February marks Black History Month. Follow the AJC this month for a series of short stories and videos and people, places and events that played a significant role in the development of black people in America.

No. 5

Katherine Johnson: How is this for confidence? In 1962, when NASA used computers to calculate John Glenn's orbit around Earth, Glenn had one request: He wanted Katherine Johnson, a West Virginia State University graduate and mathematician, to personally recheck the calculations made by the new electronic computers before his flight aboard Friendship 7 – the mission on which he became the first American to orbit the Earth.

In 1953 Johnson quit her job as a substitute math teacher in Newport News, Va. and took a job at NASA as a “computer," doing analysis on things like gust alleviation for aircraft.

From 1958 until she retired in 1983, she worked as an aerospace technologist.

In 2015 President Barack Obama presented her with a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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Plenty of free activities for kids are part of the Peachtree Corners Festival on Saturday and Sunday, including bubble fun, sand art and face painting. (Courtesy of Peachtree Corners Festival)

Credit: Photo courtesy of Peachtree Corners Festival

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