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Hidden Figures - Margot Lee Shetterly

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In the summer of 1943, Dorothy<br />

jumped at the chance to head to Camp<br />

Pickett and earn extra money during the<br />

school break. Though teaching offered<br />

prestige, the compensation was modest.<br />

Nationally, Virginia’s white teachers<br />

ranked in the bottom quarter in public<br />

school salaries, and their black<br />

counterparts might earn almost 50<br />

percent less. Many black teachers in the<br />

South gave lessons in one- or two-room<br />

schools that barely qualified as<br />

buildings. Teachers were called upon to<br />

do whatever was necessary to keep the<br />

schoolhouses clean, safe, and<br />

comfortable for pupils. They shoveled<br />

coal in winters, fixed broken windows,<br />

scrubbed dirty floors, and prepared<br />

lunch. They reached into their own<br />

threadbare purses when the schoolroom

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