The Diversity and Inclusivity group strives to intentionally raise awareness and knowledge in regards to the various diverse contributors to American History. Beginning this year, we will be using the national monthly celebrations to highlight all cultural communities. The month of February is an annual national celebration of achievements by African Americans and a pivotal time for recognizing their humanity as well as their central role in United States history.

The Diversity and Inclusivity group is committed to recognizing and celebrating all cultures and is excited to kick off this celebration in 2022 with honoring Black History month.

During the month of February, we will be sharing amazing contributions to history with a concentration on Black/ African Americans. We have researched relevant educational and informative information and pictures, to share of African American contributors in hopes of enlightening and educating the St. Bens community during this celebratory cultural month.

We stand for and support the cultural diversity of the world’s peoples, and are excited to kick off the celebration and education of black history month!

Katherine G. Johnson (8/26/1918 - 2/24/2020) was an American mathematician who calculated and analyzed the flight paths of many spacecraft while she worked with the U.S. Space Program. Ms. Johnson worked with a group of African American women (known as the West Computers) who manually performed complex mathematical calculations for the program’s engineers. She calculated the path for Freedom 7, the spacecraft that put the first U.S. astronaut in space and verified that the electronic computer had planned John Glenn’s flight correctly leading to Glenn becoming the first U.S. astronaut to orbit Earth. Ms. Johnson was also part of the team that calculated where and when to launch the rocket for the Apollo 11 mission of 1969 which sent the first three men to the Moon. She co-authored 26 research reports during her career and retired from NASA in 1986. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

Please join us in sharing with and educating the community!