---
name: "Hidden Figures Monument"
subtitle: "Katherine Johnson in bronze, on the campus she reached at ten"
date: 2026-08-07
link: "https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hidden-figures-monument-of-katherine-johnson-at-wvsu"
linkText: "atlasobscura.com"
source: "Atlas Obscura"
topics: [travel-and-places, history-and-archives]
tags: [nasa, west-virginia, monument, katherine-johnson]
description: "A life-sized statue of the NASA mathematician at West Virginia State University, unveiled on the eve of her 100th birthday."
---

Katherine Johnson's family moved a hundred miles to Institute, West Virginia because the local schools would not teach African American students past the eighth grade — the high school on this campus would, and she arrived at ten. She later hand-calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepard's flight. The statue was unveiled here on the eve of her hundredth birthday, which is the kind of timing a university only gets once.