4 Mighty Quotes From Hidden Figures

“It’s not because we wear skirts — it’s because we wear glasses.”

Image via IMDb

If no one told you what you can’t do, how much would you dare to try?

Unfortunately, humans have a long history of telling each other what we can and can’t do. Most of the time, we do so with words. Sometimes, with weapons. Both can cause pain and irrevocable damage, only one can inspire us to transcend physical and invisible barriers.

In the United States of the 1960s, those barriers took the form of racial segregation. African Americans were forced to use different walkways, different restaurants, different toilets, and even different park benches.

Set against this backdrop, the movie Hidden Figures tells the true story of three heroes. Three American heroes. Three Black female mathematicians, who defied the odds and made history.

Like many great stories of history, it is one told far too late and with too little accuracy, but it’s still a story worth hearing, embracing, and learning from.

Here are four awe-inspiring quotes that surprised and amazed me at the same time, along with some context and research.

1. “I’d already be one.”