HAMPTON, Va. (WVEC) -- The author of "Hidden Figures" was given the Distinguished Citizen Mental from Hampton's City Council on Wednesday.
Margot Lee Shetterly wrote the best-selling book and movie based on an important chapter in Hampton's history. The book tells the story of the black women who played significant roles in Americans getting into orbit and to the moon. The women worked as human computers long before the computer was invented.
The Distinguished Citizen's Medal has been around since 1964. It's Hampton's version of a key to the city and has been given out less than three dozen times.
Both the movie and the book of 'Hidden Figures" drew the attention of millions of people to the story of Hampton’s NASA Langley Research Center and groundbreaking contributions by many local residents.
Shetterly founded The Human-Computer Project, an endeavor that is recovering the names and accomplishments of all of the women who worked as computers, mathematicians, scientists and engineers at NACA and NASA from the 1930s through the 1980s.
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