Black Heroes

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress," wrote Frederick Douglass.

"This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand."

To recognize and celebrate African American achievement over the past 100 years, Black Heroes profiles 150 individuals who have made a lasting and profound impact on our culture. Now available for the first time in paperback, Black Heroes is a who's who of cultural importance to all Americans. Wherever they've made their mark--politics, art, sports, entertainment, literature, civil rights, business, medicine, education, or law--the heroes represented in this book are men and women who have struggled against the odds and advanced to miraculous heights, in the process inspiring countless others. Distinguished scholar Jessie Carney Smith, author of the best-selling Black Firsts, has created yet another classic guide to extraordinary individuals and their accomplishments that is sure to please readers of any age.

Brimming with information and more than 200 photographs, Black Heroes details the stories of men and women who have struggled against the odds and advanced to miraculous heights, in the process inspiring countless others. Contributors include poet and educator Nikki Giovanni, who also contributed the foreword; author and music educator D. Antoinette Handy; historian and author Bettye Collier Thomas; Debra Newman Ham, historian, author, and educator; historian, author, and educator Darlene Clark Hine; Marcus Garvey scholar, author, and historian Tony Martin; and Nellie Y. McKay, scholar, educator and writer who, with Henry Louis Gates, edited The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. To help you locate information quickly, Black Heroes includes a general index and an index by occupation.

A partial list of profiles:

Hank Aaron Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Alvin Ailey Muhammad Ali Marian Anderson Maya Angelou Arthur Ashe Josephine Baker Ernie Banks Count Basie Romare Bearden Harry Belafonte Mary McLeod Bethune Julian Bond Edward C. Brooke Gwendolyn Brooks James Brown Ron Brown Ralph Bunche Stokely Carmichael Shirley Chisholm Eldridge Cleaver Johnnie Cochran Nat "King" Cole Bill Cosby Dorothy Dandridge Angela Davis Sammy Davis Jr. The Delany Sister David N. Dinkins Aaron Douglas W.E.B. Du Bois

Marian Wright Edelman Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds Joycelyn Elders Duke Ellington Medgar W. Evans Louis Farrakhan Ella Fitzgerald Aretha Franklin Marcus Garvey Henry Louis Gates Jr. Nikki Giovanni Whoopie Goldberg Berry Gordy Bryant C. Gumbel Alex Haley W.C. Handy Patricia Harris Jimi Hendrix Lena Horne Langston Hughes Jesse L. Jackson Mae C. Jemison Earvin "Magic" Johnson John H. Johnson Robert L. Johnson Quincy D. Jones Barbara Jordan B.B. King Spike Lee Thurgood Marshall

James Meredith Kswisi Mfume Toni Morrison Elijah Muhammad Huey P. Newton Jesse Owens Charlie Parker Gordon Parks Rosa Parks Alvin F. Poussaint Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Colin L. Powell Leontyne Price Paul Robeson Jackie Robinson Carl T. Rowan Arthur A. Schomburg Betty Shabazz Melvin Van PeeblesMadame C.J. Walker Denzel Washington Maxine Waters L. Douglas Wilder August Wilson Oprah WInfrey Tiger Woods Richard Wright Malcolm X Andrew Young Coleman Young

For an interview with Jessie Carney Smith on Black History Month: A Time to Rejoice, click here.