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Hidden Figures - Margot Lee Shetterly

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school system already employed two of<br />

her sisters. But her excellent organizing<br />

skills, fluency with numbers, and good<br />

marks in a college typing course made<br />

her the perfect fit for the King Street<br />

USO, which in 1943 was looking for a<br />

secretary and bookkeeper.<br />

While the women in Hampton<br />

Institute’s Engineering for Women<br />

courses were preparing for their new<br />

careers as computers, Mary Jackson<br />

managed the USO’s modest financial<br />

accounts and welcomed guests at the<br />

club’s front door. Her daily schedule,<br />

however, usually overflowed well<br />

beyond the job’s narrow duties, since the<br />

club quickly became a center for the<br />

city’s black community. She helped<br />

military families and defense workers<br />

find suitable places to live, played the

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