She would run under the rain holding her files close so that none got too wet. And that's how it was each time she wanted to urinate. She had to cover almost a half mile just to get to the so-called 'colored' restroom for people like her, not because she had escaped from prison or murdered someone. She was a black who had somehow found her way into NASA. 

By the time she returned completely wet and exhausted, the whole room gets filled with whispers, murmurings that she didn't belong. In a room where white men dominated, her opinion was often ignored. The whole room looked at her in disgust when she used a coffee pot. Turns out even her kettle and cup for was set apart, as if even the common act of drinking was a privilege she didn't deserve. 

But she never let any of these set her back. The change started with those hidden figures she was to calculate with. And somehow she could see the figures by placing the paper against the light. She held her pee trying to complete the calculations. And when she left to urinate, the whole room was left in awe, seeing that a black woman had solved what none of them could for weeks. 

That was when her boss noticed her. And when he realized what she went through just to urinate, he terminated the rule of the colored restroom. Then he said, "... here at NASA, we pee the same color". For the first time after a long while, she felt respected. She was later permitted to the board meeting enabling her get figures for calculations regarding landing on the moon. And the mission became a success!

That same woman who once had to run meters under the rain just to urinate, became the reason an astronaut safely returned to earth. Her story is not just about numbers. It is about courage, about breaking down walls put in place to keep her out, and the endless possibilities of a black woman.

Her name was Katherine Johnson, and she broke the color boundary.

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