Monday, September 26, 2016

Black Women Mathematicians at NASA

Dear Gregory Staff,

Ms. Tracey King has located a feature in Smithsonian Magazine about the upcoming film, Hidden Figures, which tells the inspiring story of the Black female NASA mathematicians who helped astronauts get to space in the 1960s. Check it out below.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/forgotten-black-women-mathematicians-who-helped-win-wars-and-send-astronauts-space-180960393/?no-ist

The movie is based on Margot Lee Shetterly's book of the same title.

For a related archival perspective, you might want to check out Executive Order 8802 from NARA's "Our Documents" online project here: https://ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=72

Hidden Figures is set to premiere in January, right in time for MLK Day. Might be a good opportunity for a team-building excursion, hmm? :-)

Have a great week!

VW

Monday, September 19, 2016

Austin Revealed - Civil Rights Stories

Dear Gregory Staff,

Ms. Ingrid Grant found this very relevant documentary about civil rights in Austin's history. It's an interesting perspective on the history of one of our neighbor cities. What are some commonalities & differences you see with Houston's civil rights history?

http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/shows/list/austin-texas-civil-rights/

VW

Monday, September 12, 2016

Preserving the Estate of Madame CJ Walker

Happy Monday!

Here is an interesting piece of preservation news that brings attention to the importance of caring for properties and artifacts related to Black History.

http://heragenda.com/the-modern-effort-to-preserve-the-legacy-estate-of-americas-first-female-self-made-millionaire-madam-cj-walker/

Have a great week, Gregory School staff!

VW

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Tamina, TX - A Historic Black Community

** Going forward, the Gregory School will post links related to Black History as well as staff-related updates on our blog.**

Mother Jones recently featured the town of Tamina, Texas (near the Woodlands), which is one of the oldest Black communities in our state. Read more here:

http://www.motherjones.com/media/2016/06/tamina-texas-photo-marti-corn

VW