This morning I learned about two extraordinary Black American women: sculptor, poet, teacher and gallery owner Augusta Savage (1892-1962), and mathematician and computer scientist Annie Easley (1933-2011).
[The New York Public Library has a great libguide for Augusta Savage.]
Thank you to Mariame Kaba (@prisonculture.bsky.social) for posting a link to a PBS American Masters segment about Augusta Savage:
Annie Easley was a NASA “computer.” Hidden Figures (the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, and the film of the same name) featured profiles and stories of Black women hired by NASA for their skills and mathematics and engineering. Annie Easley wasn’t featured in that work, but she shared a similar skillset. Among her accomplishments, she created code for the Centaur rocket stage that allowed it to be used successfully (it was blowing up on launch). The code Easley created allowed the Centaur stage to be used in more than 220 launches; the technology was incorporated into other rockets used for missions to the moon, and for the space shuttles.
Annie Easley is one of the featured women in an article at biography.com: NASA’s Hidden Figures: The Unsung Women You Need to Know
Caitlin Aamodt, PhD (@caamodt.bsky.social) posted a gift article of an obituary for Annie Easley, published on February 1, 2025, by the New York Times in their “Overlooked No More” series: https://bsky.app/profile/caamodt.bsky.social/post/3lh7czy27ws2r
The Times summed up some of her skills this way: “She analyzed systems that handled energy conversion and aided in the design of alternative power technology, including the batteries used for early hybrid vehicles.” (For those of us who flirt with data transmission, the article also mentioned that she worked with SOAP.)
Easley spent her retirement mentoring others, and served with the EEOC.
From the Times piece, in a 2001 interview, Easley said this: “My thing is, if I can’t work with you, I will work around you.”
Wise words.
Carmen Yount 