British film director Steve McQueen, a gifted artist as a child, struggled to find support for his talent at school. He went on to direct 12 Years a Slave, a historic memoir about a free man who was sold into slavery. They also point out that “the books we read and the media we consume deeply influence our understanding of who we are and what we can be - if you can’t see it you can’t be it. They also impact how we understand each other.”

If you have read nothing else of hers, this book gives you a sample of many of her different subjects and styles. I personally would recommend reading all her plays separately in full since the excerpts are a bit strange taken out of context and fragmented as they are. Antwaun Sargent, Graham C. Boettcher, Jessica Bell Brown, Connie H. Choi, Anthony Graham, Lauren Haynes, Jamillah James, Thomas J. Lax, Hallie Ringle, Adeze Wilford, Gordon Dearborn Wilkins, and Matt Wycoff, plus an interview with Bernard Lumpkin by Thelma Golden. I suppose that the most heroic expression that I have ever seen was that on the face of a certain tough-looking, brutalized, slum-slaughtered woman at Coney Island. She had her arm around a girl child who looked hardly any less brutalized and slum-slaughtered—’ We is going to have a good time tonight!‘ the look said.” What do you think Hansberry finds heroic about this woman? What is the most heroic expression you have ever seen? Hansberry writes of her frustrations with the theater, “I begin to think more and more of doing something else with my life while I am still young. I mean almost anything—driving an ambulance in Angola or running a ski lodge in upstate NY—instead of this endless struggle.” Do you ever feel frustrated when you are trying to accomplish a goal? Is it encouraging to know that even the most influential and talented people can struggle and feel dissatisfied with their work?

A beautifully crafted volume that can serve either as an introduction to these figures or as a supplementary text. Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, the Art Newspaper, Vogue, GQ, and the Chicago Tribune, among others! Readers will also be happy to find out more about contemporary heroic individuals, such as Ava Duvernay, Serena and Venus Williams, and Simone Biles. In 2003, the television network VH1 named it the 76th greatest album of all time. [5] In 2020, it was ranked number 388 by Rolling Stone in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. [6] Songs [ edit ] This vibrantly colored book pays homage to 52 men and women from around the world who have demonstrated what it is to be not only young, not only gifted, not only dark-skinned, but all three. They are gifted performers, athletes, designers, speakers/orators, writers, leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists and mathematicians. They explore, serve, lead, pioneer. They are men and women we know, men and women new to us.

This is a great book, that should be in every school and library. It will inspire, and delight. And show what has gone before. So far I am very disappointed with this book, it has been introduced into schools but has mostly false statements.This book is a somewhat odd jumbled compilation of excerpts from Hansberry's plays and excerpts from her speeches and letters and essays, as well as an excellent introduction by James Baldwin. The range of personalities covered by this book is terrific, as are the write-ups and illustrations. Coverage is not restricted to Americans. You will get to know George Washington Carver from Missouri as well as Mo Farah, born in Somalia and now a British citizen (even knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2017!). Lauren Haynes is the curator of contemporary art at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. It is a complete lie that Florence nightingale rejected any applications because of race or class and I’m offended by this. The book was constructed after Lorraine Hansberry’s death, and is comprised of diaries, letters, interviews, and passages from her plays, creating a somewhat unconventional narrative structure. How did it affect your reading experience? Did the construction hinder or enhance your enjoyment of the book?