I liked this a lot. I have seen the movie Hidden Pictures (haven't read the book, it has some mixed reviews, one of the few where it's said the movie is better? There's also a "young readers" version ...) This covers some of the same material (and the movie is mentioned), although it is a memoir, starting in the early years, a full life history. Many of the events that affected both science and black history also get quite a bit of focus.

This IS middle grade reading ... I wonder how some of the phrasing/tone would differ if it was written for an adult audience.  Just a statement like "Back then the same people we now call African American or Black were called Colored or Negro. (It’s important not to use those words to describe people today or you will certainly offend them.)" felt a little elementary teacher/student, and perhaps the slightest confusion, as "Colored" is then used over 200 times in the text (it is in the past perspective, not "today" but I could see that being a point of confusion for some children?)

Just seven chapters and an epilogue ... I wished a little for headers, so that I could check the Table of Contents and remember what was in each. I went primarily with the audiobook, but had the Kindle copy for reference and re-reading portions. There were photographs sprinkled throughout, and not "illustrations" per se, but little images of math equations at the start of chapters, and flowy ***** (stars!) to divide sections of text. 

Ch1 was the basic early life. 
Ch2 1920-1930s ... the family moves to West Virginia for better education. Some general history of black education (or lack thereof), the Great Depression, Jesse Owens, racial violence...
Ch3 Graduated, Teaching job, Move to Marion. Marriage ... 
Ch4 WW2, Babies, house fire, 
Ch5 Newport, history/EmmettTill, RedScare, Brown vs Board of Education, Langly/NACA, Jimmie diagnosis and death
Ch6 NASA, Sputnik, Civil Rights act of 1957 (and background/segregation), Freedom 7/Alan Shepard, John  Glenn), 2nd marriage, Kennedy assassination...
Ch7 Landing on the moon
Epilogue 

Whenever I read non-fiction, I get a little stressed about remembering dates/facts ... will there be a test? Should I be remembering these things forever more? I really TRY but the details tend to fade. I know I've learned of almost all these things before, but it was a good re-fresher, and very interesting being from a 1st-person perspective. 

As I embarked on my #middlegradeMay challenge, I was thinking I wouldn't get much non-fiction in. I didn't really have any in my TBR stack. I did a search of mg non-fiction, and this popped up as a recommendation. Available to borrow from the library in audio and Kindle.