Lesa Cline-Ransome
Author
Series
Finding Langston volume 1
Language
English
Description
Discovering a book of Langston Hughes' poetry in the library helps Langston cope with the loss of his mother, relocating from Alabama to Chicago as part of the Great Migration, and being bullied.
5) Being Clem
Author
Series
Finding Langston volume 3
Language
English
Description
1944. Clem's father is away, serving as a sailor in World War II. When the family receives news that his father has died in the infamous Port Chicago explosion in San Francisco, everything begins to fall apart. Clem's mother is forced to work long, tough hours as a maid for a wealthy white family. The obstacles put in place by racial injustice seem insurmountable. Soon Clem can barely recognize his home-- and himself. Can he live up to his father's...
Author
Series
Finding Langston volume 2
Language
English
Description
Raised by his grandparents, first in Mississippi then in Wisconsin, ten-year-old Lymon moves to Chicago in 1945 to live with the mother he never knew, while yearning for his father.
8) For Lamb
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
"An interracial friendship between two teenaged girls goes tragically wrong in this powerful historical novel set in the Jim Crow South. For Lamb follows a family striving to better their lives in the late 1930s Jackson, Mississippi. Lamb's mother is a hard-working, creative seamstress who cannot reveal she is a lesbian. Lamb's brother has a brilliant mind and has even earned a college scholarship for a black college up north- if only he could curb...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
"The award winners behind Before She Was Harriet explore the story of the saxophone, from its beginnings in 1840s Belgium all the way to New Orleans, where an instrument in a pawn shop caught the eye of musician Sidney Bechet and became the iconic symbol it is today"--
Author
Language
English
Appears on list
Formats
Description
Ethel L. Payne always had an ear for stories. Seeking truth, justice, and equality, Ethel followed stories from her school newspaper in Chicago to Japan during World War II. It even led her to the White House briefing room, where she broke barriers as one of the first black journalists. Ethel wasn't afraid to ask the tough questions of presidents, elected officials, or any one else in charge, earning her the title "First Lady of the Black Press."...
11) Freedom's school
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
Hungry for learning, Lizzie and her brother Paul attend a new school built for freed slaves.
13) Benny Goodman & Teddy Wilson: Taking the Stage as the First Black-and-White Jazz Band in History
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
Teddy Wilson and Benny Goodman broke the color barrier in entertainment when they formed the Benny Goodman Trio with Gene Krupa. Here is the story of how two musical prodigies from very different backgrounds grew up, were brought together by the love of music, and helped to create the jazz style known as swing.
Author
Language
English
Description
For Helen Keller, "w-a-t-e-r" was a cool, slippery splash. "S-u-n" was the warm afternoon glow coating her skin. "L-i-l-y" was a sweet-smelling petal, soft and delicate to her touch. After an illness left her blind and deaf, Helen relied on her senses of touch and smell to help compensate for her loss. And then she met her teacher, Annie Sullivan, who showed her a new way to give meaning to the world around her. But most of all, Annie gave Helen a...
Author
Language
English
Description
Rosa and her mama go to school together-in the dark of night, silently, afraid that any noise they hear is a patroller on the lookout for escaped slaves. Their school is literally a hole in the ground, where they and other slaves of all ages gather to form letters out of sticks, scratch letters in the dirt, and pronounce their sounds in whispers. Young Rosa is eager to learn the letters and then the words, because after the words comes reading. But...
17) Satchel Paige
Author
Language
English
Description
Leroy "Satchel" Paige was the first African American to pitch in a Major League World Series, and the first Negro Leaguer to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Fans of all ages can relive the dream as they hear about Satch's talents, feisty personality, popularity, and ultimate success in this rhythmic and vivid biography of one of baseball's most dazzling pitchers.
Author
Language
English
Description
"...A ball made of a sock stuffed with rags. Bare feet. Does this sound like an auspicious beginning for "soccer's first star?" Ibsen Santos is an unobtrusive narrator who sets a leisurely pace and lets young listeners interact with both the text and the illustrations... Radio broadcasts of soccer games add ambiance to the production."-AudoFile
Author
Language
English
Description
Before John Glenn orbited the Earth or astronauts walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used their knowledge, pencils, adding machines, and writing paper to calculate the orbital mechanics needed to launch spacecraft. Katherine Johnson was one of these mathematicians who used trajectories and complex equations to chart the space program. Even as Virginia's Jim Crow laws were in place in the early...
Author
Publisher
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
Shares the story of the sisters and tennis stars, including their special relationship as sisters and best friends, their constant training as children, and their incredible success in professional tennis.