Cranston Public Library

A biography of the nineteenth-century woman who escaped slavery and helped many other slaves get to freedom on the Underground Railroad. --

Before John Glenn orbited the earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in...

The New York Times bestselling biographer provides "the dish on Motown's most famous songstress" in this newly updated edition (The Dallas Morning News).

Drawn from hundreds of interviews conducted over four decades, Diana Ross paints an unforgettable picture of an extraordinary and often controversial legend—a pop music goddess, acclaimed actress, loving mother, Civil Rights trailblazer, and consummate...

"Ona Judge's forgotten story is a powerful reminder that the tentacles of slavery could reach from the South all the way north to the state of New Hampshire. The surprising part of this true history is not that she achieved her freedom, but the lengths to which George and Martha Washington would go to try to recapture a young woman who insulted them by rejecting bondage." --

This YA biography of the former First Lady considers her journey from Chicago to the White House in the larger context of African American history.
 
Michelle Obama grew up on Chicago's South Side, and while the world outside her door was chaotic and ever-changing, her family provided a stable environment in which she could grow and flourish. This biography of the former First Lady shows how a girl from a working class...

This fourth autobiographical work by Maya Angelou tells of her entry into New York's circle of black artists and writers, her involvement in the civil rights movement, and changes in her personal life.

Harriet Tubman is one of the giants of American history-a fearless visionary who led scores of her fellow slaves to freedom and battled courageously behind enemy lines during the Civil War. And yet in the century since her death, next to nothing has been written about this extraordinary woman aside from juvenile biographies. The truth about Harriet Tubman has become lost inside a legend woven of racial and gender stereotypes. Now at last, historian...

"Sharing her journey toward understanding our society and herself by tracking her relationships with friendship, sex, motherhood, agoraphobia, health, pop culture and self-image, a National Book Award nominee explores the minefields fat black women are forced to navigate in the course of everyday life."--

A former national security advisor and Secretary of State offers the compelling story of her eight years serving at the highest levels of government, including the difficult job she faced in the wake of 9/11.