon the death of Katherine Johnson.

If not for the photograph, I might not have written this particular blog.

It is my hope that someone reading this blog might be inspired by Katherine Johnson all over again. She is still teaching us that it is possible, no matter who you are, where you were born, or the odds that are seemingly stacked up against you, the potential in every person is something to be recognized, mentored, celebrated, and advocated.

Background Page: Katherine Johnson

A few of the many sources of information about the life of Katherine Johnson, and the ways that she has inspired (and is still inspiring)  the world.

About Katherine Johnson

7 Lessons from ‘Hidden Figures’ NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson’s life, by Della Dumbaugh, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Richmond.

Katherine Johnson entry on Wikipedia.

The Legacy of a Hidden Figure (Marina Koren, The Atlantic, Feburary 24, 2020)

Margot Lee Shatterly talks about her book Hidden Figures, and the inspiration behind it on her website.

Women of Apollo — from the Smithsonian

About the Statue

Artists work to place ‘Hidden Figures’ lead Katherine Johnson statue in Buckhannon (Kirsten Reneau, Exponent-Telegram, January 15, 2017)

WV Colleges plan tribute statues for NASA’s Katherine Johnson (Charleston Gazette-Mail, Febuary 25, 2017)

Information from the Art Department GoFundMe in 2016

The WVWC Art & Design Department is bringing in local sculptor Andy Thorne to complete a small (2′ tall) sculpture of Katherine G. Johnson, the brilliant African-American NASA mathematician, originally from West Virginia. The statue will sit on a 2’x2’x3’ brick pedestal. Johnson is also showcased in the recent feature film, Hidden Figures. Johnson is a perfect subject for our statue project because she has so many great accomplishments, and has overcome so much in terms of gender and racial discrimination, to become a mathematician for NASA. She is an excellent academic and a wonderful role model for the students at West Virginia Wesleyan College, many of whom are West Virginians themselves.This sculpture will be executed in part as a demonstration in the Spring 2017 3D Design course. We will work to invite Johnson to attend a dedication event on campus this summer, and we will also send a small version of the statue to Johnson.

A huge thank you goes out to the various departments at WVWC, community members, anonymous donors, alumni, and faculty/staff (donations ranged from $15-$500, demonstrating wide-ranging support from all economic levels of donors). We view this sculpture as a tribute to diversity and academic excellence in West Virginia, and appreciate the strong support from our community.

 Facts for reference:

  • Born in 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, Johnson was a talented student who entered college at only 15 years old. Her mother was a teacher and her father was a farmer and janitor. 
  • At West Virginia State University, W.W. Schiefflin Clayor, the third African American to earn a PhD. in mathematics, recognized Johnson’s abilities and motivated her to take advanced math.
  • In 1953, after teaching high school for 7 years, a relative helped Johnson apply for a job at Langley Research Center, which would become part of NASA.
  • At the newly formed NASA, Johnson calculated the flight path for the first mission in space.
  • In 1962, NASA used new electronic data processors to calculate launch conditions for the Friendship 7 mission. Astronaut John Glenn insisted that Johnson check the computer’s figures.
  • By the time Johnson retired in 1986, her computations influenced every major space program from Mercury through the Shuttle.
  • She received the NASA Langely Research Center Special Achievement Award in 1971, 1980, 1984, 1985 and 1986. Johnson has co-authored twenty-six scientific papers and has a historically unique listing as a female co-author in a peer-reviewed NASA report.
  • She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama on Nov. 24, 2015.
  • The 2016 feature film, Hidden Figures, is based on Johnson’s story, as well as other brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit.
  • Johnson lives with her husband Lt. Colonel James A. Johnson in Hampton, Virginia and has three daughters Constance, Joylette and Kathy.

The location of the sculpture will be between Christopher Hall and Reemsnyder Research Center (both science halls) – a highly trafficked spot. Several stakeholders from across campus (Office of Multiculturalism, Student Life, School of Science, Art Department, Academic Affairs, Physical Plant) weighed in on which location we should use, and everyone agreed this was the best choice for the statue.

Since 2011, WVWC has had at least 14% of the student population from a minority. This sculpture is a way to help minorities on campus know that they are welcomed and honored here.

Background about Institute

Another movie is coming out – about the town where Katherine Johnson went to school. 

This article, by James A. Haught, editor emeritus of the Charleston Gazette, appeared in the Sunday Gazette-Mail on March 1, 2020. Mr. Haught is the great nephew of WVWC legend Thomas W. Haught. Knowing more about this town brings a new depth of understanding to the story of Katherine Johnson. It was because of these events that there was a place where she could go for an education in those segregated times.  (PLM)

James A. Haught writes:

A stirring West Virginia saga — an epic love story that created the state’s largest African American town — has become a movie.

“River of Hope” premiered Feb. 15 at the Charleston Convention Center and Coliseum’s Little Theater, amid Black History Month, and will repeat March 4 and 11 at basement cinema events at Taylor Books. It tells the origin of Institute. Here’s a column I wrote in the 1990s about it.

•••

It happened during the mid-1800s, when this valley was a bastion of slavery. In the 1850 census, Kanawha County tallied 12,001 whites and 3,140 slaves. The bottomland was a string of farms on which blacks were kept almost like livestock: captive labor with no rights but to obey.

Apparently in secret, a rich plantation owner fell permanently in love with a beautiful slave, fathered 13 children with her, and finally was killed by angry white neighbors. But he had taken careful steps to assure that his woman and children would inherit his land — setting the stage for Institute to become the state’s largest black community.

The story wasn’t recorded in any West Virginia history book. It finally resurfaced because, one day in 1970, I was working in the courthouse and a lawyer showed me what he called a “scandal” in a prominent family. He pointed to century-old handwritten wills and documents, bound in musty record books. From them and old newspapers, this account emerged:

Samuel I. Cabell evidently was a member of the wealthy Virginia family that produced a governor and other leaders. Cabell County is named for them. Reportedly, he came to the Kanawha Valley with a regiment of slaves, worked them for a while in pioneer salt operations, then paid Martha Washington’s heirs $10,500 for 967 acres of rich valley land downriver from Charleston — almost everything between what is now Dunbar and Nitro. The sale is recorded in a deed dated April 8, 1853.

By that time, Cabell already was deeply committed to one of his slaves. In 1851, he had secretly written a will saying that all his blacks were to be hired out after his death — except one group:

“My woman, Mary Barnes, together with all her children … I do hereby give their freedom to take effect immediately at my death, and they aren’t to be considered as included among the slaves before-mentioned.”

Seven years later, Cabell wrote another secret will, implying that he feared that Mary and her children might be sold as slaves after his death. He wrote:

“In the event of sudden demise, this instrument of writing is intended to show or make known that Mary Barnes and all her children — namely, Elizabeth, Sam, Lucy, Mary Jane, Sidney Ann, Soula, Eunice, Alice, Marina (or Bobby), Braxton, and an infant not named — are and always have been free, as I have every right to believe they are my children. I want and it is my will that they shall be educated out of … all the moneys, bonds, debts due me, land, stocks, farming utensils and household to be equally divided between them.”

Two more sons later were born to the couple.

In 1859, Cabell wrote a third private will, providing cash awards to each child. Finally, in 1863 — during the Civil War — the plantation owner added an angry codicil:

“I hereby revoke this testament and will as to the slave portion. Those that have absconded and those taken away by the Federal Army shall not receive anything and they shall never be released from bondage during their lives. All property and moneys and debts due me shall be given to Mary Barnes and children equally after paying the board and schooling of the six youngest until they arrive of age.”

Cabell was a strange contradiction. He was devoted to his black family (of whom white neighbors presumably were unaware). Yet he was a Southern sympathizer who quarreled violently with northerners. In 1864 he was charged with “intimidating a public officer.” Then a death book records:

“(Name) Samuel I. Cabell, (date of death) July 18, 1865, (location) Kanawha River, (cause) murdered, (age) about 60, (parents) —-, (place of birth) Georgia, (consort) —-, (occupation) farmer.”

A weekly Charleston newspaper, “The West Virginia Journal,” a fiery abolitionist sheet, reported on July 26, 1865, that “Samuel I. Cabell, a bitter and open rebel,” had been shot to death by seven Yankee neighbors.

It said the neighbors “had been subjects of repeated insults on account of their loyalty to the Union, and they went to his house for the purpose of telling him they would put up with them no longer, when, getting excited, Cabell jumped over the fence flourishing his knife, and he was shot in self-defense.”

A jury accepted this explanation, and cleared the killers.

Six months later, Mary Barnes brought the handwritten wills to the courthouse, and Kanawha commissioners ruled them valid. Another ferocious family member, banker-farmer-salt manufacturer Napoleon Bonaparte Cabell, was appointed guardian of the youngest six children.

(When Napoleon Cabell died in 1889, his will disinherited two daughters who had married against his wishes, calling one of the sons-in-law “no better than a thief … he swindled me out of about $2,000.” As for his wife, Napoleon wrote that she “never brought a farthing along” when he married her.)

In 1869, Mary Barnes petitioned the county commissioners to change her and her children’s name to Cabell. In 1870, the commissioners divided the Cabell land among the mother and children, giving each a strip from the river to the hill. In 1871, executors reported that the Cabell estate was worth $42,128, a fortune back then.

The Cabell children became an 1870s rarity: educated blacks. No West Virginia school would accept them, but they attended a private academy in Ohio. Some of them settled in other states, while others returned to the Kanawha homestead and became leaders among the growing black population.

The community was called, at different times, “Cabell Farm” and “Piney Grove.” It was a rare refuge where freed slaves could live in peace. Elsewhere, 1870s newspapers told of blacks beaten by white mobs, and petition drives to ban blacks from counties.

In 1890, Congress passed a law denying certain benefits to states that didn’t educate blacks. Therefore, in 1891, the Legislature created the “West Virginia Colored Institute.” A site was sought, but several communities, including St. Albans, rejected offers to become home of the school.

Finally, according to John C. Harlan’s “History of West Virginia State College,” Gov. Aretas Fleming and his staff boarded a boat and chugged down Kanawha River looking for a site. At the black colony, they were met by residents who welcomed the idea. The state purchased 80 acres and built the Colored Institute — giving the town its final name.

Mary Barnes Cabell died in 1900, an 85-year-old great-grandmother.

Today, little noticed amid the modern bustle of Institute, there’s a tiny family cemetery on the grounds of the state Rehabilitation Center. It contains side-by-side graves of the murdered plantation owner and his beloved former slave woman.

James A. Haught | Reprinted in March 1 Charleston Gazette| Originally written in 1980s