Three girls in Milwaukee dressed as the brilliant women of “Hidden Figures,” and the results are inspiring.
As part of a school project for Black History Month, Ambrielle-Baker Rogers, Morgan Coleman and Miah Bell-Olson dressed as Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson and Mary Jackson, the trio of black women featured in the movie “Hidden Figures” who helped NASA send astronaut John Glenn into orbit. Jerrica Rogers helped put her daughter’s outfit together so she could portray Vaughan. She told The Huffington Post the idea was part of a project at Milwaukee College Prep started by a teacher, Terrance Sims.
“His goal is to create a series of posters that positively affirm the excellence of his students in addition to the other students in the school as well as shine light on the beauty of African-American culture in preparation for Black History Month,” she said.
Mission accomplished.
With help from their moms, Miah and Morgan dressed as Jackson and Johnson. Photographer Amanda Evans took the photo of the girls and added it next to the movie poster. Later, Rogers shared the results on Facebook. The photo has since made its rounds online and caught the attention of the movie’s stars. Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monáe shared Rogers’ image on Instagram, and Octavia Spencer retweeted it.
In her caption, Henson wrote, “I do what I do #SoTheBabiesCanDream.”
Rogers is proud to add to the conversation about representation, which she described as “so necessary for our youth.”
“It is a beautiful thing to see three talented black women lead such an inspiring true story,” she told HuffPost. “We do so much for our kids in the community, and it is just refreshing to have media and entertainment sources that further the development of our youth.”
The girls also enjoyed the project. Rogers said they loved channeling these empowering women and loved “Hidden Figures” so much that they saw it twice.
“The kids now have lifelong memories as well as role models to look to,” Rogers said. “It is just beautiful!”
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