Introduction: Why Data Science Needs Feminism

Christine Mann Darden first passed through the gates of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, in the summer of 1967. Her newly minted master's degree in applied math had earned her a position as a data analyst there. In the city of Hampton, and across the United States, tensions were running high. In Los Angeles, a massive protest against the Vietnam War ended only when more than a thousand armed police officers attacked the peaceful protestors. One month later, even more violence engulfed the city of Detroit after a police raid spiraled out of control. The 1967 Detroit Riot, or the 1967 Detroit Rebellion, as it is increasingly known, resulted in over forty deaths and one thousand injuries.