black history websites for elementary students

Her grateful community lovingly called her Grandma Mason-the woman who lived by the gospel of the 'open hand.' 64 pages, softcover. Known for her charity and generosity, Biddy cared for the afflicted during the smallpox epidemic, founded the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, started schools for black children, and visited jail inmates. After gaining her freedom in California, Biddy put all her knowledge, skill, and resourcefulness to good use, delivering babies, healing the sick, and feeding the hungry. Though small in stature, Biddy had an indomitable spirit, braving bitter cold, thunderstorms, hailstorms, blistering heat, and blistered feet. Walking 1700 miles across the Great Plains, Biddy herded cattle, set up camp, fed a large family, and cared for her master's sickly wife-all with a nursing baby on her hip. She was forced to by her master, to whom she had been given as a 'wedding gift' at just eighteen years of age. The first black woman in Los Angeles to own property and later becoming one of California's wealthiest African American women, Biddy Mason never dreamed of becoming a pioneer.

Lively, accessible, and illustrated throughout, The African American Century is a celebration of black achievement and a tribute to the black struggle for freedom in America that will inspire readers for years to come. Gates and West also recognize the achievements of controversial figures such as Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and rap artist Tupac Shakur. This colorful collection of personalities includes much-loved figures such as scientist George Washington Carver, contemporary favorites such as comedian Richard Pryor and novelist Alice Walker, and even less-well-known people such as aviator Bessie Coleman.

Here, two of the leading African American scholars of our day, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Cornel West, show us why the twentieth century was the African American century, as they offer their personal picks of the African American figures who did the most to shape our world. King or Thurgood Marshall, we would be deprived of political breakthroughs that affirm and strengthen our democracy.

Without Toni Morrison or Ralph Ellison, we would miss some of our greatest novels. Without Louis Armstrong or Miles Davis, we would not have jazz. One hundred original profiles of the most influential African Americans of the twentieth century.

Black history websites for elementary students