Raye Montague
By
John C Abercrombie
The name of Raye Montague should be well known because of her accomplishments. She is the first person to design a United States Navy ship using a computer. Given impossible tasks, she always overcame ever obstacle placed in her way. The work she did in computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing CAD/CAM is historic and worthy of recognition.
Despite her amazing accomplishments outlined in this post, she did not receive any recognition when Margot Lee Shettrly wrote about the people, she knew that worked at Langley Space Center and are featured in the book and movie “Hidden Figures”. Montague’s contributions were not any less than those featured.
We see that talent is suppressed in America, but the successes are not seen as meritorious or worthy of note if they involve people of color.
We pull back the curtain and reveal a most remarkable story in this post featuring Raye J Montague.
Raye Jordan was born in Little Rock, Arkansas to Rayford and Flossie Graves Jordan. There were strict segregation laws in effect and most facilities including hospitals were segregated. Separate restrooms and sitting in the back of the bus were vigorously enforced. Schools were underfunded and the list goes on.
At the age of 7, her grandfather took her to see a traveling exhibit that featured a German submarine captured off the coast of South Carolina. She was completely taken by what she saw and asked the guide about the complex dials and switches that were visible. She asked the guide who stated that you had to be an engineer to know about them and that she did not have to worry about that.
The statement sounds innocent enough but was a definite insult because it revealed that as a Black and as a female, she would NEVER have the opportunity to do or know about such things. Not realizing the insult, Raye was determined to become and engineer.
She asked about the requirements for becoming an engineer and worked with the desire to become one. She graduated from Merrill High School in 1952. The only school in Arkansas that granted an engineering degree was the University of Arkansas, but they did not admit Blacks. Blacks were able to go to Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College now known as the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff was authorized in 1873 by the Reconstruction legislature. It was loosely part of the “normal” education department of what is now known as the University of Arkansas. It was operated separately for Black students and racial segregation was maintained well into the 20th century. In 1927 the school cut ties with the University of Arkansas becoming the Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College also known as Arkansas AM&N. It is an HBCU. In 1972, it joined the current University of Arkansas System. The opportunities between the systems were NOT equal and she graduated in 1956 she graduated with a degree in business, one of the subjects available to Blacks.
Remember she made the decision to be an engineer at the age of 7 and that desire still existed. After graduation she moved to Washington, DC and took a job as a Navy clerk typist. With great determination she became a digital computer systems operator, working with some of the most talented White males in the country. The determination to become an engineer still burned brightly and she took computer programing courses in night school, attending after working all day.
After completing the course work at night, she asked for a promotion her boss told her should have to work nights, however there was no night transportation, so she went out that day and bought a 1949 Pontiac for $375.00, but there was a problem still. She did not know how to drive, so she had the salesman drive her home. She would leave home at 10:00 pm and creep along the roads to get to work by midnight.
She later was allowed to work days again. Her boss who in her words did not like her assigned her to layout step by step how to design a Naval ship using a computer. He did not tell her that he was leading a team of the best who had been working on the project for 6 years. He gave her 6 months.
Montague learned the computer on her own but told her boss that to install the program she would have to disassemble and rebuild the Navy’s computer. Her boss offered no assistance and said that she would have to return to night shift to do it. She was determined but felt very deeply that her boss wanted her to fail.
He refused to offer her any help and required her not to work alone, so she brought her mother and 3 year old son with her. She was determined and refused to fail. Her boss seeing her determination finally relented and gave her extra staff. She met the deadline and presented him with a computer generated design for a ship.
President Richard Milhouse Nixon wanted the Navy to produce ships faster gave the Navy 2 months to produce a computer designed ship. At the time it would take a team 2 years. Her boss gave her a deadline of 1 month although he gave her all the staff and budget she needed.
Remarkable performance, what was taking 2 years and a team was being demanded in 2 months. Raye Montague was given 1 month and did it in 18 hours and 26 minutes. You would think this would be celebrated as a miracle, yet it took decades, and she is still largely unknown. Just think what would have happened if she had been a White man.
She did receive the Navy’s Meritorious Civilian Service Award in 1972. This achievement gave her some credibility and she began advising other government and private sector entities, including the automobile industry.
Raye Montague drafted the original draft of the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate. She later worked on ships such as the Seawolf class submarine and the Nimitz class aircraft carrier Dwight Eisenhower. She described the joy out of visiting San Diego, California and looking out and seeing an entire fleet of ships which she designed.
Montague retired in 1990. It is with great regret that she died October 10, 2018 at the Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas of congestive heart failure.
The question remains, how can a person with these accomplishments remain in obscurity in a country that should be celebrating one of its outstanding citizens?
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A Conversation with Raye Montague- Part 1
NAVSEA had the opportunity to sit down for a conversation with its own “Hidden Figure,” Raye Montague, U.S. Naval Engineer on April 3, 2017. Enjoy part 1 of this two-part series, hosted by NAVSEA’s Women’s Employee Resource Group.
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Raye Montague, the Woman Who Revolutionized Naval Engineering
“Overnight Code is a must-read for anyone seeking inspiration to overcome social barriers and to shatter glass ceilings.” —Carolyn Porter, Marcel’s Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man’s Fate The inspiring story of a groundbreaking African American female engineer who created the first computer-designed ship for the US Navy Raye Montague was an ambitious little girl in segregated Little Rock. She grew to be a woman who spent a lifetime educating herself, both inside and outside of the classroom, so that she could become the person and professional she aspired to be.
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A Conversation with Raye Montague- Part 2
NAVSEA had the opportunity to sit down for a conversation with its own “Hidden Figure,” Raye Montague, U.S. Naval Engineer on April 3, 2017. Enjoy part 2 of this two-part series, hosted by NAVSEA’s Women’s Employee Resource Group.
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The Girl With a Mind For Math: The Story of Raye Montague (Amazing Scientists)
Meet Raye Montague―the hidden mastermind who made waves in the U.S. Navy!
After touring a German submarine in the early 1940s, young Raye set her sights on becoming an engineer. Little did she know sexism and racial inequality would challenge that dream every step of the way, even keeping her greatest career accomplishment a secret for decades. Through it all, the gifted mathematician persisted―finally gaining her well-deserved title in history: a pioneer who changed the course of ship design forever.
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A Conversation with Raye Montague
Raye J. Montague, RPE, is a retired internationally registered professional engineer. She earned her BS at the University of Arkansas AM&N (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff). She began a career in Washington, DC with the United States Navy in 1956 and retired in 1990 after serving in numerous leadership roles during her tenure of thirty- three and one-half years. Montague is credited with the rough draft of the first U.S. Naval ship design using a computer (FFG-7Class: 1971). which revolutionized naval ship design and was awarded the U.S. Navy’s Meritorious Civilian Service award in 1972; the Navy’s third-highest civilian award, for this achievement. The same year, she was nominated by the Secretary of the Navy for the Federal Woman of the Year Award.
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A Woman’s War: The Professional and Personal Journey of the Navy’s First African American Female Intelligence Officer
When Gail Harris was assigned by the U.S. Navy to a combat intelligence job in 1973, she became the first African American female to hold such a position. Her 28-year career included hands on leadership in the intelligence community during every major conflict from the Cold War to Desert Storm to Kosovo, and most recently at the forefront of one of the Department of Defense’s newest challenges: Cyber Warfare. At her retirement, she was the highest ranking African American female in the Navy.
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The Girl With a Mind for Math –
The Story of Raye Montague Raye Jean Montague (née Jordan; January 21, 1935 – October 10, 2018) was an American naval engineer credited with creating the first computer-generated rough draft of a U.S. naval ship. She was the first female program manager of ships in the United States Navy.
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Computer Decoder: Dorothy Vaughan, Computer Scientist (Picture Book Biography)
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AUA: Raye Montague This ASK US ANYTHING video is all about the namesake of our Raye Montague STEAM Initiative –
the U.S. Navy’s “hidden figure.” Ms. Montague’s legacy continues to inspire us to bring STEAM and maritime education to students at OHPRI by providing hands-on experiences related to ship design, construction and operation.
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After looking at the accomplishments of Raye Montague one has to ask the question, how can this person remain in the shadows with all she has done. What she has done in the world of computers, computer aided design, the world of military significance, is nothing short of amazing! As we look at the series of posts this month, you will continually have to face the reality that something is missing when people such as Montague and others you will learn about remain in obscurity?