These 5 Must-See Movies About Famous West Virginians Will Challenge And Inspire
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Cristy
Author
It’s been a long week already, and it’s not over yet. If that’s true in your house, too, it might be time for a movie night. So, pop some popcorn and curl up in front of one of these excellent films about famous West Virginians.
And here are 5 inspiring, challenging, thought-provoking choices that will teach you more about some of our state's many heroes.
Katherine Johnson, born in White Sulphur Springs, was a NASA mathematician whose calculations were essential to the success of the first manned space flights in America. Hidden Figures chronicles her contribution, along with the contributions of several other behind-the-scenes workers.
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John Nash Jr, born in Bluefield, was a Nobel Prize winning mathematician whose brilliance and paranoid schizophrenia are both captured masterfully in the film A Beautiful Mind.
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Stonewall Jackson, one of the most famous confederate generals of the Civil War, was born in Clarksburg. Part of his story is chronicled in Gods And Generals; the rest, if you're interested, can be found in a biography written by James Robertson Jr.
We Are Marshall picks up after the devastating plane crash near Ceredo in 1970 that killed almost the entire Marshall football team. The movie chronicles the rebuilding and healing of the team, the school, and the whole community after this tragedy.
The movie October Sky chronicles a group of boys from Coalwood, West Virginia who were inspired by the launch of Sputnik to develop and launch their own amateur rocket.
This one doesn't quite fit the profile - it's not a movie and it's not a true story about a famous West Virginian. BUT, Don Knotts, who plays Barney Fife in the show, was from Morgantown and a graduate of WVU, and the characters reference connections to West Virginia periodically throughout the show.
These are only a few of the heroes and legends our state has produced, but we hope you enjoy watching and learning more about their stories! Oh, and if you’ve seen all of these already, there are some more West Virginia-themed movies here and here.
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