Women of Hope: African-Americans Who Made a Difference

Inspired by a series of black-and-white posters produced by Bread and Roses (the cultural project of 1199 National Health and Human Services Employees Union, AFL-CIO), these brief biographies feature the inspiring lives of 13 African American women. On the left of each spread is a dramatic sepia-toned photograph framed with a white border, along with a quote and the birthplace and birth date of its subject. On the facing page, a concise summary sketches the highlights of each woman's life in celebratory, but never fawning, prose; direct quotes allow each woman to speak directly to readers about her own beliefs and the legacy she hopes to pass on. The volume proceeds chronologically, with social and political activists (Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Ella Josephine Baker up through Marian Wright Edelman) as well as artistic and professional groundbreakers (Ruby Dee, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker; Alexa Canady, the first African-American woman neurosurgeon, and Mae C. Jemison, the first African-American woman astronaut). With this structure, Hansen (The Captive) creates a sense of the expanding horizon of opportunities that African-American women have gained as the century has progressed. The arresting portraits, set within a sophisticated design, are reproduced with the care of an art book, and they reveal a great deal about each woman's strength of character. This handsome volume will likely engender in readers an appreciation for life's countless possibilities, and send them scrambling to find out more about these extraordinary women. Ages 8-up. (Nov.)