Hudson, Wade

Tyrone Rashon Williams's excitement about the first day of the new school year wanes when he sees that everyone is wearing the same new sneakers he is so proud of, but it gets worse when a new student arrives who has his exact same name.

An account of the Underground Railroad, which helped slaves to escape from the Southern States to Canada before the Civil War.

Presents the lives of five African-American inventors: Jan Ernst Matzeliger, Elijah McCoy, Granville T. Woods, Madam C.J. Walker, and Garrett A. Morgan.

An introduction to African American men and women such as Frederick Douglass, Bessie Smith, Thurgood Marshall, Jesse Owens, and Zora Neale Hurston, who overcome great obstacles to make significant contributions.

Contains thirty-six poems written by eleven pioneering African-American poets, including Phillis Wheatley, James Weldon Johnson, and Gwendolyn Brooks, and includes brief biographies of each featured author.

Presents excerpts from the speeches and writings of over thirty notable African-Americans from colonial times to the twenty-first century, and includes commentary about the time period in which each person lived, information about the speaker/writer, and notes on the public response to the words.

Jamal has a job just like his parents, only instead of going to an office building to work, Jamal goes to school. The book follows Jamal through a typical day at "work," complete with meetings, reports, and the ride home.

Contains texts of twenty-three spirituals, traditional songs, street cries, chants, hand-clapping songs, and contemporary songs for children, with an appendix discussing the origins of each song and showing the melodic line.