African Heritage

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson received the Coretta Scott King Award for her children’s book Almost to Freedom. Here she relays the extraordinary story of Bass Reeves, a lawman in the Old West who escaped slavery to become one of the most successful U.S. Marshals in history.

Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is the luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930s, whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to 70 years.

Madam C. J. Walker was beloved within her community for her philanthropy and expanding the local black YMCA, but she couldn't have done that if she weren't the first female self-made millionaire and one of the most successful African American business owners ever. Born Sarah Breedlove, she was the first person born free in her family. She married Charles Joseph Walker and became known as Madam C. J. Walker, the name she would later use on her haircare products.

Today, sports arenas have been transformed into staging grounds for American patriotism and the hero worship of law enforcement. Teams wear camouflage jerseys to honor those who serve; police officers throw out first pitches; soldiers surprise their families with homecomings at halftime. Sports and politics are decidedly entwined. But as journalist Howard Bryant reveals, this has always been more complicated for black athletes, who from the start were committing a political act simply by being on the field.

The compelling account of how two heritages united in their struggle to gain freedom and equality in America. The first paths to freedom taken by runaway slaves led to Native American villages. There, black men and women found acceptance and friendship among our country's original inhabitants. Though they seldom appear in textbooks and movies, the children of Native and African American marriages helped shape the early days of the fur trade, added a new dimension to frontier diplomacy, and made a daring contribution to the fight for American liberty.

Negro league baseball players didn’t always get the respect that major leaguers received. And yet many - including Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Roy Campanella - quickly became standouts in the major leagues after 1947. Others didn’t get to prove their mettle in the majors at all - or not until long past their prime. New York Times best-selling author Carole Boston Weatherford compiles an enthralling summary of Negro league history that includes fascinating tidbits about prominent pitchers, hitters, utility players, teams, and traditions.

You may never have heard of him, but you've probably heard of the many people civil rights activist Bayard Rustin influenced. He was a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and refused to move to the back of the bus many years before Rosa Parks did. The son of a freed slave, Bayard Rustin grew up during the peak of the Jim Crow laws, which segregated Blacks and Whites.

Sojourner Truth was born into slavery but possessed a mind and a vision that knew no bounds. So Tall Within traces her life from her painful childhood through her remarkable emancipation to her incredible leadership in the movement for rights for both women and African Americans. Her story is told with lyricism and pathos by Gary D. Schmidt, one of the most celebrated writers for children in the 21st century. This audiobook is just right for introducing this legendary figure to a new generation of children.

George Washington Carver wasn't just an inventor. He was also a botanist, a farmer, and a professor. Young listeners will discover how this teacher not only improved the way people farmed, but introduced the world to more than 300 uses for the peanut.

Someone was trying to kill Malcolm X, and he knew who it was. From his troubled youth to his days as spokesman for the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X had much to say about race and civil rights. But when he split with the Nation of Islam, the charismatic Black leader made one powerful enemy. Join him on his life-altering pilgrimage to Mecca where he discovers the power of brotherhood and the cost of racial divides.

In November 1960, all of America watched as a tiny six-year-old black girl, surrounded by federal marshals, walked through a mob of screaming segregationists and into her school. An icon of the civil rights movement, Ruby Bridges chronicles each dramatic step of this pivotal event in history through her own words.

Brown Girl Dreaming is the unforgettable story of Jacqueline Woodson's childhood, sharing what it was like to grow up as an African-American in the wake of the Civil Rights movement, and discovering the first sparks of an incredible, lifelong gift for writing.

At its core, African folklore embodies the soul of the continent, reflecting its diverse peoples, landscapes, and histories. This book delves into the rich landscape of African folklore, exploring its diverse cultures, traditions, and storytelling techniques. Through a combination of historical context and literary analysis, listeners will gain a deeper understanding of the significance of folktales in African societies and learn how to effectively engage in the art of storytelling for both pleasure and profit.

She just wouldn't get up - and with that simple, courageous act Rosa Parks struck a blow against injustice. Parks showed what one person, without guns or violence, could do to change the course of history forever. Nelson Mandela claimed "she is who inspired us...to be fearless when facing our oppressors."

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was only 25 when he helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott and was soon organizing black people across the country in support of the right to vote, desegregation, and other basic civil rights. Maintaining nonviolent and peaceful tactics even when his life was threatened, King was also an advocate for the poor and spoke out against racial and economic injustice until his death - from an assassin's bullet - in 1968.

Here’s the whole, true story of Rosa Parks’ life - and the spark of change she helped light for the civil rights movement. Unlike other Rosa Parks books for kids, So Other People Would Be Also Free reveals how Rosa’s lifetime of experiences inspired her famous choice - when she stayed seated on a segregated bus to take a stand for racial equality.

Everybody knows about the Founding Fathers and the Declaration of Independence in 1776. But the founders weren't the only ones who believed that everyone had a right to freedom. Mumbet, a Massachusetts slave, believed it too. She longed to be free, but how? Would anyone help her in her fight for freedom? Could she win against her owner, the richest man in town? Mumbet was determined to try.

August Wilson grew up open to the creative inspiration in everything he encountered: in library books, in music, in artworks, in the lively conversations overheard in the restaurants and barbershops lining the Pittsburgh neighborhood of his childhood. August paid attention. He listened. And when he got older, he got ideas about what to do with everything he’d seen and heard—ideas that would make him one of the greatest playwrights in American history.

Once upon a time, children's music was just Mother Goose, nursery songs, and lullabies. And then came Ella Jenkins. Ella Jenkins is an American folk singer and living legend dubbed “The First Lady of Children’s Music.” For nearly 70 years, she has been writing and performing music that has entertained and engaged generations of young listeners. In Make a Pretty Song, Ella’s life and legacy are captured.

There is, in America, an intangible university of sorts - invisible, self-propagated, and silently teaching Black Americans to disrespect and look down on their own racial kinsmen. This mis-educational institution is built on a foundation of demonstrably false ideas, long lingering myths, and hateful half-truths that have, over the years, legitimized themselves in our minds and decimated our power to effectively respond to our own problems, and, do for the world what we did at the dawn of civilization.