Portraits of African-American Heroes combines the striking sepia-toned paintings of Ansel Pitcairn with three-page text profiles by Tonya Bolden of 20 African-American men and women. While there are similar children's books that focus on the nineteenth century, this children's book is unusual in that it includes the nineteenth through the twenty-first centuries in its profiles of remarkable men and women.
Unlike many brief biographies that are long on facts and short on the details that help the reader understand why a person was able to succeed against the odds, Portraits of African-American Heroes focuses on each person’s struggles and successes in terms of their motivation and beliefs. Each profile also highlights a direct quotation that sheds light on the individual, such as this one from performer Paul Robeson, who suffered terribly for standing up for his beliefs at a time of rampart racism:
- ”No one can leave a permanent mark on the world till he learns to be true to himself.”
They include a college president, several visual and performing artists, sports figures, authors, politicians, and civil rights activists, among others. They are -
- Frederick Douglass
- Matthew Henson
- W.E.B. Du Bois
- Mary McLeod Bethune
- Bessie Coleman
- Paul Robeson
- Satchel Paige
- Thurgood Marshall
- Pauli Murray
- Joe Louis
- Gwendolyn Brooks
- Jacob Lawrence
- Dizzy Gillespie
- Shirley Chisholm
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Charlayne Hunter-Gault
- Judith Jamison
- Ruth Simmons
- Ben Carson
The author, Tonya Bolden, has written a number of nonfiction books for children, including Tell All the Children Our Story and "Wake Up Our Souls. Portraits of African-American Heroes is artist Ansel Pitcairn’s first picture book. I recommend it for mature seven years olds through high school age. (Puffin, A division of Penguin Young Reader’s Group, 2005 Paperback. ISBN: 9780142404737)
