Hidden Figures - Margot Lee Shetterly

and Katherine and her sister took jobs as
personal maids to individual guests.
Accommodating the every need of the
visiting gentry—cleaning their rooms;
washing, ironing, and setting out their
clothes; anticipating their desires while
appearing invisible—was a sow’s ear of
a job that Katherine deftly spun to silk.
One demanding French countess, with a
habit of holding forth for hours on the
telephone to friends in Paris, began to
suspect that her walls had ears. “Tu
m’entends tout, n’est-ce pas?” the
countess inquired, seeing the reserved
Negro maid paying close attention to her
every bon mot. Katherine nodded
sheepishly. The countess marched
Katherine down to the resort’s kitchen,
and for the rest of the summer, the high
school student spent her lunchtime in