Youth Lit Blog #2

 

Pioneers of Discovery

by Coretta Scott King

Hardcover: 62 pages

Subject Headings: 

Children’s literature, History, African Americans

Appeal:

Biographies, Nonfiction, Science and Exploration

Plot Summary:

                In this introductory essay, we get a glimpse into the lives of eight African Americans who broke barriers in their respective fields. They are Benjamin Banneker, James Beckwourth, Guion Bluford, George Washington Carver, Charles Drew, Matthew Henson, Ernest Everett Just, and Lewis Latimer. Banneker was a self-taught astronomer and mathematician who was born in 1731, and published several respected almanacs before his death in 1806. Beckwourth, c. 1800-1866, was a frontiersman who fought in the Bear Flag Rebellion and became a storyteller and businessman. Bluford was born in 1942 and became a decorated Vietnam fighter pilot, an aerospace engineer, and the first African American astronaut to be in space. Carver, c. 1864-1943, was a botanist who in his lifetime made huge waves in agriculture by introducing 325 different peanut derivatives, over 100 uses for sweet potatoes, pioneered studies of crop diseases, and introduced the idea of composting. Drew was born in 1904 and in his lifetime; became physician who specialized in surgery, blood typing, problems of transfusion and blood storage, and eventually pioneered work in human plasma research before his death in 1950. Henson, 1866-1955, was an explorer who sailed with Robert Peary to Nicaragua to survey for a canal to bridge the oceans, made several trips to Greenland, and was one of the six-man party with Peary to be the first to reach the North Pole. Earnest Just was born in 1883 earned himself an advanced degree in biology, and pioneered research in embryology and cytology which would be the basis later in genetics and the mechanisms of heredity before his death in 1941. Latimer ,1848-1928, worked as a draftsman and eventually created a longer-lasting filament for the newly invented light bulb, revolutionizing the field of electric lighting, before working with Thomas Edison and named as one of the Edison Pioneers. This book is a great first look into the lives of some amazing individuals. I would recommend it for any youth interested in learning more about African Americans who helped revolutionize America.