In recent years, Johnson’s accomplishments were bolstered by the visibility of the film starring Taraji P. Henson, playing Johnson, and Octavia Spencer. Most recently, NASA renamed a building in West Virginia — her home state — after her in 2019 at the urging of a congressional bill signed into law by President Donald Trump. President Barack Obama awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest honor for civilians, in 2015.
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