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.
