HAMPTON, Va. — Once hidden, their stories are now permanently in plain sight in Downtown Hampton.
“Hell-bent on doing the best that they could, in the best way they could," Joylette Hylick said.
On Wednesday, three official Virginia historical markers were unveiled at the Virginia Air and Space Science Center, honoring the journey and sacrifices of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson.
The three women are the genesis of the book "Hidden Figures," a biographical account of the African American NASA mathematicians who helped shape the early developments of the age of space exploration.
While they are just three of the names honored through the historical plaques, their stories are a shared journey of many women scientists who broke barriers at a time of segregation and discrimination.
To their families, their stories are hidden no more, and the ways they lived their lives permanently impacted how they lived their own.
“She always enjoyed what she was doing, she always said she never worked a day in her life because she liked what she was doing," Hylick said, the daughter of Katherine Johnson.
“What is a hidden figure? To me, it's their work being unveiled. Their personalities, their commitment to community," Melissa Vaughan said, the granddaughter of Dorothy Vaughan.
Congress honored each of these women in 2019 with a Congressional Gold Medal, along with another gold medal that honored all women at NASA between the 1930s and 1970s.
Surviving family members from each of the "Hidden Figures" scientists were present at an unveiling ceremony Wednesday, and the plaques can be seen outside the Air and Space Science Center facing the courtyard on Settlers Landing Road.