Böcker av Gabrielle David

The fourth volume in the Trailblazers series highlights Black women's contributions in film and television, the sciences, and journalism. Black women have been breaking down barriers and shattering stereotypes for generations, playing a powerful role in American history. In the Trailblazers series, Gabrielle David examines the lives and careers of over four hundred brilliant women from the eighteenth century to the present. Each volume provides biographical information, photographs, and a historical timeline written from the viewpoint of Black women, offering accessible reference resources. This fourth volume of Trailblazers explores the complicated relationship that Hollywood has had with Black women actors; significant Black women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); and pioneering Black women journalists. David includes actors such as Hattie McDaniel, Fredi Washington, and Nina Mae McKinney who blazed the trail for women like Pam Grier, Halle Berry, and Viola Davis. "Hidden figures" in STEM are brought to light, such as biologist Jewel Plummer Cobb, mathematician Dorothy Vaughan, roboticist Ayanna Howard, and computer scientist Timnit Gebru. In addition, profiles of publishing pioneers like Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, and Nancy Hicks Maynard show how they paved the way for Carole Simpson, Yamiche Alcindor, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and Jemele Hill.

The third volume in the Trailblazers series, highlights Black women's contributions in literature, media production, business, and the military. Black women have been breaking down barriers and shattering stereotypes for generations, playing a powerful role in American history. In the Trailblazers series, Gabrielle David examines the lives and careers of over four hundred brilliant women from the eighteenth century to the present. Each volume provides biographical information, photographs, and a historical timeline written from the viewpoint of Black women, offering accessible reference resources. Volume 3 features women from the fields of literature, business, military, and film, music, and television production. It covers literary greats including Gwendolyn Brooks, Toni Morrison, Phillis Wheatley, and Natasha Trethewey. We learn that Black ingenuity and entrepreneurship began during slavery with women who paved the way for those like Oprah Winfrey. David explores the Black women who pursued their right to serve in the United States Armed Forces, even when they were not considered American citizens and follows notable contributions by Black women in media production.

"The past four hundred years have seen unprecedented growth in virtually every conceivable realm of life, from medicine to the arts, technology to finance. Far too often, however, when we think of the movers, shakers, and innovators behind these transformations, we picture a host of men - and white men, at that. With Trailblazers, Gabrielle David remedies that. The first anthology of black female innovators published in more than fifteen years, Trailblazers introduces us to more than one hundred and fifty American black women who have been instrumental in creating our contemporary life. We learn about activists and politicians like Fannie Lou Hamer, who in 1964 changed the Democratic National Convention forever by protesting efforts to disenfranchise black voters in her native Mississippi, and Lelia Foley, a black woman who overcame racism and poverty to become the first female African American mayor in the United States in 1973. David also introduces us to entertainers, athletes, and businesswomen - though not always in predictable ways. Beyoncâe Knowles-Carter makes an appearance, for example, not for her musical career, but as a businesswoman, reminding us of her multifaceted triumphs. David brings this volume together with a clarion call for recognition of the transformative work black women have done and continue to do. She reminds us of the debt we owe to these unsung heroes--and the place black women deserve at the table."--