Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

Billy Mills tells his autobiographical story of being an Oglala Lakota from South Dakota and the different challenges he faced as a young boy. Billy's father tells him to dig deeper below the anger, the hurt, and self-pity after Billy's mother dies. Eventually Billy's father dies, but his father's words remain with him for the rest of his life during set backs that he experiences. After he is placed in a boarding school in Kansas, Billy takes up sports and works hard to make the track team. When Billy wins a scholarship to the University of Kansas, he faces segregation and racism as a Native American. When he joins the U.S. Marines, the doctor tells him he has borderline diabetes and hypoglycemia, but Billy perseveres and qualifies for the 1964 Olympics in the 10,000 meter race. Encouraged by what his father had once told him about having wings of an eagle, Billy goes on to win the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Billy Mills's courage and hard work continues to break barriers and to inspire others.

James Baldwin, or "Jimmy" as his friends and family would call him, grows up in Harlem New York and graduates from a high school in the Bronx. He writes songs, poems, plays, and stories because writing flows freely out of him, just like the dreams he imagines for his future. Jimmy loves to read and goes to church, museums, movies, and plays --- and he enjoys the encouragement of many mentors. Through the power of his words and his stories, Jimmy moves to Paris, France, but he eventually returns to America to interview southerners about the changing times known as the civil rights movement. His book, The Fire Next Time, deepens American's understanding of racism, and then Jimmy moves back to France to serve as a haven for those of all backgrounds and experiences.

Twelve amazingly talented women of hope are highlighted for their creative and courageous contributions to American life. Their careers as African American women reflect and demonstrate a variety of social role models for all children - role models that these twelve women did not have for showing them the way when breaking through barriers.

Georgia Gilmore heard about Mrs. Rosa Parks who had been arrested when she wouldn't give up her seat to a black man on a city bus in 1955. But something was also cooking in Montgomery, Alabama about the same time -- a woman who cooked to feed and fund the people willing to participate in the Montgomery fun boycott. Georgia knew there was no justice under segregation so she boycotted the arrest of Mrs. Parks by staying off the city buses for one day. In order to get others to stay off the buses for one day, Georgia cooked and sold her crispy chicken, sandwiches, cakes, and pies to pay off the fines that people got when participating in the boycott. After testifying in court, Dr. Martin Luther King encouraged Georgia to keep cooking. On December 20, 1956, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that segregated buses were unconstitutional.

Christine King Farris, the sister of Martin Luther King Jr., watched her brother during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. She describes her brother’s journey from writing his “I Have a Dream” speech to joining the crowds in their demand for freedom. She was moved by her brother’s persistence and success in persuading millions to believe in and fight for a better tomorrow in which all men are created equal.

Through the use of photographs, narrations, and an inspiring poem, the history of African Americans in baseball unfolds. The struggles and triumphs they have experienced in the past have helped to establish the sport that we know today.

Wendell O. Scott made history as the only black driver to win a race in a NASCAR Grand National division. Using secondhand Fords that he fixed up in his garage, he competed in five hundred races in NASCAR'S top division. This is the story of a man who worked full time while racing on the side. A man who didn't just dust the competition, he blazed the trail.

Sara stands up for justice on her city bus. Sara gets tired of sitting in the African American section of the bus. Sara does not undertsand why she does not have the same rights as the white Americans, so she takes a stand to change that law.