‘Hidden Figures’ Step into the Light on Medals

On Sept. 23, 2020, the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee met to review and provide the secretary treasury with their recommendations for the obverse and reverse designs for the “Hidden Figures” Congressional gold medal.

“Hidden Figures” are women first employed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the precursor of NASA, to be human computers beginning in 1935, according to NASA history. The job title is defined as someone who performed mathematical equations and calculations by hand. Because there were segregation policies in the 1960s, and most human computers were black women with college degrees, the women were ordered to work in a separate section known as the West Area Computers. It was because of this work that the first American, John Glenn, was launched into orbit in 1962.

President Trump signed the Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act on Nov. 8, 2019.

Below are the recommended designs for the 'Hidden Figures' medal groups.

Hidden Figures Group Design 

Mary Jackson Hidden Figures Medal 

Dorothy Vaughn Hidden Figures Medal

Other items on the agenda at CCAC’s Sept. 23 meeting were:

Review and discussion of obverse and reverse candidate designs for the U.S. Army silver medal

Review and discussion of obverse and reverse candidate designs for the National Law Enforcement Museum commemorative coins

Review and discussion of obverse and reverse candidate designs for the David J. Ryder United States Mint Director medal

For more information, visit the U.S. Mint website.