Great African Americans in the Arts

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

Of interest to adults as well as young people, this timely series is
dedicated to the African men and women who have achieved excellence in
fields ranging from sports to politics. Each book features short
profiles of 13 men and women. Their stories are organized under the
headings “Growing Up,” “Developing Skills,” and “Overcoming
Obstacles,” and enlivened by a generous selection of fine
black-and-white photographs.

Sojourner Truth, the 19th-century anti-slavery activist is featured in
History. Included in Government is a profile of Colin Powell, whose
distinguished career in the U.S. military led to his position as Chair
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In Film, there are profiles of Denzel
Washington, Richard Pryor, and Dorothy Dandridge, among others.
(Dandridge, who starred in Porgy and Bess and Carmen Jones in the 1950s,
became the first African-American woman to appear on the cover of Life
magazine.) Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Charlie
Parker, and Dizzie Gillespie are among the featured jazz notables.

This lucid and well-written series belongs in libraries everywhere.
Highly recommended.