Life is only a journey. Sometimes that journey seems impossible. You may even begin to feel that life has dealt you a bad hand. This book is a sequel to the author's first memoir, Breaking through Barriers: The Journey, in which she describes her experiences when she was one of two Black students in an all-White high school during the Civil Rights Movement. In this sequel, the author continues to share the challenges that she faced when being a minority or being viewed as different from th...

Have you ever felt like life was beating up on you because you dared to be different or tried to defend what you felt was right?This author describes the painful details from her childhood as she pioneered during the most challenging times of her life—the times when schools in the South were being desegregated.Although the challenges described in this book took place during the Civil Rights Movement, the experiences shared by the author are by no means limited to color barr...

"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" is an autobiography by Frederick Douglass, a prominent African American abolitionist, orator, and writer. The book was first published in 1845 and became an instant bestseller, helping to fuel the abolitionist movement in the United States.In the book, Douglass describes his experiences as a slave on Maryland's Eastern Shore, his escape to freedom in the North, and his life as a free man. He vividly portrays the brutality of slavery and the deh...

Frederick Douglass was born in 1817 and lived for ten years as a slave upon a Maryland plantation. Then he was bought by a Baltimore shipbuilder. He learned to read, and, being attracted by "The Lady of the Lake," when he escaped in 1838 and went disguised as a sailor to New Bedford, Mass., he adopted the name Douglas (spelling it with two s's, however). He lived for several years in New Bedford, being assisted by Garrison in his efforts for an education. In 1841, at an anti-slavery conven...

Born in the United States and enslaved as a child, Harriet Tubman (circa 1820-1913) is one of the best-known figures connected to the Underground Railroad. Through her knowledge and outdoor survival skills, honed through her unpaid labour in the fields and through the later connections she made in the abolitionist community, Tubman was well poised to command her followers. By her discipline and example, she never lost a "passenger."Tubman's exploits helped to empower those opposed ...

Named a Washington Post Book to ReadA New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceA USA Today “New and Noteworthy” PickARead It Forward* Favorite ReadAParade* Magazine PickCoretta Scott King's true story, told in full for the first time....

"a quick introduction to the life of a great American" -- The New York TimesAn inspiring portrait of the incredible life and lasting influence of Dr. Martin Luther KingMarshall Frady, the reporter who became the unofficial chronicler of the civil rights movement, here re-creates the life and turbulent times of its inspirational leader. Deftly interweaving the story of King’s quest with a history of the African American struggle for equality...

Film star. Icon. Agitator. Martyr.Paul Robeson was a prize-winning scholar and the greatest footballer of his era, even before he ascended to global superstardom as a singer, Hollywood actor, and activist. The son of an escaped slave, Robeson stunned audiences with ‘Ol’ Man River’ and Othello, as his passion for social justice led him from Jazz Age Harlem to the mining towns of Wales, from the frontiers of the Spanish Civil War to Stalin’s Russia.C...

As we approach the twenty-first century, biracialism and biculturalism are becoming increasingly common. Skin color and place of birth are no longer reliable signifiers of one's identity or origin. Simple questions like What are you? and Where are you from? aren't answered--they are discussed.How do you measure someone's race or culture? Half this, quarter that, born here, raised there. What name do you give that? These eighteen essays, joined by a shared sense of duality, address b...

Inspired by the Academy Award-nominated Netflix documentary What Happened, Miss Simone?, an intimate and vivid look at the legendary life of Nina Simone, the classically trained pianist who evolved into a chart-topping chanteuse and committed civil rights activist.“Alan Light has written an electrifying, humane, and dimensional biography of one of my favorite artists in the entire world.”—ALICIA KEYS“A spellbinding portrait...

Acclaimed author E. R. Braithwaite ( To Sir, With Love) chronicles the brutality, oppression, and courage he witnessed as a black man granted "Honorary White" status during a six-week visit to apartheid South AfricaAs a black man living in a white-dominated world, author E. R. Braithwaite was painfully aware of the multitude of injustices suffered by people of color and he wrote powerfully and poignantly about racial discrimination in his acclaimed novels ...

As the Black Lives Matter movement gains momentum, and books like Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me and Claudia Rankine's Citizen swing national attention toward the racism and violence that continue to poison our communities, it's as urgent now as ever to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr., whose insistence on equality and peace defined the Civil Rights Movement and forever changed the course of American history.This collection ranges from an early 1961 ...