Hidden Figures - Margot Lee Shetterly

safety, education, economic mobility,
political power, and humanity, the black
press put their readers’ mixed feelings
about the war on full display.
James Thompson, a twenty-six-yearold
cafeteria worker, eloquently
articulated the Negro dilemma in a letter
he wrote to the Pittsburgh Courier:
“Being an American of dark
complexion,” wrote Thompson, “these
questions flash through my mind: ‘Should
I sacrifice my life to live half American?’
. . . ‘Is the kind of America I know worth
defending?’ . . . ‘Will colored Americans
suffer still the indignities that have been
heaped upon them in the past?’ These and
other questions need answering; I want to
know, and I believe every colored
American, who is thinking, wants to
know.”