If a year ago, you’d have asked me to name all the female computer scientists I knew, I wouldn’t have been able to go much further than Lady Ada Lovelace. I hadn’t noticed how few role models women had in the field of Computer Science before I officially began studying it in college. In fact, representation within CS is so unbalanced that, if the current employment trends continue, there will be equal representation of genders in the workforce only by 2137. What’s more? CS is also a largely white-dominated field, with only 17% of all CS majors in the US being people of colour. So black women stand doubly disadvantaged. One may be tempted to attribute black underrepresentation in CS to possibly the community's lack of interest in the field. However, according to the Diversity Gaps in Computer Science: Exploring the Underrepresentation of Girls, Blacks, and Hispanics report conducted by Google, Black students are 1.5x more likely than white students to be interested in CS. However, in the same study, it was found that two-thirds of white students had access to computers at home, while only half the black and Hispanic students surveyed could say the same. In acknowledgement of the white, cis-male domination of CS, the fewer opportunities that are available for women of colour in CS, and in honour of black history month, Women in Computer Science, Ashoka University would like to celebrate and laud the achievements of black women in CS. These women were not only pioneers in the field but also broke the glass ceiling and gave future generations of women the opportunity to dream and contribute to CS.

1) Katherine Johnson

Made famous by the critically acclaimed movie, Hidden Figures, Johnson was called a “human computer” at NASA. She was instrumental in the development and launch of Project Mercury and Apollo 11 missions. She was so good that when NASA first began using modern computers, she helped check the accuracy of their calculations. She was even awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 by then-President Barack Obama.

2) Annie Easley

Easley was one of the first African-American computer scientists at NASA. Inspired by those like Katherine Johnson, she, too, began her career as a “human computer”. As modern computers started replacing human computers, she learned to program and became the leading member of the team that developed the software for the Centaur rocket. In the 197s, after this illustrious career, she went back to school to earn her degree in mathematics at Cleveland State University. As she was studying, she also held down her full-time job with NASA.

When talking about the racism she faced in her work, she said “My head is not in the sand. But my thing is, if I can’t work with you, I will work around you. I was not about to be [so] discouraged that I’d walk away. That may be a solution for some people, but it’s not mine.”

3) Evelyn Boyd Granville

Granville created history first by being the second African-American woman to earn a PhD in mathematics. From Yale University, no less. After completing her studies, with most teaching positions being unavailable to black women, she took lower-level teaching positions at various small universities. Even here, she inspired many black girls to go on to earn their own PhDs. In 1956, she joined IBM as a computer programmer and wrote software for the IBM 650 computer. Then, in IBM’s Aviation Space and Information Systems division, she worked on digital computer techniques for NASA’s Apollo space program.

4) Dorothy Vaughan

Vaughan also worked as a mathematician and “human computer”. Holding powerful positions such as the head of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA’s) segregated West Area Computing Unit. She also went on to be NASA’s first African-American manager. While she worked at NACA, segregation and Jim Crow laws persisted. She was assigned to the West Area computing unit which consisted exclusively of black women who were expected to use separate bathrooms and dining rooms. Through excellent work, this unit managed to distinguish itself at NACA. Vaughan was then promoted to manager, hence becoming the first African-American to hold the position.

5) Melba Roy Mouton

Mouton was the Assistant Chief of Research Programs at NASA's Trajectory and Geodynamics Division in the 1960s. She led a team of human computers who tracked the orbit of the Echo 1 satellite. She did this at Goddard Space Flight Center in her capacity as the Head Computer Programmer and then Program Production Section Chief. She was awarded the Apollo Achievement Award and an Exceptional Performance Award from NASA before she retired.

6) Kimberly Bryant

A more modern example, Bryant founded Black Girls CODE in 2011 to teach young women of color to code. She also served on the National Champions Board for the National Girls Collaborative Project, whose vision is to bring together organizations that inform and encourage women to pursue studies in STEM. She was honored by the White House in 2013 for being a

“Champion of Change for Tech Inclusion”. She was also named by Business Insider in their list of Most Influential African-Americans in Technology.