Raised in South Carolina and New York, Jacqueline Woodson always felt half way home. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s.

"Reverend F.D. Reese was a leader of the Voting Rights Movement in Selma, Alabama. As a teacher and principal, he recognized that his colleagues were viewed with great respect in the city. Could he convince them to risk their jobs--and perhaps their lives--by organizing a teachers-only march to the county courthouse to demand their right to vote? On January 22, 1965, the Black teachers left their classrooms and did just that, with Reverend Reese leading...

Describes the experiences of writer Walter Dean Myers as he grew up in Harlem during the 1940s and 1950s.

After decades of segregation, women were at the forefront of the civil rights movement, the largest social upheaval since the end of the Civil War. Alongside men, they were leaders, planners, organizers, and protesters. They moved the needle toward groundbreaking legislation. They fought for women's rights and for justice for all. As the nation slowly moved toward political equality for people of color, these steadfast activists, alone or in groups,...

Presents an overview of the events in African American history that culminated in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s and represented a striving for equal rights.

"A Black woman who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus sparked a bus boycott and became part of one of the most iconic moments in American history. Yet, few know that Rosa Parks had actively worked toward social justice her whole life. And even fewer know that the seeds of the statewide bus boycott were first planted by a teenager named Claudette Colvin, who was arrested on similar charges months earlier. Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin...

Obi escapes from slavery during the Civil War, joins a black Union regiment, and soon becomes involved in the bloody fighting at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

Explains the meaning and historical context of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, also providing biographical information about Dr. King and discussing the Civil Rights Movement.

Sister Outsider presents essential writings of black poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde, an influential voice in 20th century literature. In this varied collection of essays, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change. Her prose is incisive, unflinching, and lyrical, offering a message of struggle but also of hope. This commemorative edition is, in Lorde's own...