Biographies of Remarkable People

When she was growing up in Waxahachie, Texas, in the early 1900's, young Bessie Coleman had to do without a lot of things. Because she was black, she went to inferior schools. Because her mother worked to support the family, Bessie often had to stay at home to watch her younger sisters. But Bessie Coleman always knew she would make something of her life. In 1920 she became the first African-American woman to fly an airplane. Struggling against prejudice...

FINALIST FOR THE YALSA AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICITON FOR YOUNG ADULTS! Minamoto Yoshitsune should not have been a samurai. But his story is legend in this real-life Game of Thrones. This epic tale of warriors and bravery, rebellion and revenge, reads like a novel, but this is the true story of the greatest samurai in Japanese history. When Yoshitsune was just a baby, his father went to war with a rival samurai family-and lost. His father was...

The star of Orange Is the New Black and Jane the Virgin, Diane Guerrero presents her personal story in this middle grade memoir about her parents' deportation and the nightmarish struggles of undocumented immigrants and their American children--

Over the centuries, untold numbers of black men and women in America have achieved great things against the odds. Pathfinders is a collective biography of sixteen diverse American men and women of African descent who made their mark on American history in the 18th to 20th centuries. People who dared to dream, take risks, and create goals not only for themselves, but for others and the betterment of their society, too. Award-winning author Tonya Bolden...

Biography of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson.

Ruby Bridges recounts the story of her involvement, as a six-year-old, in the integration of her school in New Orleans in 1960.

Introduces the first black tennis champion, describing her struggle against racism and poverty and her eventual successes at Wimbledon.

An introduction to the life and achievements of the first American female doctor describes the limited career prospects available to women in the early nineteenth-century, the opposition Blackwell faced while pursuing a medical education, and her pioneering medical career that opened doors for future generations of women.

Profiles eight individuals who fought for freedom, including Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Mahatma Gandhi, and Malala Yousafzai.