Robin K. Berson - Böcker

These 35 little known heroes and heroines of American history from across the ethnic spectrum have been virtually ignored in traditional history books. Their inspiring, biographical profiles reveal the struggle, in the face of entrenched opposition, for a just, equitable, and humane society. They spoke for racial and social justice, women's rights, safe working conditions, and freedom of conscience and religion. More than half of the profiles are of women, one fourth are of African-Americans, and Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latino and Chicano Americans are also represented. Each profile integrates the individual life with a detailed explanation of the historical context, and each entry provides excerpts from primary sources--speeches, writings, and interviews--and is followed by broad bibliographical references.An alternative perspective on American history for students is offered in this work. The 35 men and women profiled here all defied the social and moral conventions of their times, frequently facing opposition and condemnation. Their voices were often stilled, muted, or lost, but their ethically grounded courage, their clarity of vision, and their willingness to stand up to injustice provide role models for Americans of all ages. One third of these people cannot be found in standard biographical references and others have never before been the focus of biographical sketches. Subject lists by chronology, gender, ethnicity, and focus of the biographee's concern will enable the student to select an appropriate subject for investigation and reports.

This book of biographical profiles and stories chronicles the astonishing courage and imagination of young people. The lives of the seventeen young men and women profiled here, who range in age from twelve to twenty-three at the time of their heroic deeds, spread across oceans and continents, cultures, races, and ethnic groups throughout 250 years. Each of their lives offers testimony to the human capacity to endure, overcome incredible obstacles, and choose honor, integrity, compassion, and service. The stories of many are told here for the first time.Among the lives depicted here are those of Melba Pattillo Beals, one of the first African American students to attempt to integrate a formerly all-white high school in Little Rock in 1957; Vladimir Bukovsky, a teenager whose activities on behalf of the human rights movement in the Soviet Union landed him in prison; Marianne Cohn, who paid the ultimate price for her courage as a resistance fighter in World War II France; Charles Eastman, raised as a Sioux, who was thrust at age fourteen into an alien white world and who later returned to his people as a physician and saved many lives at Wounded Knee; Olaudah Equino, a West African sold into slavery in the eighteenth century whose autobiography offers an unflinching portrayal of the horrors of the Atlantic slave trade; and Chai Ling, a slip of a girl who assumed leadership of the student rebellion in China's Tiananmen Square. The heroes profiled in this book represent ten nations—Africa, China, Cuba, Denmark, France, Germany, Pakistan, Soviet Union, Thailand, and the United States. Each profile concludes with a bibliography for further reading. These engagingly written stories of young people's courage will inspire and instruct.