I originally posted this list on my teen site earlier this week. AA Book Reading List Suggestions List compiled by Shelia M. Goss Below is a list of books either by or about African-American pioneers. The books can be found at your local library or from an online retailer. The early black history movement, Carter G. Woodson, and Lorenzo Johnston Greene. Dagbovie, Pero Gaglo Carter G. Woodson : the father of Black history...

I’m highlighting Mary Eliza Mahoney today for two reasons. #1 She was the first African-American registered nurse and #2 Our past might be entwined as her name comes up when I trace my family history on my Dad’s side. Her exact date of birth is questionable. Some sources say she was born in April and others May of 1845. According to various sources, including ASU, Mary Eliza Mahoney was the first African-American registered...

Social activist Dorothy Height was born in Richmond, Virginia, on March 24, 1912. At an early age, she moved with her family to Rankin, Pennsylvania. While in high school, Height was awarded a scholarship to New York University for her oratory skills, where she studied and earned her master’s degree. Height began her career working as a caseworker with the New York City Welfare Department, but at the age of twenty-five, she began her...

Two of my favorite authors, Donna Grant and Virginia DeBerry, are guest blogging over on the White Readers Meet Black Authors blog. A question we are asked all the time, maybe second only to, “How do you write TOGETHER?” is “Where do you get your ideas?” We suspect ours come from the same place most writers mine for story—EVERYWHERE. Inspiration can begin with a conversation overheard in line at the supermarket, observing a...

In the 1948 summer Olympics, Alice Coachman became the first African American woman to win a gold medal. According to the New Georgia Encylopedia, Few athletes have dominated a sport as thoroughly as Alice Coachman dominated the high jump. Named to five All-American teams, she won a gold medal in the 1948 Olympics, becoming the first African American woman to do so. She has been inducted into eight halls of fame. Born in 1923 in Albany,...