TheWest Area Computers (short forWest Area Computing Unit) were theAfrican American women who worked ashuman computers at theLangley Research Center ofNACA (predecessor ofNASA) from 1943 through 1958. Most of their work involved reading, analyzing, and plotting data foraircraft testing,supersonic flight research, and, later, thespace program. In the era beforedigital computers, they worked by hand, one-on-one with engineers or in computing sections.^[1]

The West Area Computers were a subset of the hundreds of female computers who began careers in aeronautical research duringWorld War II. To offset the loss of manpower as men joined the war effort, many U.S. organizations began recruiting and hiring more women and minorities during the 1940s. In 1935, the Langley Research Center had five female human computers on staff; by 1946, the center had about 400.^[1][2] All were discriminated against for their gender: although the female computers were as skilled as their male counterparts, they were hired as "subprofessionals" with starting pay of$1,440 annually (about $26,000 in 2024)^[3], while males held "professional" status and received starting pay of$2,600 annually (about $47,000 in 2024)^[3][4].

The West Computers were further discriminated against for their race. AlthoughExecutive Order 8802 had in principle outlawed discriminatory hiring practices in defense industries, Virginia'sJim Crow laws overpowered it and made it more difficult for African American women to be hired than white women.^[5] To become a human computer for NACA, all applicants had to pass acivil service exam, but only Black applicants were required to complete a chemistry course at the nearby Hampton Institute.^[4] Once they were hired, Black computers performed the same work as the white women, and sometimes in teams with them, but were required to use segregated work areas,^[2] bathrooms, and cafeterias.^[6] The West Computers got their name because they were required to work at Langley's West Area, while the white mathematicians worked in the East section.^[7][2] Some of the white computers were unaware of the West Computers, although black and white computers recalled that when computers from both groups were assigned to a project, "everyone worked well together", according to an unpublished study by Beverly E. Golemba^{[8][9][6][10]}.

In 1958, when the NACA became NASA, segregated facilities, including the West Computing office, were abolished.^[11]

On November 8, 2019, theCongressional Gold Medal was awarded "In recognition of all the women who served as computers, mathematicians, and engineers at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) between the 1930s and the 1970s."^[12]

• Dorothy Vaughan, in charge since 1949 of supervising the West Computers was the first African American female manager at NASA. Vaughan worked at Langley from 1943 through her retirement in 1971. She later became aFORTRAN programmer, a computer programming language that suited tonumeric computation andscientific computing.

• Mary Jackson was involved in fluid dynamics (air streams) and flight tests. Her job was to get relevant data from experiments and conduct tests.^[11][13]

• Katherine Johnson, who in 2015 was named aPresidential Medal of Freedom recipient, joined the West Area Computing group in 1953. She was subsequently reassigned to Langley's Flight Research Division, where she performed notable work including providing the trajectory analysis forastronautJohn Glenn'sMA-6Project Mercury orbital spaceflight. Katherine started her career working with information from flight tests, but later on a portion of her math work and research were used in lectures called Notes on Space Technology and taught to many students. These talks were given by engineers that later shaped the Space Task Group, that helped with space travel.^[14] The work of all three women (Vaughan, Johnson, and Jackson) is featured in the 2016 filmHidden Figures.^[15]
• Kathaleen Land, the Sunday school teacher ofHidden Figures authorMargot Lee Shetterly, who had retired from NASA. Land was one of the first people Shetterly interviewed when she began researching for theHidden Figures book, and Land provided several of the names of the human computers who were featured in the book and film. She is described as "the inspiration behind, catalyst for, and gateway toHidden Figures".^[16]

Some of the West Computers engaged in small acts of protest against segregation at Langley. Many small protests occurred in the segregated dining room since colored women were forbidden to enter the white cafeteria.^[17]Miriam Mann repeatedly removed signs denoting where "coloured girls" could sit for their meals.^[2] Both Katherine Johnson and Mary Winston Jackson refused to use the segregated cafeterias and exclusively ate at their desks.^[17][2] Katherine Johnson also refused to use segregated restrooms since they were on the opposite side of the campus,^[17] so she used an unmarked restroom.^[2] After discovering that the men on her team were attending meetings to share important information about their tasks, Katherine Johnson began attending these meetings uninvited. She participated heavily during these meetings by frequently asking questions and engaging in discussions.^[4]

Christine Darden became an engineer after demonstrating that she possessed or exceeded all skills and qualifications male engineers had and asked to be moved to the engineering pool instead of continuing to be a computer.^[4]

• Melba Roy Mouton

• West Area Computers
• Sex segregation

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