Hidden Figures Ch19-23 - Historical Part VI

 

SOAP BOX DERBY -1936 - Chapter 19, Hidden Figures

Soap box cars have no engines. They are made of simple materials, like wood and metal, with wheels and a steering wheel. They cannot weigh over a certain amount with the driver inside. They start at the top of a hill and race down to the finish line, powered only by gravity. Aerodynamics plays a big part in speed, so the design of the car is important. Mary Jackson had the engineering background to help her son Levi build the car and win the race!

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Girls allowed to race in Soap Box Derby (1971)

Girls were not allowed to race until 1971. Here's a short video on young girls learning STEM skills by making soap box cars and racing. (STEM: science, technology, engineering, and math). Think of Mary Jackson teaching her son STEM skills while building his car for the 1960 race. 

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CHAPTER 20 - GREENSBORO FOUR - February, 1960.

The beginnings of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

Like those that came before - Rosa Parks who refused to go to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama (1955) and Martin Luther King, Jr. teaching non-violent protests in 1957, four young black men decided to break the barriers and sit at a lunch counter in a North Carolina restaurant which was a "Whites Only" restaurant. They waited to be served in their "non-violent" protest. 

Remember, a huge shift in society began to occur after the 1954 Supreme Court Decision, and especially for young students. As stated in the beginning pages of Chapter 20 of Hidden Figures, these young men and women began to have "sit-ins" all across the nation where they peacefully sat at lunch counters for whites only, until the establishment changed their rules and began to serve them.

Here's a glimpse of the Greensboro Four, February, 1960.

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NEXT - A FEW MORE VIDEOS ON HISTORY IN HIDDEN FIGURES, CHAPTERS 19-23 (END)