North, South, East, and Gladys West: How a Mathematician Helped Shape GPS

Gladys’s mind swirls with numbers and shapes as the world enters the high-tech space age. This is the lyrical true story of a groundbreaking Black mathematician whose inventions led to the creation of GPS.

Little Gladys is a farm girl who loves math. But as a Black kid growing up in Virginia in the mid-twentieth century, she sees life around her as less than or greater than but never equal. When a teacher calls her “college material,” Gladys knows she can achieve her dreams—and goes on to ge...