Women of Hope: African-Americans Who Made a Difference

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Women of Hope: African-Americans Who Made a Difference was written by Joyce Hansen. This book has 32 pages and published in November 1st 1998 by Scholastic. Joyce Hansen has been writing books and stories for children and young adults for over twenty years. Joyce was born and raised in New York City, the setting of her early contemporary novels. She grew up with two younger brothers and her parents in an extended family that included aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents, all living nearby in the Morrisania section of the Bronx. [1]

Summary

The book features one-page profiles of 13 African American women written by Hansen, alongside black-and-white photographic portraits of each woman. The portraits were part of a poster series created by Bread and Roses, a cultural project of 1199 National Health and Human Services Employees Union. Bread and Roses executive director Moe Foner wrote the foreword to the book. [2]

Pros

Jazmin Carr, who rated this book four stars, described her thought about this book. She said that this book could serve as a great point of reference for students to learn more about African American women's history. It summarizes the lives of 12 black women of America and their stories. The book honors each women with a one page summary along with an authentic image of each, as well as a quote. This book is great for students in grades 3rd-5th, and provides a great combination of knowledge, empowerment, and admiration for its audience members. There is a mixed of women of which some are often talked about from our history and others not so frequently commentated upon. Other person said that it is good for children to see specific examples of people's lives and what they have overcome and accomplished. Some students may not be very familiar with many women in this book. This book would be great to use when teaching about change agents, women's rights, or civil rights. [1]

A detailed reviewed was made by Lisa Horak, she stated that The portraits were part of a poster series created by the Bread and Roses Cultural Project, to “honor courageous, creative women of color whose persistence and vision gave society hopefulness and inspiration. The pictures of these indomitable women lend a presence of strength and hope.photograph is accompanied by a one-page biography, just enough to whet the reader’s appetite. Hansen provides thumbnail sketches of women worthy of entire books about their achievements, and leaves us wanting more. [3]

Publishers Weekly also gave their reviewed to this book, on their site they revealed that this book was nspired by a series of black-and-white posters produced by Bread and Roses (the cultural project of 1199 National Health and Human Services Employees Union, AFL-CIO), these brief biographies feature the inspiring lives of 13 African American women. The story made chronologically, with social and political activists (Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Ella Josephine Baker up through Marian Wright Edelman) as well as artistic and professional groundbreakers (Ruby Dee, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker; Alexa Canady, the first African-American woman neurosurgeon, and Mae C. Jemison, the first African-American woman astronaut). With this structure, Hansen (The Captive) creates a sense of the expanding horizon of opportunities that African-American women have gained as the century has progressed. [4]

Joyce Hansen begins with Ida B. Well-Barnett, who was born in 1862 when slavery was still dividing the country. When she was still very young Ida’s parents died and Ida took on the formidable task of providing for her five siblings. She became a teacher and she also decided that she had to fight against segregation; she had to do something when she saw that injustice was being done. Ida went on to become a formidable writer and she gave many speeches in which she attacked those who stood by when helpless black people were lynched by white mobs. Even when her own life was threatened, Ida continued to speak out and to demand that African Americans should be given the same rights as white American citizens. This book is a splendid tribute to women who would not take no for an answer and whose courage and creativity has made the world a better place for all of us. [5]

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