The Editors of TIME for Kids - Heroes of Black History: Biographies of Four Great Americans

Acknowledgments

Editor, TIME F OR K IDS : Nellie Gonzalez Cutler

Senior Editor, TIME F OR K IDS : Elizabeth Winchester

Executive Editor: Beth Sutinis

Editor: Deirdre Langeland

Art Director: Georgia Morrissey

Designer: Dirk Kaufman

Photo Researcher: Katherine Bourbeau

Production Manager: Hillary Leary

Prepress Manager: Alex Voznesenskiy

The Harriet Tubman biography was previously published as TIME F OR K IDS : Harriet Tubman: A Woman of Courage by the Editors of TIME F OR K IDS with Rene Skelton, HarperCollins, 2005.

The Jackie Robinson biography was previously published as TIME F OR K IDS : Jackie Robinson: Strong Inside and Out by the Editors of TIME F OR K IDS with Denise Lewis Patrick, HarperCollins, 2005.

The Rosa Parks biography was previously published as TIME F OR K IDS : Rosa Parks: Civil Rights Pioneer by the Editors of TIME F OR K IDS with Karen Kellaher, HarperCollins, 2007.

Portions of the Barack Obama biography were previously published as follows:

Amanda Ripley, A Mothers Story, TIME magazine, April 21, 2008.

Amanda Ripley, Obamas Ascent, TIME magazine, November 15, 2004.

Perry Bacon, Jr., The Exquisite Dilemma of Being Obama, TIME magazine, February 20, 2006.

Amanda Ripley, The Family Obama, TIME magazine, September 1, 2008.

TIME F OR K IDS : President Obama: A Day in the Life of Americas Leader by the Editors of TIME F OR K IDS , TIME F OR K IDS , 2009.

Barack Obama: Person of the Year, TIME F OR K IDS online, timeforkids.com , December 6, 2016.

Heroes

Harriet Tubman, Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, and Barack Obama are all inspiring figures in the fight for civil rights. Black history is filled with many great heroes. You can learn more of their stories by diving into the biographies of these pioneers.

Maya Angelou
(19282014)

Maya Angelou was a poet, a nonfiction writer, a civil rights activist, and an inspiration to many. She is most known for her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings . The book describes some of Angelous experiences growing up in a segregated part of the South. She wrote several other books about her life and also published collections of her poetry.

Louis Armstrong
(19011971)

Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 4, 1901. As a child, he learned to play the cornet. He loved it! He decided to make music his life. Armstrong went on to record thousands of songs. He was best known for playing the trumpet and singing. He also acted in more than 20 movies. Today, Armstrongs home, in New York City, is a museum.

Ruby Bridges
(1954)

On November 14, 1960, Ruby Bridges, then 6, became the first black student to attend an all-white elementary school in the South. U.S. Marshals had to protect Ruby from angry protesters. Years later, she wrote, I learned many things... that year, but the primary lesson was the same one that Martin Luther King tried to teach all of us: never judge people by the color of their skin.

George Washington Carver
(1860s1943)

George Washington Carver was an inventor, a botanist, and a teacher. He is best known for creating more than 325 products from peanuts. Born into slavery in Missouri, he grew up to attend what is now known as Iowa State University. He later taught at the Tuskegee Institute, in Alabama.

Shirley Chisholm
(19242005)

Shirley Chisholm was an influential voice in Congress for 14 years. In 1968, she was elected to Congress from New York City. In 1972, she became the first African American to seek the Democratic presidential nomination. Chisholm described her approach to life by saying, You dont make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.

Frederick Douglass
(18181895)

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland, and raised by his grandmother, who was a slave. Douglass learned to read, even though it was forbidden to teach slaves to read and write. When he was 20 years old, he escaped from slavery. He went on to publish the antislavery newspaper the North Star , and helped hundreds of people find their way to freedom.

W.E.B. Du Bois
(18681963)

Author and activist W.E.B. Du Bois was an outspoken advocate of equal rights for women and African Americans. In 1895, he became the first African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University. He cofounded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909, and went on to support African nations in their struggle for independence from European rule.

Althea Gibson
(19272003)

Althea Gibson was born in Silver, South Carolina. She was a professional tennis player and golfer. She faced much discrimination, as rules often prevented blacks and whites from playing on the same tennis courts. She was the first African-American player to play and win at top tennis tournaments, including Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals (now called the U.S. Open).

Dorothy Height
(19122010)

Born on March 24, 1912, in Richmond, Virginia, Dorothy Height was an activist who fought for equal rights for African Americans and for women. For more than 40 years, she served as president of the National Council of Negro Women, a group that works to improve opportunities and life for African-American women and their families.

Matthew Henson
(18661955)

Born in Maryland, Matthew Henson grew up to be an adventurous spirit and the first black Arctic explorer. He made several expeditions to the Arctic with Commander Robert Peary, reaching the North Pole in 1909. In 1912, he wrote a book about his adventures, A Negro Explorer at the North Pole .

Langston Hughes
(19021967)

Langston Hughes was a poet whose writing expressed the experience of working-class African Americans. He used the rhythm of jazz and of everyday speech in his poetry. Sometimes called the Poet Laureate of Harlem, Hughes was a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance.