We Could Not Fail

Surprising and insightful. ~New York Times Book Review

The first African Americans to join the United States space program encountered pushback both inside and outside NASA's doors. When they moved to Cape Canaveral and other Deep South pillars to work on Apollo missions, the Ku Klux Klan was there to greet them. Even history and space program buffs should find insight in We Could Not Fail's fresh look at a well-treaded era. ~Esquire

This account of 10 pioneers, told against the backdrop of the civil rights era, highlights the intersection of technology and race in U.S. history, continuing innovations in technology, and the struggle of minorities to participate. ~Booklist

Paul (documentary producer) and Moss (English, Texas State Technical Coll.) offer a complementary narrative to our national story about the civil rights movement, providing a nuanced look at how integration and civil rights ideals shaped and were shaped by federal employers. . . . Vital and of interest to all Americans, from history and space buffs to students, researchers, and casual readers. ~Library Journal

President John F Kennedy's ambition to put a man on the moon was a key part of his legacy, but less well known is how his administration used NASA as an agent for social change during the civil rights movement. It's a nearly forgotten history that authors Richard Paul and Steven Moss investigate in their new book, We Could Not Fail. It profiles some of the first African Americans in the US space programme and the lasting impact of their work. ~BBC World News

We Could Not Fail is hard to put down. Reading about the personal experiences of African Americans with technical expertise before the civil rights era resonated strongly, as it likely will for any reader with African-American ancestors. The book's discussion of free African-American communities also sheds light on an important, but often overlooked, part of American history.

We Could Not Fail is not only a terrific read but also an important historical book, collecting and documenting features of life in the South for African Americans that have not heretofore been recorded.

~Claudia Alexander, Science Magazine

This comprehensively researched book is replete with fascinating details about ways in which the civil rights movement influenced the space program. . . . It makes an important contribution to African American history. ~Julianne Malveaux, The Washington Post

This is a wonderfully surprising book that explores the impact and the struggles of African Americans involved in NASA and the early days of the space program, a story that is little known but is well told by Richard Paul and Steven Moss. This is not just the history of a few pioneering individuals; rather this work provides insight into the struggle to obtain civil rights by contextualizing how the space program was integrated and how it helped to shape the movement for racial justice in the 1960s. This work broadens our understanding of this period of turmoil and change. ~Lonnie Bunch, Founding Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture

Wonderfully written and expertly researched, We Could Not Fail is a skillfully paced, real-life narrative of the surprising but profound impact African American engineers and technicians, NASA, and space exploration had on race and segregation in the Jim Crow south. Richard Paul and Steven Moss have produced an engaging book that provides a much-needed window into how public policy, mass protest, personal talent, character, and perseverance—alongside bold national ambition and vision—connected to change a nation. This is a ‘must read’ book, particularly at a time when we are once again openly struggling with the role of government in ensuring opportunity and civil rights for all our citizens. ~Mae Jemison, M.D., former NASA astronaut and principal, 100 Year Starship