Hidden Figures (2016)

Janelle Monáe: Mary Jackson

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mary Jackson : [to the Judge]  I plan on being an engineer at NASA, but I can't do that without taking them classes at that all-white high school, and I can't change the color of my skin, so I have no choice, but to be the first, which I can't do without you, sir. Your honor, out of all the cases you gon hear today, which one is gon matter hundred years from now? Which one is gon make you the first?

• Mary Jackson : Oh, I'll tell you where to begin: Three Negro women chasing a white police officer down a highway in Hampton, Virginia in 1961. Ladies, that there is a God-ordained miracle!

• Mary Jackson : Every time we get a chance to get ahead they move the finish line. Every time.

• Karl Zielinski : Mary, a person with an engineer's mind should be an engineer. You can't be a computer the rest of your life.

  Mary Jackson : Mr. Zielinski, I'm a negro woman. I'm not gonna entertain the impossible.

  Karl Zielinski : And I'm a Polish Jew whose parents died in a Nazi prison camp, now I'm standing beneath a spaceship that's going to carry an astronaut to the stars. I think we can say we are living the impossible. Let me ask you, if you were a white male, would you wish to be an engineer?

  Mary Jackson : I wouldn't have to. I'd already be one.

• Katherine Johnson : How can you be possibly ogling these white men?

  Mary Jackson : It's equal rights. I have the right to see fine in every color

• Mary Jackson : We go from being our father's daughters, to our husband's wives to our babies' mothers...

• Night School Professor : Well, the curriculum is not designed for teaching a woman.

  Mary Jackson : I imagine it's the same as teaching a man.

• Mary Jackson : What the devil are you doing? Are you taking a break?

• Dorothy Vaughan : [At a church picnic, speaking about Colonel Jim Johnson while fixing plates at the food table]  I hear he's planning on staying in the area.

  Katherine Johnson : Well... Well, that's good for him.

  Mary Jackson : [Looking at Colonel Johnson, who is talking with a group of men]  Katherine, go find your way over there. That Colonel Jim is a tall glass of water.

  Dorothy Vaughan : That he is. Tall, strong, commanding.

  Katherine Johnson : Oh...

  Mary Jackson : And I bet he's like that day and night.

  Katherine Johnson : Mary, it's Sunday.

  [Mary scoffs] 

  Katherine Johnson : Please have some shame.

  Mary Jackson : I will not.

  Dorothy Vaughan : Hmm, I think he's smiling over here.

  Mary Jackson : At you.

  Katherine Johnson : [Katherine turns, sees the colonel watching her, smiles, and turns back to the table]  Well, I'm not smiling back.

  Dorothy Vaughan : Yes, you are.

  Mary Jackson : Oh, child. You are all teeth right now.

  Katherine Johnson : I am not.

  Mary Jackson : [Waving at the colonel to come over while mouthing]  Come over here and say hi.

  Dorothy Vaughan : [Colonel Johnson leaves the men, walking toward the ladies]  He's coming over.

  Katherine Johnson : Now why would he be doing that?

  Dorothy Vaughan : 'Cause Mary's been waving at him.

  Katherine Johnson : No! Ladies I am not ready.

  Mary Jackson : It's too late. Fix your hair.

  Dorothy Vaughan : [Colonel Johnson joins the ladies, Katherine turns around]  Hello, Colonel. I'm Dorothy Vaughn. That's Mary Jackson. I believe you met her husband Levi.

  Colonel Jim Johnson : Yes ma'am. Good to meet y'all.

  Dorothy Vaughan : And Mrs. Katherine Goble.

  Mary Jackson : She's not married. She's a widow, with three beautiful little girls. So well behaved. Angels on earth is what we like to call them. Dorothy, slice of pie?

  Dorothy Vaughan : I'd love one. Excuse me.

  [Dorothy and Mary begin to walk away] 

  Katherine Johnson : You already have a slice of pie, Doroth-...

  Dorothy Vaughan : Uh-huh.