'Hidden Figures' message inspires free screening for 200 girls

The hashtag “BlackGirlMagic” frequently accompanies mention of the movie “Hidden Figures,” an account of the essential contributions of three African-American women in the Space Race. On Saturday, a Greenwood woman made some #BlackGirlMagic of her own, introducing about 200 girls to the movie with its inspirational story about success in the face of racism and sexism.

It began when Jantina Anderson and her husband took their two young daughters to see the film on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The story had such a profound impact that Anderson wanted to share the experience with others.

“It gave me the understanding I could overcome anything,” said Anderson, a human resource manager at Carrier Corp. “If they can do this in the period they did, I shouldn’t have a problem.”

Anderson started a GoFundMe campaign with an eye toward raising $3,500, enough to bring about 100 girls and chaperones to a free private screening of the Oscar-nominated movie. She promoted the cause through social and traditional media.

After IndyStar ran an article about Anderson's effort, she received an unexpected call. Jon Findley, chief executive officer of FullCircle Entertainment, which owns Georgetown Cinemas, offered her two theaters, which allowed her to more than double the number of people seeing the film.

The campaign surpassed its original goal, collecting more than $6,400. Anderson also expanded plans, adding a panel to follow each screening that featured local African-American women working in engineering and mathematics. Each attendee received a copy of the Margot Lee Shetterly book the movie is based on.

Many of the panelists and adult volunteers who helped with the screenings belong to the local chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, but Anderson said in her eyes, the movie has a message that goes beyond the world of technology.

Destiny Tims certainly heard that message. After exiting the screening, the Eagle Creek Elementary  fifth grader said she did not necessarily identify with the main characters’ love of math.

Nevertheless, she received a key message.

“It taught me to go out and talk to people and try not to hide my ideas,” she said.

Brought to the movie by their grandmother, cousins Gloriana Jones, 15, and Layla Sheard, 10, marveled at what the women in the movie endured. The movie depicts a time of segregated buses, bathrooms and libraries. The women in the movie face both racism and sexism at many turns.

“Man, that was difficult, what they had to go through,” Gloriana said.

Layla, a fifthgrader at Fox Hill Elementary, said: “I would have quit.”

But the two girls had no complaints about the movie itself.

“That was a cool movie,” said Gloriana, who is homeschooled. “It was amazing because they broke barriers.”

In the movie, the women must handle overt racism and a legally segregated society. Many things have changed today, but not everything, the panelists told the audience of girls.

"Have you ever faced discrimination in your profession because you are women of color?" Gloriana asked the panel.

“It happens all the time,” said Jasmine Pitts, a manufacturing quality engineer for United Technologies Corp. “I think we’re all used to it by now. We’re all young, black females.”

At times, said Pitts, co-workers have mistaken her for a janitor or an intern.

LeJoi Shelton, a math teacher at Fishers High School, the first African-American in her department, said in her case, strangers may assume she’s a student or cafeteria worker.

But Pitts said she had found a formula to fight back against such assumptions.

“I make sure I do my job well to prove to people I am supposed to be here,” she said.

Sometimes, the biggest challenge comes not from others, but from oneself, said Mary Simmons, a project engineer at Belcan Engineering.

Early in her career, she found herself the youngest person in a room filled with white men. She spoke up, but when she did so, she felt it necessary to preface her remarks with the qualifier, “This may be a stupid question …”

“I was maybe discriminating against myself,” Simmons said.

Other panelists offered equally practical advice for young girls.

While the women in the movie all displayed uncommon mathematical ability, one of the panelists confessed that math did not come easily to her all the time.

“I’ve always liked math. But math has not always liked me,” said Tekiah Tunstall, a business analyst at Bosma Enterprises. “It’s very important if you’re struggling in a subject to get help.”

Given all the challenges the world presents, one of the audience members asked the panelists how they managed to stay motivated.

Without a pause, Shelton, stepped up to answer.

“My biggest motivation is you, you, you and you,” she said. “All of you wonderful students, your brilliant minds.”

Call IndyStar reporter Shari Rudavsky at (317) 444-6354. Follow her on Twitter: @srudavsky.

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