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Aretha Franklin was blessed with one of the greatest voices in all of popular music. She sang from the age of eight, and performed professionally from the age of fourteen. Her talent, which many described simply as God-given, seemed sufficient to ensure her a life of comfort and ease. In spite of earning large sums of money and having millions of adoring fans, Franklin experienced powerful insecurity. Nonetheless, the 'Queen of Soul' persevered and...
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For a few shining years Countee Cullen seemed destined to define the African American urban experience. A gifted poet, Cullen wrote some of the outstanding works of the 1920s, and when he married Yolande Du Bois, in what was proclaimed the social event of the decade, his success and fame seemed assured. It was not to be. The marriage failed, and with it Cullen lost his best patrons and his poetic productivity declined sharply. After remarrying, Cullen...
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A bandleader and trumpet player, Miles Davis was one of the twentieth century's greatest musicians. Performing with jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker early in his career, Davis expanded the idea of what jazz could be. His greatest albums redefined the genre, and members of his band, such as Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea, went on to become famous in their own right. Readers will learn that Davis also faced challenges, including rocky...
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Edmonia Lewis was a free woman of color who gained recognition as a sculptor during the Civil War. Of black and Native American heritage, she stood out in the largely white and male-dominated art world. At first, she struggled to find sculptors willing to mentor her, but Lewis was determined to succeed and opened an art studio in 1864. Her early works included busts of Native Americans and abolitionists, a community that helped her career thrive....
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War had a profound effect on Horace Pippin. Stationed in Europe during World War I, Pippin saw active combat as part of the Harlem Hellfighters regiment, a group of mostly African American soldiers. While he was serving bravely for a country that didn't yet fully recognize his civil rights, his right arm was injured by sniper fire, but he harbored far deeper wounds inflicted by the horrors of battle. He picked up a paintbrush as a way to treat his...
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Born in 1821 to a Scottish Canadian father and an African American mother, Robert S. Duncanson is widely considered to be the first black artist to become world-famous. He began as a house painter and, from there, moved on to portraits and landscapes. A self-taught artist influenced by the Hudson River School of painters, Duncanson traveled throughout North America and Europe to hone his craft. By the 1860s, the press had dubbed him the "best landscape...
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Born in Georgia at the end of the nineteenth century, Alma Woodsey Thomas defied society's expectations for black women. She did not marry, have children, or work as a domestic. Instead, Thomas was a teacher and an artist. Fascinated by nature and the universe, she could paint vivid scenes of everything from the trees in her yard to NASA's first moon landing. Readers will learn that she wouldn't win public acclaim for her art until later in life....
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Maya Angelou was a writer, dancer, activist, and actress, and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her body of work evokes emotions that range the full spectrum, from joy to heartbreak and from rage to hope. A phenomenal woman, she enriched the world of literature and society as a whole. This essential biography explores her life and creative output and delves into why her powerful words continue to touch...
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Introduce your readers to a stellar talent. There is no question that Langston Hughes was one of the brightest lights of the Harlem Renaissance. A true pioneer, Hughes was one of the first poets to draw on the syncopated rhythms of jazz and black urban dialect for his work, and it proved transformative for American poetry. With a looser lyrical style reminiscent of Walt Whitman, Hughes used his art to portraying the experiences, concerns, and consolations...
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Henry Ossawa Tanner was one of the true greats. Though slight and spare of body, he never spared himself in a life of devotion to high art. This volume takes the reader through Tanner's life and career, showing his many struggles and sacrifices. Wherever possible, Tanner's own words are employed to describe people and places, ranging from the famous to the obscure. What emerges is a story of gritty determination, a resolve that never quit. Even today,...
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Augusta Savage endured more, far more, than her fair share of sorrow and difficulty. She lost three husbands, one child, and many friends. So it isn't surprising that she sometimes fell into bitterness and despair, but she usually found a remedy for the pain: using her strong fingers to shape works of art. This volume treats Savage as a complex and difficult person who nonetheless wins our admiration. In addition to a comprehensive narrative, readers...
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His was the greatest of talents, concealed beneath a carefree exterior. Duke Ellington possessed musical genius, which he claimed to exert for the glory of God and on behalf of his fellow African Americans. Readers will get to know the many sides of the legendary composer. The sunshiny smile displayed at concert time could sometimes be replaced by a frightful temper behind the scenes. Genius often comes at a price, but Duke Ellington's work is paramount....
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"The connection between American whites and blacks is far deeper and more passionate than any of us like to think." These words from the introduction of his collection of essays in "Nobody Knows My Name" shows the truth-telling strength of a brave man. James Baldwin was an outspoken advocate for social justice and equality for black people in America. He lent a creative and powerful voice to the civil rights struggle of the 1960s and brilliantly critiqued...
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Like many artists before her, Zora Neale Hurston received virtually no recognition for her work until after her death. Hurston began her career as an anthropologist, observing and documenting the tension of race relations in the American South. She strove to expose the horrific practice of 'paramour rights,' wherein white men sexually exploited black women in their employment. But this work and her later fiction, including the now famous Their Eyes...
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