Best Selling Books by Tonya Bolden

This young adult adaptation of the New York Times bestselling White Rage is essential antiracist reading for teens. An NAACP Image Award finalist A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year A NYPL Best Book for Teens History texts often teach that the United States has made a straight line of progress toward Black equality. The reality is more complex: milestones like the end of slavery, school integration, and equal voting rights have all been met with racist legal and political maneuverings meant to limit that progress. We Are Not Yet Equal examines five of these moments: The end of the Civil War and Reconstruction was greeted with Jim Crow laws; the promise of new opportunities in the North during the Great Migration was limited when blacks were physically blocked from moving away from the South; the Supreme Court''s landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision was met with the shutting down of public schools throughout the South; the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 led to laws that disenfranchised millions of African American voters and a War on Drugs that disproportionally targeted blacks; and the election of President Obama led to an outburst of violence including the death of Black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri as well as the election of Donald Trump. Including photographs and archival imagery and extra context, backmatter, and resources specifically for teens, this book provides essential history to help work for an equal future.

Strong Voices: Fifteen American Speeches Worth Knowing is a collection of significant speeches, made both by those who held the reins of power and those who didn’t, at significant times in American history. Read the original words—sometimes abridged and sometimes in their entirety—that have shaped our cultural fabric. A Chicago Public Library Best Book! "A wide-ranging collection of speeches and a worthwhile resource for students of American history." —Booklist "A golden celebration of the multicultural voices who demand the U.S.—and the world—do better." —Kirkus "An important addition to American history collections." —School Library Journal Introductions by acclaimed writer Tonya Bolden provide historical context and critical insights to the meaning and impact of every speech. Illustrations by award-winning artist Eric Velasquez illuminate what it was really like at each moment in history. This collection includes the following: Patrick Henry, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” George Washington, Farewell Address Red Jacket, “We Never Quarrel about Religion” Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Sojourner Truth, “I Am a Woman’s Rights” Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address Theodore Roosevelt, “Citizenship in a Republic” Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself” Lou Gehrig, “Farewell to Baseball” Langston Hughes, “On the Blacklist All Our Lives” John Fitzgerald Kennedy, “We Choose to Go to the Moon” Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream” Fannie Lou Hamer, “I Question America” Cesar Chavez, Address to the Commonwealth Club of California, 1984 Hillary Rodham Clinton, “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights” Strong Voices includes a foreword by #1 New York Times bestselling author and celebrated journalist Cokie Roberts, as well as a timeline in the back of the book, along with letters to the reader from Tonya Bolden and Eric Velasquez. Strong Voices is a tremendous introduction to the extraordinary words spoken in history.

"This fun and accessible graphic novel for middle grade readers brings to light the lives of great but lesser- known Black scientists. Great Minds of Science is a kid- friendly introduction to some of the greatest scientists in history--doctors, engineers, mathematicians, and biologists. Each of them faced challenges as they rose to the top of their professions, but they didn''t back down. They kept experimenting and questioning and learning, and they made significant contributions in each of their scientific fields"--

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. presents a journey through America''s past and our nation''s attempts at renewal in this look at the Civil War''s conclusion, Reconstruction, and the rise of Jim Crow segregation. This is a story about America during and after Reconstruction, one of history''s most pivotal and misunderstood chapters. In a stirring account of emancipation, the struggle for citizenship and national reunion, and the advent of racial segregation, the renowned Harvard scholar delivers a book that is illuminating and timely. Real-life accounts drive the narrative, spanning the half century between the Civil War and Birth of a Nation. Here, you will come face-to-face with the people and events of Reconstruction''s noble democratic experiment, its tragic undermining, and the drawing of a new "color line" in the long Jim Crow era that followed. In introducing young readers to them, and to the resiliency of the African American people at times of progress and betrayal, Professor Gates shares a history that remains vitally relevant today.

Here, ideal for African-American History Month, is a stunningly beautiful book consisting of portraits-in pictures and words-of twenty outstanding African-Americans. The individuals range from historical to contemporary figures, such as the dancer Judith Jamison, and represent diverse fields of endeavor, from the law (Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall) to athletics, science, and more. For each individual, there is a three-page biography by the noted author Tonya Bolden and a striking black-and-white portrait that captures not only the subject''s likeness but is a work of art in itself. A book to inspire, to teach, or to display, with its large trim size and striking design, it is as handsome as it is important.

A timely and essential history of Black voter suppression, adapted from the National Book Award longlisted adult book This young adult adaptation brings to light the shocking truth about how not every voter is treated equally. After the election of Barack Obama, a rollback of voting rights occurred, punctuated by a 2013 Supreme Court decision that undid the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Known as the Shelby ruling, this decision allowed districts with a history of racial discrimination to change voting requirements without approval from the Department of Justice. This book follows the stunning aftermath of that ruling and explains how voter suppression works, from photo ID requirements to gerrymandering to poll closures. It also explores the resistance: the organizing, activism, and court battles to restore the basic right to vote to all Americans. Complete with a discussion guide, photographs, and information about getting involved with elections in teens'' own community, this is an essential explanation of the history of voting rights—and a call to action for a better future. As the nation gears up for the 2020 presidential election season, now is the time for teens to understand the past and work for change.

Rolling Stone compared it to melted caramel, and Miles Davis compared it to his horn. Chaka Khan''s scorchingly soulful voice first dazzled most of us back in 1974 with Rufus and "Tell Me Something Good," and most recently in her Grammy Award-winning performance in Standing in the Shadows of Motown, singing "What''s Going On?" with the Funk Brothers. Over the years, she''s had twelve number-one hits and nine number-one albums. Over one hundred appearances on the Billboard charts. Nineteen Grammy nominations and eight Grammy wins. Her achievements in the music industry are legendary, and like her twenty albums, they''re well-known to the public. But the private side of Chaka, the story of what fame and fortune have cost her-- and taught her-- hasn''t been told before. In Chaka! Through the Fire, Chaka Khan gives us the whole story of the woman behind the diva and reveals her high and low points. A happy early childhood in a loving, creative home was shattered by escalating fights between her parents. When they finally split, Chaka''s father disappeared without even a goodbye, leaving Chaka bewildered, bereft, and blaming her mother. She reconnected with her dad in her teens, finding that he was as liberal and permissive a parent as her mother was strict. Chaka started experimenting with drugs and joined the Black Panthers. Soon after, she fronted for a band called Rufus. They hit it big with "Tell Me Something Good," and Chaka''s stardom was launched. But life on the road was grueling, and as the years went by, the pressures grew. Chaka turned to alcohol and drugs to numb the pain of failed relationships, the guilt of leaving her kids to be raised by Grandma, the resentment she felt about the exhausting demands of her career. It wasn''t until things got very bad that she started to see the patterns. All the things she had suffered through in her childhood and swore never to do to her kids-- well, she was doing them. That''s when she began the work of turning it all around. These days, she''s still a musical powerhouse, but she''s making sure there''s time for family, too. She''s drug-free. She''s started her own record label and has also started a foundation to help women and children in need. Remarkably, Chaka has remained a true wild child despite all the changes: a fiercely independent woman who never compromised her spirit.

"Published in association with The Field Museum, Chicago."

In a warm, personal voice, Tonya Bolden explores what it has meant to be young and black in America. From the first recorded birth of a black child in Jamestown, through the Revolution, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the fight for civil rights, right on up to our own time, Bolden brings to light how black children have worked and played, suffered and rejoiced. 127 illustrations.

"Under a radiant moon and surrounded by all the noises of the city at night, a little boy prays for those in need, for wars to end, for the sick to be healed, and for all the members of his family"--

Coretta Scott King Honor–winning author Tonya Bolden chronicles the life of an intrepid lawyer and civil rights pioneer. Dovey Johnson Roundtree was most famous for her successful defense of an indigent Black man accused of the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer, a prominent white Washington, DC, socialite, in 1965. Despite her triumph in this high-profile case, Roundtree continued to represent the poor and the underserved. She was the first lawyer to bring a bus desegregation case before the Interstate Commerce Commission, clinching the ruling that enabled Robert F. Kennedy to enforce bus integration. She was also among the first Black women to enter the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, and was one of the first ordained female ministers in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Tracing Roundtree’s life from her childhood in Jim Crow North Carolina through her adulthood, Tonya Bolden illuminates a little-known figure in American history who believed the law should serve the people, and places her firmly in the context of twentieth-century civil rights and African American culture.

Ten-year-old Beryl is fairly content with her life in East Harlem in the 1960s, until she learns that her older sister is really her half-sister and worries that her family will begin to change.

Biographical portraits of ten African-American women, including Leontyne Price, Toni Morrison, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, depict strength of character during times of slavery and prejudice.

When WWII ended, millions of men in the military were eager to get back to jobs on the home front. Propagandists flipped the script. For many women, the new norm was the old norm: a woman¿s place was in the home -- not in a plant, or behind the wheel of a truck, and not on a bandstand laying down the jive. Many women lost the jobs they had in all-girl bands during the war. But some of them stayed on, as this book shows. Contents: Part 1: ¿The Band Was on Fire¿: Ada Leonard¿s All-American Girl Orchestra; Part 2: ¿We Played All the Way up to New York!¿: The Prairie View State College Co-Eds; Part 3: ¿What Are We Gonna Do for a Drummer?¿: The International Sweethearts of Rhythm; Outro. Includes a CD of songs to swing to! Photos.