Katherine Johnson, one of the NASA mathematicians who calculated the trajectories required for the 1969 moon landing, died on February 24, 2020 at the age of 101. For much of her life, she and the women she worked with were largely unknown. Margot Lee Shetterly documented Johnson's story in her bestselling book Hidden Figures, which was adapted into a movie in 2016. (Johnson was played by Taraji P. Henson in the film.) Here are some great books to check out if you'd like to learn more about Katherine Johnson, as well as some other notable figures whose accomplishments you might not have learned about in history class.
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Hidden figures : the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race
by Margot Lee Shetterly An account of the previously unheralded but pivotal contributions of NASA's African-American women mathematicians to America's space program describes how they were segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws in spite of their groundbreaking successes. |
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Hidden figures : Young Readers' Edition
by Margot Lee Shetterly Explores the previously uncelebrated but pivotal contributions of NASA's African-American women mathematicians to America's space program, describing how Jim Crow laws segregated them from their white counterparts despite their groundbreaking successes. Adapted from the original for young readers. |
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Changing the equation : 50+ US Black women in STEM
by Tonya Bolden Award-winning author Tonya Bolden explores the black women who have changed the world of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in America. Including groundbreaking computer scientists, doctors, inventors, physicists, pharmacists, mathematicians, aviators, and many more, this book celebrates over 50 women who have shattered the glass ceiling, defied racial discrimination, and pioneered in their fields. In these profiles, young readers will find role models, inspirations, and maybe evenreasons to be the STEM leaders of tomorrow. These stories help young readers to dream big and stay curious. The book includes endnotes, a bibliography, and an index. |
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Claudette Colvin : twice toward justice
by Phillip M. Hoose In a book based on extensive interviews with Claudette Colvin, the important yet largely unknown civil rights figure, and many others, this first in-depth account of the 15-year-old girl, who nine months before the famous Rosa Parks incident refused to give her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, skillfully weaves her dramatic story into the fabric of the historic Montgomery bus boycott and court case that would change the course of American history. |
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Pathfinders : the journeys of 16 extraordinary Black souls
by Tonya Bolden The Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author of Beautiful Moon presents a tribute to 16 diverse Americans of African descent who helped define history in the 18th through 20th centuries, including Allen Allensworth, Sissieretta Jones and Maggie Lena Walker. |
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Josephine Baker
by José-Louis Bocquet Josephine Baker (1906--1975) was nineteen years old when she found herself in Paris for the first time in 1925. Overnight, the young American dancer became the idol of the Roaring Twenties, captivating Picasso, Cocteau, Le Corbusier, and Simenon. In the liberating atmosphere of the 1930s, Baker rose to fame as the first black star on the world stage, from London to Vienna, Alexandria to Buenos Aires. After World War II, and her time in the French Resistance, Baker devoted herself to the struggle against racial segregation, publicly battling the humiliations she had for so long suffered personally. She led by example, and over the course of the 1950s adopted twelve orphans of different ethnic backgrounds: a veritable Rainbow Tribe. A victim of racism throughout her life, Josephine Baker would sing of love and liberty until the day she died |
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Redefining realness : my path to womanhood, identity, love & so much more
by Janet Mock A journalist and activist who was profiled in a 2011 Marie Claire feature outlines bold perspectives on the realities of being young, multi-racial, economically challenged and transgender in today's America, recounting her disadvantaged youth and decision to undergo gender reassignment surgery at the age of 18 before pursuing a career and falling in love. |
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Fannie Lou Hamer : America's Freedom Fighting Woman
by Maegan Parker Brooks This accessible biography will enrich public memory about Hamer by telling not only the significant story of her riveting testimony, but also by recounting a life filled with triumphs, tragedies, and accompanying lessons for contemporary audiences. |
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Strange Fruit : Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History
by Joel Christian Gill Strange Fruit, Volume I, Uncelebrated narratives from Black history is a collection of stories from African American history that exemplifies success in the face of great adversity. This unique graphic anthology offers historical and cultural commentaryon nine uncelebrated heroes whose stories are not often found in history books. Among the stories included are: Henry 'Box' Brown, who escaped from slavery by mailing himself to Philadelphia; Alexander Crummel and the Noyes Academy, the first integrated school in America, established in the 1830s; Marshall 'Major' Taylor, a.k.a. the Black Cyclone, the first Black champion in any sport; and Bass Reeves, the most successful lawman in the Old West. Written and illustrated by Joel Christian Gill, the diverse art beautifully captures the spirit of each remarkable individual and opens a window into an important part of American history. |
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Strange Fruit Vol II : More Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History
by Joel Christian Gill Presents historical and cultural commentary on eight lesser-known African Americans, including the only known female Buffalo soldier, and a fighter pilot who flew for France in World War I. |
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To tell the truth freely : the life of Ida B. Wells
by Mia Bay A detailed profile of the civil rights pioneer traces her early life in Mississippi and Tennessee, her famous campaign for justice after being forced to give up her train seat in 1883, and her journalism work to fight lynching and racial injustice. |
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Brazen : rebel ladies who rocked the world
by Pénélope Bagieu Through characteristic wit and dazzling drawings, a celebrated graphic novelist profiles the lives of formidable female role models—some world famous, some little known—including Nellie Bly, Mae Jemison, Josephine Baker, Naziq al-Abid and many others, in an entertaining, comic-style biography that is sure to inspire the next generation of rebel ladies. |
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The Port Chicago 50 : disaster, mutiny, and the fight for civil rights
by Steve Sheinkin The Newbery Award-winning and National Book Award finalist author of Bomb presents an account of the 1944 civil rights protest involving hundreds of African-American Navy servicemen who were unjustly charged with mutiny for refusing to work in unsafe conditions after the deadly Port Chicago explosion. |
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Wonder women : 25 innovators, inventors, and trailblazers who changed history
by Sam Maggs The best-selling author of The Fangirl¡s Guide to the Galaxy presents a fun and feminist look at the brilliant, brainy and totally rad women in history who broke barriers as scientists, engineers, mathematicians, adventurers and inventors, along with interviews with real-life women in STEM careers. |
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Jackie Ormes : the first African American woman cartoonist
by Nancy Goldstein At a time of few opportunities for women in general and even fewer for African American women, Jackie Ormes (1911-85) blazed a trail as a popular cartoonist with the major black newspapers of the day. Her cartoon characters (including Torchy Brown, Candy, Patty-Jo, and Ginger) delighted readers and spawned other products, including an elegant doll with a stylish wardrobe and "Torchy Togs" paper dolls. Ormes was a member of Chicago's black elite, with a social circle that included the leading political figures and entertainers of the day. Her cartoons and comic strips provide an invaluable glimpse into American culture and history, with topics that include racial segregation, U.S. foreign policy, educational equality, the atom bomb, and environmental pollution, among other pressing issues of the times--and of today's world as well. This celebrated biography features a large sampling of Ormes's cartoons and comic strips, and a new preface. |