From the monthly archives:
Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by E. B. Lewis (Orchard, 2002)
The first African-American woman airplane pilot’s story is told in approximately two-dozen fictionalized poems a.k.a. eulogies about her life.
PBS features a bio and photo of Coleman on their Fly Girls page.
Tallchief: America’s Prima Ballerina by Maria Tallchief, with Rosemary Wells, illustrated by Gary Kelley (Viking Juvenile, 1999)
Native American ballerina Maria Tallchief tells the story of her own childhood up to her move to New York at seventeen in pursuit of a dance career.
A few images of Tallchief can be seen at The Ballerina Gallery.
Django by Bonnie Christensen (Neal Porter Book/Roaring Brook, 2009)
Djano’s story, told in a jazzy beat, plays to the heart. Born in poverty, this dreamer, found his home in music. And when tragedy struck, like a phoenix, he rose, relearned how to play and soared.
The Chicago Tribune reported on what would have been Django’s 100th birthday celebration with a bash.
Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt (Harcourt, 2000)
This take-charge warrior queen effectively resisted slave traders in West Africa (present-day Angola), appointed women and influenced politics forty years and beyond.
Biographical info on Nzingha is available.
Also visit the Official Web Site of the Republic of Angola.
Steamboat! The Story of Captain Blanche Leathers by Judith Heide Gilliland, illustrated by Holly Meade (DK, 2000)
Blanche Leathers didn’t listen when as a child she was told, “Girls don’t grow up to be steamboatmen.” America’s first woman steamboat captain proudly sailed the Mississippi River for years.
View a photo of a steamboat Captain Blanche Leathers commanded, on this link to the Tennessee Genealogy & History site.
