The workspace Melvin Butler sets up for the Black women is in Langley’s West Area. Some of the women working there were featured in the newspaper article that inspired Dorothy. The Hampton Institute, where the women studied, continues to supply human computers to Langley. The Institute’s head, Malcolm MacLean, is determined that his Black graduates will contribute to the war effort. His hosting of racially mixed social events offends some whites. Langley’s director, Henry Reid, is more cautious, but Margery Hannah, the white head of West Computing, is openly progressive. Like MacLean, she treats Black men and women as equals and sometimes socializes with them.
The white women computers work in an East Area building. All workers eat lunch in the same cafeteria, but the Black women are assigned a separate table, with a sign: COLORED COMPUTERS. The white engineers that the women work with, especially the engineers from northern and western states, have a pragmatic attitude about working with the Black computers. Whatever the men’s views about social mixing, they value good work and maintain cordial relationships with the women. The Black computers find the working environment mostly pleasant. A woman named Miriam Mann, however, removes the insulting cafeteria sign. She continues removing replacement signs until they stop appearing. A small battle has been won.