1937-

Author Walter Dean Myers describes his childhood in Harlem in the 1940s and 1950s, discussing his loving stepmother, his problems in school, his reasons for leaving home, and his beginnings as a writer.

An autobiography of Claude Brown, describing his life and that of other African Americans in New York City's Harlem area.

The author chronicles his and his wife's nine desperate weeks adrift in the Pacific on a six-foot raft, twelve hundred miles from land with little food and surrounded by sharks, after their intended circumnavigation of the globe was cut short by a whale attack upon their sloop.

Chronicles Rubin Carter's twenty-year imprisonment, discussing why he was accused of three murders he did not commit, how racial issues affected the outcome of his trial, how he earned the support of celebrities, and why a group of Canadians decided to help him prove his innocence.

A biography of the comedian and educator, originally from North Philadelphia, who is known as the creator of Fat Albert, Weird Harold, and other characters based on his childhood experiences.