While taking a road trip, looking for that hot new restaurant or looking for your new office building, what tool has come in handy more than a Global Positioning System (GPS)? Maybe a car, but that's beside the point. Having a GPS on our phones makes getting around more efficient. And while we may not give our GPS a second thought once we've reached our destination, there is a fascinating story behind it.
The prominent hidden figure, Dr. Gladys West, was a true pioneer who pushed past racial barriers and contributed to the invention of the GPS. Without her curious spirit and quest for knowledge, she may never have ended up where she needed to be.
It All Began With a Dream
Born in 1930 in Sutherland, Virginia, West spent much of her childhood — when not in school — harvesting crops on her family farm. In her memoir, It Began With A Dream, she recalls walking the three miles to the segregated, one-room schoolhouse "with rusty, decrepit furniture, sometimes leaky ceilings and always hand-me-down books."
