Half-Baked Episode 1: Katherine Johnson
Explicit content warning
02/11/22 • 12 min
Surprise! Welcome to our first ever Half Baked Episode, our version of a minisode! We wanted to get some extra history in this week because not only is it Black History Month, but the day of this episode's release, February 11th, is Women and Girls in Science Day. In this episode, Laurel talks about Katherine Johnson, who was one of the first Black women to work at NASA. She worked there for 33 years as a mathematician and was a master of very complex calculations that directly allowed for manned spacecrafts, the lunar landing and for the safe return of the Apollo 13 crew. Join Laurel in the smoke circle as we learn about the amazing Katherine Johnson!
What does "STEM" mean? STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It's a section of education and industry of which women only make up roughly 28%. It's far less when you get into individual fields, such as computer science in which women are only 19% of the workforce (source: American Association of University Women.) Jobs in these fields are some of the fastest growing and highest paid.
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The Socials!
Email -- [email protected]
Instagram -- @hightailinghistory
Facebook -- Hightailing Through History or with user name @hightailinghistory
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Resources to help support women and girls in STEM--
https://www.teachthought.com/technology/40-important-stem-resources-for-women/
https://edventures.com/blogs/stempower/10-resources-to-help-you-empower-girls-in-stem
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Source Materials--
Fox, Margalit. “Katherine Johnson Dies at 101; Mathematician Broke Barriers at NASA.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 Feb. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/science/katherine-johnson-dead.html.
Gates, Henry Louis, and Robert F Smith. “Black History In Two Minutes ‘Katherine Johnson.’” Season 3, episode 31, 27 Mar. 2020.
Episode for the podcast, Black History In Two Minutes (or so) originally was released on March 27, 2020.
JOHNSON, KATHERINE. REACHING FOR THE MOON: the Autobiography of Nasa Mathematician Katherine Johnson. ATHENEUM CHILDREN'S Books, 2020.
Lewis, Russell. “Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician And An Inspiration For 'Hidden Figures,' Dies.” NPR, NPR, 24 Feb. 2020, www.npr.org/2020/02/24/517784975/katherine-johnson-nasa-mathematician-and-an-inspiration-for-hidden-figures-dies.
Stauss, Joanna. “Katherine Johnson: Pioneering NASA Mathematician.” Space.com, Space, 27 Feb. 2020, www.space.com/katherine-johnson.html.
Wild, Flint. “Who Was Katherine Johnson?” NASA, NASA, 30 Dec. 2016, www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/who-was-katherine-johnson-k4.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hightailing-history/message
Surprise! Welcome to our first ever Half Baked Episode, our version of a minisode! We wanted to get some extra history in this week because not only is it Black History Month, but the day of this episode's release, February 11th, is Women and Girls in Science Day. In this episode, Laurel talks about Katherine Johnson, who was one of the first Black women to work at NASA. She worked there for 33 years as a mathematician and was a master of very complex calculations that directly allowed for manned spacecrafts, the lunar landing and for the safe return of the Apollo 13 crew. Join Laurel in the smoke circle as we learn about the amazing Katherine Johnson!
What does "STEM" mean? STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It's a section of education and industry of which women only make up roughly 28%. It's far less when you get into individual fields, such as computer science in which women are only 19% of the workforce (source: American Association of University Women.) Jobs in these fields are some of the fastest growing and highest paid.
*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Socials!
Email -- [email protected]
Instagram -- @hightailinghistory
Facebook -- Hightailing Through History or with user name @hightailinghistory
*~*~*~*~*~*~
Resources to help support women and girls in STEM--
https://www.teachthought.com/technology/40-important-stem-resources-for-women/
https://edventures.com/blogs/stempower/10-resources-to-help-you-empower-girls-in-stem
*~*~*~*~*~*~
Source Materials--
Fox, Margalit. “Katherine Johnson Dies at 101; Mathematician Broke Barriers at NASA.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 Feb. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/science/katherine-johnson-dead.html.
Gates, Henry Louis, and Robert F Smith. “Black History In Two Minutes ‘Katherine Johnson.’” Season 3, episode 31, 27 Mar. 2020.
Episode for the podcast, Black History In Two Minutes (or so) originally was released on March 27, 2020.
JOHNSON, KATHERINE. REACHING FOR THE MOON: the Autobiography of Nasa Mathematician Katherine Johnson. ATHENEUM CHILDREN'S Books, 2020.
Lewis, Russell. “Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician And An Inspiration For 'Hidden Figures,' Dies.” NPR, NPR, 24 Feb. 2020, www.npr.org/2020/02/24/517784975/katherine-johnson-nasa-mathematician-and-an-inspiration-for-hidden-figures-dies.
Stauss, Joanna. “Katherine Johnson: Pioneering NASA Mathematician.” Space.com, Space, 27 Feb. 2020, www.space.com/katherine-johnson.html.
Wild, Flint. “Who Was Katherine Johnson?” NASA, NASA, 30 Dec. 2016, www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/who-was-katherine-johnson-k4.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hightailing-history/message
Previous Episode
Ida B. Wells-Barnett; Viking Shield Maidens
It's time for episode 26! In this episode, we both cover different warrior women. The first, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, was a warrior of the pen and the second, were the (possible?) female Viking warriors known as shield maidens.
This episode is all about the laaaaaadies...
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The Socials!
Email -- [email protected]
Instagram -- @hightailinghistory
Facebook -- Hightailing Through History or with user name @hightailinghistory
*~*~*~*~*~*~
Source Materials:
Ida B. Wells-Barnett--
biography.com editors. “Ida B. Wells.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 6 Jan. 2021, https://www.biography.com/activist/ida-b-wells.
Mahon, Elizabeth Kerri. “Ida B. Wells-Barnett.” Scandalous Women: The Lives and Loves of History's Most Notorious Women, TarcherPerigee, an Imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, NY, 2016, pp. 146–153.
Norwood, Arlisha R. “Ida B. Wells-Barnett.” National Women's History Museum, 2017, https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ida-b-wells-barnett.
Steptoe, Tyina. “Ida Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) •.” Ida Wells-Barnett (1862-1931), Blackpast.org, 6 May 2020, https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/barnett-ida-wells-1862-1931/.
Shield Maidens--
AnnaLouise. “Did Shield Maidens like 'Vikings' Lagertha Really Exist?” Asgard, 1 Feb. 2019, https://www.asgard.scot/blog/2019/02/did-shieldmaidens-like-vikings-lagertha-and-norsemens-fr%C3%B8ya-really-exist.
Debutify. “Did Viking Shield Maidens Really Exist?” VikingsBrand, https://www.vikingsbrand.co/blogs/norse-news/vikings-shield-maiden.
Dimuro, Gina. “Viking Herstory: How Viking Shieldmaidens like Hervor Forged Their Own Legends.” All That's Interesting, All That's Interesting, 26 July 2019, https://allthatsinteresting.com/viking-shieldmaidens.
Google Search, Google, https://www.google.com/search?q=where%2Bis%2Bbirka%2Blocated&client=ms-android-tmus-us-revc&sxsrf=APq-WBvDGSMmQ9hvNOns9TXjktnI-q8J5w%3A1644200142427&ei=zoAAYo2jGcCmptQPra-6oA0&oq=where%2Bis%2Bbirka%2Blocated&gs_lcp=ChNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwEAMyBAgjECcyAggAOgcIIxCwAxAnOgUIABCwAzoHCCMQsAIQJ0oECEEYAVDEFliCMWDFPWgAcAB4AIABbYgB9gSSAQM2LjGYAQCgAQHIAQLAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.
“Shieldmaidens: Myth or Reality?” World, http://www.worldtreeproject.org/exhibits/show/miscon/shieldmaidens
Next Episode
The Red Baron; East German Uprising of 1953 with guest Daniel Burghard
It's time for episode 27 and to celebrate (for no reason whatsoever) we have a special guest to join us!
We welcome Daniel Burghard, author of the book The Things They've Seen, to hang in the smoke circle and share a story of his own! Daniel lives in Berlin and his book is a collection of firsthand accounts of those who have experienced life in Germany during both World War II and the Cold War.
And It. Is. Facinating.
We kick things off with the story of Manfred von Richthofen, perhaps better known as The Red Baron. Richthofen was a fighter pilot in World War I with the highest amount of kills and the war's most famous pilot. It's a story filed with action, adventure and...a bit of mystery...
Next, our guest Daniel takes us into Cold War East Berlin with the story of the workers' uprising of 1953. Hear what happens when a government asks its hungry citizens to work a lot more...without extra pay. Hint: it doesn't go over well.
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Meet Our Guest!
His book, The Things They've Seen
Connect with Daniel on Instagram! @iwitnesshistory
Contact him via email at: [email protected]
Visit https://eyewitness-history.com/ to learn more about Daniel and his fantastic book!
*~*~*~*~*~
The Socials!
Email -- [email protected]
Instagram -- @hightailinghistory
Facebook -- Hightailing Through History
*~*~*~*~*~
Source Materials:
**Due to character restriction, we had to shorten our proper citation. We are working on a website so everything can be sourced there! If you would like a full MLA style citation list, please contact Laurel at [email protected]**
Red Baron--
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/what-the-red-baron-never-knew-22968921/
https://www.german-way.com/notable-people/featured-bios/manfred-von-richthofen/
https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/the-true-story-of-the-red-baron-is-crazier-than-fiction/
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-red-baron-1779208
https://www.express.co.uk/news/history/949142/red-baron-killed-100-years-ww1-france-germany-britain-death-manford-von-richthofen
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrYLZvRT10Y
Uprising of 1953--
https://www.berlin.de/berlin-im-ueberblick/en/history/berlin-after-1945/
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviets-crush-antigovernment-riots-in-east-berlin
https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-commemorates-1953-uprising-in-east-germany/a-39289423
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/east-german-uprising
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/memorial-17-june-1953-uprising
https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/collection/35/east-german-uprising/4
https://www.hdg.de/lemo/kapitel/geteiltes-deutschland-gruenderjahre/deutsche-frage/stalin-noten.html
https://www.britannica.com/video/180258/Workers-East-Berlin-German-government-1953
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