"If there is no struggle, there is no progress," wrote Frederick Douglass. "This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand."

To recognize and celebrate African American achievement over the past 100 years, Black Heroes profiles 150 individuals who have made a lasting and profound impact on our culture. Now available for the first time in paperback, Black Heroes is a who's who of cultural importance to all Americans. Wherever they've made their mark--politics, art, sports, entertainment, literature, civil rights, business, medicine, education, or law--the heroes represented in this book are men and women who have struggled against the odds and advanced to miraculous heights, in the process inspiring countless others. Distinguished scholar Jessie Carney Smith, author of the best-selling Black Firsts, has created yet another classic guide to extraordinary individuals and their accomplishments that is sure to please readers of any age.

Brimming with information and more than 200 photographs, Black Heroes details the stories of men and women who have struggled against the odds and advanced to miraculous heights, in the process inspiring countless others. Contributors include poet and educator Nikki Giovanni, who also contributed the foreword; author and music educator D. Antoinette Handy; historian and author Bettye Collier Thomas; Debra Newman Ham, historian, author, and educator; historian, author, and educator Darlene Clark Hine; Marcus Garvey scholar, author, and historian Tony Martin; and Nellie Y. McKay, scholar, educator and writer who, with Henry Louis Gates, edited The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. To help you locate information quickly, Black Heroes includes a general index and an index by occupation.