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Hidden Figures Book Summary Essay

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Every day there are new obstacles that get in the way of life; whether they’re political, economic, educational, familial, or societal. In the book, Hidden Figures, a nonfictional narrative written by Margot Lee Shetterly, Shetterly describes the lives of four women and other African-Americans, and the obstacles they had to overcome growing up as African-Americans in Hampton Virginia during the early to late 1900’s. While those women had many amazing personality traits and characteristics that helped them overcome many obstacles, perseverance was the most dominant trait that allowed them to overcome obstacles in their lives, such as familial, societal, and political.

There are many obstacles in society that can be overcome, or at least improved, by perseverance. Perseverance helped many African Americans, overcome many societal problems. One way the African Americans persevered through societal problems was through non-violent sit-ins. One quote from Hidden Figures states, “The students called their protests ‘sit-downs’ or ‘sit-ins.’ Sometimes, the police arrested the protesters and took them off to jail. The prison sentences that followed didn’t discourage the activists. They did not intend to back down until they had defeated segregation.” The definition of perseverance, “steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay …show more content…
Abraham lincoln showed how important it was to persevere through political obstacles when he wrote the emancipation proclamation. Not only did some people not believe in the freedom of slavery, but he had to go through a lot of work, and if he hadn't, imagine where our world would be today. Abraham Lincoln’s perseverance helped shape our society into how it was today and it showed others just how important it was to persevere through political

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