Dorothy and her co-workers, Katherine Johnson and Mary Jackson, worked together in the NACA West Computing department. Dorothy received a promotion in 1949, becoming the first African American manager. As a supervisor for the West Computing department, Dorothy stood up for her fellow female “human computers” and gained the trust of many of the white employees. She would manage West Computing for almost ten years until the division was shut down by NASA. She remained working at NASA until 1971.

NOTE: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) is replaced by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958.