Dorothy Vaughan was a gifted student who grew up to be a brilliant mathematician. She is a pioneer as one of the Black women who worked as a human computer at Langley. Throughout Hidden Figures, Dorothy leads the way and helps other women gain success as well. Due to a sense of obligation to her family during the Great Depression, Dorothy starts her career as a math teacher and forgoes graduate school. She enjoys the challenge of being a teacher because it allows her to use her creative mind and discover the best use of limited resources, but the pay is low, and she regrets passing up the opportunity to go to graduate school at Howard University.

In a moment of serendipity, Dorothy learns of an opportunity to put her math skills to good use and she applies for a job at Langley. She sees this as a rare opportunity for a second chance. She risks taking the job even though it means she will be living too far from her children to come home on the weekends. She knows that the money she provides will be important for her family’s future. She has built a strong family and community that will help care for her children in Farmville while she works in Hampton. With her impeccable work, strong work ethic, and professional manner, Dorothy succeeds at Langley.

Dorothy takes immense financial and personal risk and when she buys an apartment at a community in Hampton Roads and moves her children there. The risk pays off when her job at Langley becomes permanent in 1946 and she eventually becomes a supervisor and then head of West Computers. As head, Dorothy has a chance to display her management and organization skills. When her role becomes unnecessary, she finds another way to make herself relevant and learns programing. Dorothy uses her voice to stand up for equal and fair pay for the women she manages. She celebrates twenty years of service right after the March on Washington. She and the West Computers managed to succeed despite the obstacles. She is proud of what they accomplished, but she knows there is still a lot of work to be done for equality.