Historians Break Down "Hidden Figures" / Reel History

A special Thanks to Harriet Gaston for joining us for this video. Along with a successful career in the education field, she now hold the Title of Coordinator of Minority Programs, Division of Undergraduate Studies.
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Reel History delves into historical films to separate fact from fiction. These engaging episodes explore, contextualize, and clarify stories related to the most famous historical movies. In contrast to the more prevalent "reaction" videos, these installments seek not only to entertain but to educate and inform.
For host Jared Frederick and video editor Andrew Collins, these Reel History episodes are a labor of love and a means of expressing passion for the past as well as cinema. Courteous viewer feedback is always welcomed. Contact information for the hosts is available on the homepage.
The views expressed are our own and don't necessarily represent our employers or organizations with which we are involved.
*Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. All rights belong to their respective owners. All original commentary and materials produced by this channel is the intellectual property of Reel History, LLC.
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[@ReelHistory]

So apparently when Jared says "I'll have Andy insert a picture here", what he really means is "I hope Andy remembers to insert a picture here". Sorry about that.

[@timothymartinsr.6805]

My wife aunt was also a “ Hidden Figure”. She worked with Von Braun in Huntsville, AL. Her name is Lena Prewitt. She finished her career as a professor at University of Alabama. First Black person to receive that position.

[@ReelHistory]

That's awesome! Make sure you record as much of her story as you can for future generations.

[@TheodoreHughes-dg7rs]

@@ReelHistory in 2015 the year before hidden figures janelle monae sang alongside duran duran on the song pressure off

[@wavepool4501]

Thanks for this Reel History. Looking forward to many more.

[@ReelHistory]

Our pleasure!

[@jimw966]

I am a huge fan of the history of the space program and read all the books and seen the movies and documentaries, and never once came across the story of these ladies until this movie and the books published since. Hidden Figures is a correct term for them. One of the reasons ladies did this work because at the time “Computer Work” was considered a woman’s task because it was a lot of data entry type work. I Kind of incredible when you think of it those antiquated terms. We owe so much to these women and many more who did the unsung jobs for years and never got the credit they deserved.

[@luv2sail66]

Thank you for another well researched and interesting presentation. Your use of guest commentary adds much depth and valuable information to your videos. Keep up the excellent work!

[@reddevil3387]

You mentioned the "Loving vs Va" case. I married a young lady who was half Japanese and half Swedish a few months after that case, in Virginia. The guy that gave us the marriage license looked at us and grunted and then said "a few months ago I wouldn't have had to give this to you."

[@shelleychaffin3758]

I am sorry you and your wife experienced such bigotry.

[@andrewwallace4821]

Fantastic addition to the diversity of the channel. So happy this is blowing up. You mentioned Judas and the black messiah in an earlier video on the best films to watch about the civil rights movement. I was blown away by a story about a man that I knew little about other than his name. Any chance you'll go for an in depth video on that film too?

[@ReelHistory]

Without a doubt, eventually

[@davemac1197]

One of the ads that interrupted my viewing of this video was from Amnesty International, urging me (as a UK citizen) to sign their petition against the Policing Bill currently going through Parliament. Their attempt to keep our Police busy with managing protest marches and investigating 'hate speech' instead of burglaries aside, I enjoyed this very much, and thanks also to your guest Harriet. I haven't seen the movie, but I will look out for it in the future. I would be wary of going too far down the road of criticising films for what they don't show, in terms of the contributions of others to important events in history. I was very struck and somewhat embarrassed by some WW2 veterans in my country when they complained about the lack of British (and Canadian) representation in the movie Saving Private Ryan, just because it featured a scene of the Omaha Beach landings on D-Day. It made headlines in the UK media and I thought it was totally inappropriate, because the movie was not about D-Day, it was about saving Private Ryan - the clue was actually not very well hidden in the title! This movie should not be seen as a 'correction' (if it was done right) to the existing film narrative on Apollo, it told a story that was worthy of being told on its own merit. An interesting footnote that also has nothing to do with colour prejudice - part of the security for D-Day involved the creation of a so-called ‘BIGOT list’ of people who were privy to the classified details. BIGOT was an acronym for British Invasion of German Occupied Territory, and one could ask a colleague if they were a ‘bigot’, and they would have to answer “yes, I am”, as a check before they had a conversation on a BIGOT classified subject. The method has been adopted post-war by the American national security state, and the BIGOT list is a device still in use today.

[@ReelHistory]

You'll appreciate next weeks video!

[@davemac1197]

@@ReelHistory - well that's a reasonable assumption, because I tend to appreciate every week's video!

[@andreraymond6860]

Your final point is well made Mr. Fredericks. My dad died in 2015 and when I watched Hidden Figures I kept thinking he would have loved this movie. He and my mom sought out and cherrished uplifting movies. It's hard to be uplifting when you delve into R rated territory and the darkest rhelms of the human experience under the hypothesis that you have to show how ugly things were in reality. When I see a good PG or G rated movie that leaves you feeling good about what humans are capable of it's the best feeling in the world.

[@andrewdeen1]

very cool guests man had a great time watching the pacific reations too. lots of great insight, more than your average reaction channel.

[@reddevil3387]

When I was a kid we had to do "duck and cover". Our teacher was nice enough to explain that if the bomb hit the roof, we were gonna die. That this drill would only work if it fell several miles away and would only protect us from flying glass and flying books, etc., not from radiation. Great teacher.

[@Zippezip]

Thank you, Harriet and Jared, great job on one of my fave subjects. Question: What three historical figures was Kevin Costner's character based on?

[@andreraymond6860]

They mention Robert Gilruth. I am guessing he is also based on Robert Seamans?

[@Zippezip]

@@andreraymond6860 Thank you

[@Ki_Adi_Mundi]

Erasing the validity of three people so that they only count as one sounds like it has some kind of historical precedent I wonder what that was? Oh well, at least it happened to an evil white. History is fair again. 🤔

[@Spider-Too-Too]

did this Chanel just create a movie review podcast format? it's like an upgrade to the expert react format

[@ReelHistory]

It's primary intent is to watch it but honestly it does also work to just listen to it. Especially with youtube premium.

[@billkallas1762]

I'm old enough to remember using slide rules in Physics tests because the Prof decided that since calculators were so new and expensive, not everyone had to means to own one. I believe that at the time, Texas Instruments was the big thing, and they cost close to $100.

[@andreraymond6860]

I remember my girl friend (soon to be my wife) turning to me in the movie theater during Appllo 13. It was during a scene when Tom Hanks asks mission control to check his math because he is tired and unsure. Several guys on screen take out their slide rulers. My wife asked 'Why don't they just use their pocket calculators?'. I smiled and told her I'd explain later. She was born in 1971.

[@morgainedepolloc4161]

My mother was also one of the "human computers" at Langley Research Center in the 60s. She isn't considered "black" though. She was amazing. When I was taking advanced Calculus in high school, she could solve all of my homework -- while I still struggled. She went on to help configure and install the first IT Networks at Langley AFB -- while I was chosen for a position at the Pentagon, also configuring IT Networks in the early 90s. Those were the days. But let's celebrate these women!

[@ReelHistory]

You and your Mother are heroes in my book!

[@Gjudxdkjyzddhjnr7091]

Fantastic film about fantastic people

[@kenrup]

Duck and cover, as a child of that era we either hid under our desks or went into the interior hallways. Yes it would have been worthless as actual protection. However; it made us feel that we could do something and that we were not totally helpless.

[@naavatski]

Thank you for the great videos, I love your way of speaking, you always sound so positive. 🙂

[@ReelHistory]

We try!

[@thedude1316]

I enjoy your wide range of historical topics. You also invite guests to comment and provide an alternate or added perspective to your own.

[@dbcichetti]

Into the 80s, my just outside NYC, school district still did duck and cover drills. Also, twice a year filed into the basement fallout shelter.

[@robertmoyer175]

Excellent review and commentary, you need to have guests more often. I would have loved having you as a professor of history. I wish you were located at a PSU campus in SE Pennsylvania.

[@margaretsander8419]

I love using Hidden Figures in my classroom in modern US history and larger discussions of race relations. Excellent movie that makes math exciting.

[@neilholmes8200]

6:46 Like the meme, my teachers delighted in telling me "you won't always have a calculator in your pocket" Me in 2022 with a mobile phone disagrees

[@davemac1197]

Unlike my best friend in school during the 1970s, I wasn't skilled enough in maths to be able to even work out how to use a slide rule, but I did have an early 'brick' of a calculator made by Texas Instruments. I remember frequently getting 'EEEEEEEEEE' as the results of my calculations!

[@neilholmes8200]

@@davemac1197 haha I'm a bit younger, but I can relate lol

[@Crazy-pl1lo]

Watched this in highschool for science class near the end of the year very good watch

[@VideoTasties]

Is Mississippi Burning on your list to watch?

[@VideoTasties]

@@ReelHistory it's not a very known film I suppose

[@ReelHistory]

It is on our list!

[@VideoTasties]

@@ReelHistory probably a big ever increasing list. Any westerns on it?

[@ReelHistory]

@@VideoTasties, Dances with Wolves is at least one we'd like to do sometime. The Assassination of Jesse James as well.

[@jackmessick2869]

Slide rules: I had a math teacher who had a HUGE demonstration slide rule hanging up in his classroom. It must have been six feet long and 18 inches or more wide with large numbers. This was the late 1970s, just as calculators were starting to be allowed.

[@neilholmes8200]

4:30 There's a really interesting fan made mod for the modern Fallout Games called Conelrad. It's based on a real emergency broadcasting radio system* from the 50s or 60s with various public service announcements, interspersed with music from that period. One of the songs is called Sputniks and Mutniks, the latter is about Laika, the first dog in space. It has lines like "Sputniks and Mutinks flying through the air, Sputniks and Mutniks flying everywhere, that's so ironic, are they atomic, those funny missiles have got me scared" It's really fascinating to see how the anti soviet paranoia bled into music and other media. *these are real recordings as well, some are from largely unheard of politicians, but several are from famous celebrities like Bob Hope. I do question the logic though of giving serious information over the radio through Groucho Marx!

[@JonathanRossRogers]

I love CONELRAD 640-1240. The paranoia was partly justified and partly unjustified. Fear of a tiny satellite containing a dead dog was silly. Fear of ICBMs was not.

[@profanepersonality]

Your producer was probably certified in mechanics in the mid to late 80's or after.

[@Caranilion]

How about "Life of Brian" for a fun episode on april 1st?

[@ReelHistory]

If I didn't already have something planned for that day lol

[@carriesmith742]

I'd heard of an "Euler's disc" from Big Bang Theory, but I figured it had to something to do with geometry, but my math level didn't go above pre-cal in high school and one required semester of college algebra.

[@azbag1906]

Have you ever heard of the show “A Young Doctors Notebook?”

[@benhaney9629]

16:30 Yeah. These were very well educated professionals with a job to do. A mission they deeply cared about. And most of them weren’t even southern. They weren’t here to fight age old racial conflicts. That replacing the coffee cup thing for example...I imagine a majority of these guys would consider that gauche. The prejudice may have existed in some or even a majority of these guys but to bring it to a head in such a tactless and public way. While they all have such a more important job to do... Yeah I don’t know.

[@benhaney9629]

Like the Kevin Costner character... “I’m dealing with bathroom etiquette? Where and when people take a piss? Instead of worrying about getting an American to the moon? Are you fucking kidding me? (Sledgehammer) Can we get back to work now?” I’d imagine that was a more realistic outlook on this stuff.

[@benhaney9629]

3:15 Most people, my nature, hate and avoid confrontation. They wouldn’t have done a lot of the shit shown in this movie if for no other reason than to avoid this type of outburst and confrontation.

[@Ki_Adi_Mundi]

Don't worry, this was a propaganda piece. Almost none of the shit in the movie actually happened.

[@eduardocruz4341]

​@@Ki_Adi_MundiMany things did happen but this is a movie not documentary so events are condensed or merged as are real people into certain characters as well as a narrative of certain evil situations in history in certain parts and certain people in America

[@JonathanRossRogers]

I don't know if IBM paid for product placement, but there weren't many alternatives to their computers in the 1960s.

[@JonathanRossRogers]

6:09 A current cell phone has thousands of times the memory and processing power of any computer NASA used in the 1960s.

[@MsCnote1984]

Can we see a review of Changeling with Angelina Jolie?

[@ReelHistory]

Ooo that's a good one

[@MsCnote1984]

@@ReelHistory, OMG!!! I can't wait to see it. Definitely my favorite movie and the book by Sanford's son is also amazing.

[@stephicohu]

Originally they were called computers. Yes, I said it correctly, in late 1940s to the age of computers, women were hired to do computations. As with anything else in society, it was shorten to computers. Why women? Women were less likely to make a mistake, take their time to ensure the values were correct. If a man did this job, many thought it was below they dignity to do it because it was tedious work. Women loved it because it gave them something to do outside the home.

[@ReelHistory]

Thanks for the perspective!

[@comedyfox4018]

I love your content but the amount of commercials in this clip we're so God awful every 30 seconds KZbin would take a break they are killing your channel.

[@ReelHistory]

you're not kidding. sadly that is up to youtube and out of our control.

[@TeylaDex]

That's the first time like I felt I learned nothing new in one of your videos. You guest sadly seemed to not even have read the IMDB trivia page

[@stephenreese5921]

We (Both black and white) have come a long way since the birth of our nation. My southern born Mother was amazed and appalled that she was never told about the inclusion of black woman (and men) in the space community. She was in inched that she was never told about the value these women were not shared as she was going to school. We have come a long way. Until CRT came into being. The Dummycrats are trying to reinstall these divisions. SHAME on them! We need to be told about we’re we came from to appreciate we’re we are now.

[@stephanieperry1119]

The Human Computers were white and black. The prejudice makes it more interesting in being able to actual systemic racism. Brilliant movie.

[@jeffgoesrandom4217]

This did not investigate the actual facts. The bathroom scene is one example. Your other war films are on a different level. This one isn't.

[@ChuckJansenII]

We all know that many of the historical movies are a composite. This film is a composite. The message does not suffer for this. The contributions of these Engineers and Mathematicians was highly valuable to NASA and the space race. Do you think Band of Brothers is 100% accurate?

[@sirmidor]

@@ChuckJansenII Band of Brothers is not 100% accurate, but Jared talked about those inaccuracies in the videos about Band of Brothers. You walked away knowing which parts were accurate, which weren't, and what actually happened; you got a full picture. Hidden Figures also has many inaccuracies yet many were not discussed in this video in that same way. Being used to the great level of detail in which historical inaccuracies are pointed out and discussed on this channel, I found the level of scrutiny towards inaccuracies in Hidden figures to be much lower than usual, which I feel is very disappointing.

[@ChuckJansenII]

@@sirmidor The bathroom scene was explained so I don't know what review you watched. There are other inaccuracies pointed out like the women not being accepted for a longer period. The engineers seeing a black woman now seated in their midst might have been shocked at first but as Jared rightly pointed out they accepted these talented women because their job was to get a man safely into space and safely back home. Eventually, they wanted men to safely land on the moon and safely return. Hidden Figures is meant to inspire black and maybe all children to get their education. There is an inaccuracy in your initial statement. "Your other war films are on a different level." This is not a war film.

[@Ki_Adi_Mundi]

Did you really expect "modern race relations" the movie to be accurately critiqued in 2022?