biographies of african americans

7/29/2019 Biographies of African Americans

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(John Sharper . 1863. Photograph. Library of Congress, Washington D.C. Carte De Visite Photographs from the Gladstone Collection. LOC Prints

And Photographs Division. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.)

Bibliography: African American Biographies

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Sorted by Title, then by Author

921 MYE Myers, Walter Dean, 1937-. Bad boy : a memoir. 1st HarperTempest ed. NewYork : HarperTempest, 2002, c2001.Author Walter Dean Myers describes his childhood in Harlem in the 1940sand 1950s, discussing his loving stepmother, his problems in school, hisreasons for leaving home, and his beginnings as a writer.

921 OBA Burgan, Michael. Barack Obama. Chicago : Heinemann Library, c2010.Describes the life and accomplishments of Barack Obama, the first AfricanAmerican to be elected as the president of the United States; and featuresheadlines from news stories during his lifetime.

920 FLE Fleischman, John, 1948-. Black and white airmen : their true history. Boston,Mass. : Houghton Mifflin, 2007.Presents the true story of two men--one African-American, the other white--who lived in the same Ohio neighborhood, went to the same school, joined

the Army Air Corps in 1941, and finally became close friends nearly sixtyyears later.

921 COL Hoose, Phillip M., 1947-. Claudette Colvin : twice toward justice. 1st ed. NewYork : Melanie Kroupa Books, 2009.Presents an account of fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin, an African-American girl who refused to give up her seat to a white woman on asegregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks,and covers her role in a crucial civil rights case.

921 MCB McBride, James, 1957-. The color of water : a black man's tribute to his whitemother. Riverhead trade pbk. 10th anniversary ed. New York : RiverheadBooks, 2006.James McBride shares the story of his mother's life and complicated racial

identity which he only learned after becoming an adult. He tells of herinfancy in Poland as the daughter of an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, her childhoodin small-town Virginia, her move to Harlem at the age of eighteen, hermarriage to an African-American man, her achievements as a wife andmother to twelve children, and her refusal to ever admit she is white.

921 GIL Winter, Jonah. Dizzy. 1st ed. New York : A.A. Levine, 2006.Simple text and illustrations introduce the life of jazz musician DizzyGillespie.



921 ELL Brown, Gene. Duke Ellington : jazz master. Woodbridge, CT : Blackbirch Press,c2001.A career biography of African-American musician Duke Ellington, focusing onhis contributions to jazz.

921 FIT Krohn, Katherine E. Ella Fitzgerald : first lady of song. Minneapolis : Lerner,

c2001.A biography of the celebrated jazz singer, known especially for her scatsinging and "songbook" recordings of the works of many major Americancomposers.

920 HAR Hardy, Sheila Jackson. Extraordinary people of the civil rights movement. NewYork : Children's Press, c2007.Profiles approximately sixty individuals who played significant roles in thecivil rights movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X,Thurgood Marshall, Medgar Evers, and Diane Nash, and includes a glossaryand a further reading list.

921 TER Fradin, Dennis B. Fight on! : Mary Church Terrell's battle for integration. NewYork : Clarion Books, c2003.

Mary Church Terrell's family tree -- Who was Mary Church Terrell? -- A bowlof soup -- Bob Church's daughter -- "Hold high the banner of my race" -- "Iam a colored girl" -- "The welfare of my race" -- Mr. Terrell "goes to Church"-- "Lifting as we climb" -- "I have done so little" -- A "meddler" -- "I intendnever to grow old" -- "Your indomitable spirit" -- "Fight on" -- "Your longand valiant struggle" -- Afterword: "Those who will follow after you.".Profiles the first black Washington, D.C. Board of Education member, whohelped to found the NAACP and organized pickets and boycotts that led tothe 1953 Supreme Court decision to integrate D.C. area restaurants.

921 DOU Adler, David A. Frederick Douglass : a noble life. 1st ed. New York : HolidayHouse, c2010.Chronicles the life of Frederick Douglass, discussing his years as a slave,escape to freedom, acclaim as a famous orator, journalist, and presidential

advisor, work as an abolitionist, and other related topics.

921 CAR Bolden, Tonya. George Washington Carver. New York : Abrams Books for YoungReaders, c2008.A biography of American botanical researcher and agronomy educator,George Washington Carver, whose work to promote alternative crops in thepost-war South played a major role in revolutionizing Southern agriculture.

921 ARM Fahlenkamp-Merrell, Kindle. Louis Armstrong. Mankato, MN : Child's World,c2010.Growing up -- Becoming a musician -- The jazz age -- Finding fame -- A newbeginning. A biography of African-American jazz musician Louis Armstrong,discussing his childhood in New Orleans, his lifelong involvement with music,his family and marriages, and his professional career that earned him

worldwide fame.

921 X Helfer, Andrew. Malcolm X : a graphic biography. 1st ed. New York : Hill andWang, 2006.Presents a brief biography of Malcolm X in graphic novel format thatdescribes his life from his early experiences with racism through his politicaland religious conversions.

974.7 BOL Bolden, Tonya. Maritcha : a nineteenth-century American girl. New York :



Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2005.Presents the personal memoirs of Maritcha Rémond Lyons who was born innineteenth-century New York City and describes how she and her familyescaped to Rhode Island during the 1863 Draft riots and how she overcameprejudice to become the first African-American person to graduate fromProvidence High School.

921 ANG Kirkpatrick, Patricia. Maya Angelou. 1st ed. Mankato, Minn. : CreativeEducation, c2004.Examines the life and accomplishments of the African American writer,performer, and teacher. Includes a selection of her poetry.

921 KIN Bolden, Tonya. M.L.K. : journey of a King. New York : Abrams Books for YoungReaders, 2007.Profiles the life of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, and includes overeighty illustrated photographs that describe his marches, speeches, andnon-violence philosophy.

921 HEN Johnson, Dolores, 1949-. Onward : a photobiography of African-American polarexplorer Matthew Henson. Washington, D.C. : National Geographic, c2006.

Presents the story of the expedition to the North Pole by explorers RobertPeary and African-American Matthew Henson, focusing on the contributionsmade by Henson.

921 WRI Levy, Debbie. Richard Wright : a biography. Minneapolis, MN : Twenty-FirstCentury Books, c2008.A biography of early twentieth-century African-American writer, RichardWright, that profiles his childhood living in the Jim Crow south, hisdetermination to become a writer, and disappointment with his owncountry's racist laws.

921 ONE Nelson, Murry R. Shaquille O'Neal : a biography. Westport, CT : GreenwoodPress, 2007.Profiles the life of NBA basketball player Shaquille O'Neal, and chronicles his

childhood and family, education, and basketball career.

921 TRU Butler, Mary G. Sojourner Truth : from slave to activist for freedom. 1st ed.New York : PowerPlus Books, 2003.Slavery in America -- The slave Isabella -- Living free -- The sojourn begins-- The Northampton Association -- On the lecture circuit -- The Battle Creekyears -- The legend grows -- The nation divided -- The last crusade.Examines the life and times of Sojourner Truth, born a slave around 1797,discussing her separation from her parents at the age of nine, her years as aslave, her early experiences as a free woman, and her work as anabolitionist and advocate of women's rights.

921 SAN Sancton, Tom. Song for my fathers : a New Orleans story in black and white.New York : Other Press, c2006.

A coming-of-age memoir as the author recalls his childhood in New Orleansduring the 1950s and 1960s and his passion to learn the music and ways of a group of aging African-American jazzmen in the waning days of segregation.

921 NOR Fradin, Judith Bloom. Stolen into slavery : the true story of Solomon Northup,free black man. Washington, D.C. : National Geographic, c2012.Recounts the experiences of Solomon Northup, an African American manwho was kidnapped into slavery and suffered through twelve years of



bondage before being rescued from the Louisiana cotton plantation byfriends from New York.

921 DAV Savage, Jeff, 1961-. Terrell Davis : TD. Minneapolis : Lerner Sports, c2000.A biography of the Denver Broncos running back who was chosen the MostValuable Player in the 1998 Super Bowl.

921 HUN Hunter-Gault, Charlayne. To the mountaintop! : my journey through the civilrights movement. 1st ed. New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2012.The author describes her involvement in the civil rights movement and theway she felt at the inauguration of Barack Obama, featuring black-and-whitephotographs, articles from the "New York Times," and more.

921 ALI Smith, Charles R., 1969-. Twelve rounds to glory : the story of Muhammad Ali.1st ed. Cambridge, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2007.Rap-inspired verse and illustrations describe the life of Muhammed Ali,discussing his bouts, struggles with societal prejudice, Islamic faith, Olympicglory, and more.

921 AND Freedman, Russell. The voice that challenged a nation : Marian Anderson andthe struggle for equal rights. New York : Clarion Books, c2004.Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939 -- Twenty-five cents a song -- A voice in athousand -- Marian fever -- Banned by the DAR -- Singing to the nation --Breaking barriers -- "What I had was singing.". Tells the life story of singerMarian Anderson, describing her famous 1939 Lincoln Memorial performanceand explaining how she helped end segregation in the American arts afterbeing refused the right to perform at Washington's Constitution Hall becauseof the color of her skin.

920 DAV Davis, Sampson. We beat the street : how a friendship pact helped us succeed.New York : Puffin Books, 2006, c2005.Shares anecdotes from the childhoods, teen years, and young adult lives of three men from Newark, New Jersey, who made a pledge to each other inhigh school to stay safe from drugs, gangs, and crime, and work to become

doctors--a goal they have successfully achieved.

921 SAN Neri, Greg. Yummy : the last days of a Southside shorty. 1st ed. New York : Lee& Low Books, c2010.A brief biography, in graphic novel format, of Robert "Yummy" Sandifer, aneleven-year old African American gang member from Chicago who went onthe run after shooting a young girl and was later found dead, shot bymembers of his own gang.

921 HUR Litwin, Laura Baskes. Zora Neale Hurston : "I have been in sorrow's kitchen"Berkeley Heights, NJ : Enslow, c2008.A biography of Zora Neale Hurston that provides information on herchildhood, family life, education, and writing career.

biographies of african americans

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