Showing titles in History & Culture

A true account of a group of African American men from Detroit who sought to change the life trajectory of young African American boys from something negative to something positive. Faced with the problem statement of "what life lessons would you teach a young boy about life survival in America if you only had one weekend?", the group of men set out on a course to make a difference.

Whether you are a freshman in high school or a young adult facing homelessness, life skills training and workshops provide an invaluable opportunity to learn, grow, and develop the resilience needed to navigate life's ups and downs successfully. Remember, you have the potential to overcome any obstacles that come your way, and these resources are here to support you every step of the way.

Since the regiment’s creation in 1899, the men of the 65th have proudly served the US through multiple wars, despite facing racial discrimination. Their courage, loyalty, and patriotism earned them hundreds of accolades, including the Congressional Gold Medal in 2014.

Who lived in Texas over a thousand years ago? In Porch Talk, John Erickson and his archaeologist friend Doug Boyd investigate this question while explaining the art and science of archaeology for middle listeners. On the Perryton ranch, John and his friends unearthed a ghost town that dated back to around 1300 CE. For more than twenty years, they worked together on this and other prehistoric sites, sharing a fascination for the ancient people who occupied the area. How did these people work, play, and survive?

Designed to be fun and engaging for students or anyone with a love for history, these books include a fascinating focus on important, influential, and visionary people, along with heroic animal escapades! From scientists to famous women to war heroes and more, there is something of interest for everyone in this exciting series!

From severe flooding in Louisiana to wildfires in the Pacific Northwest to melting permafrost in Alaska, catastrophic climate events are occurring more frequently—and severely—than ever. And these events are having a direct impact on the lives (and futures) of young people and their families.

Berührend und authentisch - eine Zeitzeugin erzählt. In "Ich habe den Todesengel überlebt" berichtet Eva Mozes Kor davon, wie sie mit ihrer Zwillingsschwester die menschenverachtenden Experimente des KZ-Arztes Mengele überlebte. Eva Mozes Kor ist zehn Jahre alt, als sie mit ihrer Familie nach Auschwitz verschleppt wird. Während die Eltern und zwei ältere Geschwister in den Gaskammern umkommen, geraten Eva und ihre Zwillingsschwester Miriam in die Hände des KZ-Arztes Mengele, der grausame "Experimente" an den Mädchen durchführt. Für Eva und ihre Schwester beginnt ein täglicher Überlebenskampf.

In the years between World War I and World War II, aviation fever was everywhere, including among Black Americans. But what hope did a Black person have of learning to fly in a country constricted by prejudice and Jim Crow laws, where some previous Black aviators like Bessie Coleman had to move to France to earn their wings?

Bei einem Tropengewitter stürzt ein peruanisches Flugzeug über dem Dschungel aus 3000 Metern Höhe ab. Nur die siebzehnjährige Juliane überlebt. Mit ein paar Schrammen, ohne Brille, mit nur einer Sandale und einem Tütchen Fruchtbonbons schlägt sie sich durch den Urwald. Fast elf Tage ist sie unterwegs, bis sie auf Einheimische trifft... Das Mädchen, das vom Himmel fiel; der Segler, der ein dramatisches Schiffsunglück überlebte; die Frau, die im eisigen Wasser unter einer Eisschicht eingeschlossen war und die doch vier Stunden später von Rettungssanitätern wiederbelebt werden konnte.

Meet young José and his friend Trino as the war breaks out in their hometown of Sahuayo. Follow José through his own struggles as the violence escalates, up to his joining the Cristero army in 1927 to fight for freedom of religion. Captured by government forces, José refused to deny his faith in exchange for his freedom.

Mildred Jeter Loving and Richard Perry Loving wanted to live out their married life near family in Virginia, but the state refused to let them. The reason: Richard was white and Mildred was black. After being arrested and charged with a crime, the Lovings were forced to leave their home—until they turned to the legal system. In one of the country’s landmark legal battles, Loving v. Virginia, the Lovings secured their future when the Supreme Court struck down all state laws prohibiting mixed marriage.

The past is not past. We may think something ancient history, or something that doesn’t affect our present day, but we would be wrong. Those Who Saw the Sun is a collection of oral histories told by Black people who grew up in the South during the time of Jim Crow. Jaha Nailah Avery is a lawyer, scholar, and reporter whose family has roots in North Carolina stretching back over 300 years. These interviews have been a personal passion project for years as she’s traveled across the South meeting with elders and hearing their stories.

Ethel Rosenberg's story is seldom told and not widely known. What tends to be told is the life of a convicted spy who was killed for her beliefs, a victim of social injustice. Barbara Krasner pays tribute to this complex and misunderstood woman and lets her sing—sing out about her childhood, her dreams to perform on stage, her love for a college boy with shared ideals, her tender love for her husband and sons, and her deep love for what she felt was right for her country and the world.

Overall, A Moccasin on One Foot and a Shoe on the Other: Being Native American in the 21st Century serves as a valuable guidebook for teenage listeners, promoting cultural understanding, challenging misconceptions, and empowering Native American youth to navigate their identity with pride in the 21st century.

Marcus ist 13 Jahre alt und verdient sein Geld als Assistent des Chirurgicus in der ludus magnus, der größten Gladiatorenschule in Rom. Dort begegnet er auch seinem Idol Flamma, dem berühmtesten Gladiatoren seiner Zeit. Zur Schule ist er nie gegangen und sein Traum ist es, wie sein Idol Gladiator zu werden, um der Armut zu entkommen. "Marcus und der Gladiator" entführt in das antike Rom und zeigt das Leben zur Blüte Roms mit seinen Gladiatorenkämpfen und der Dekadenz der Reichen.

Early humans leaving messages on cave walls; three men on a raft stumbling upon a language they weren't looking for; a secret language that evolved to hide a people; the world's only undeciphered language that is 4000 years old. The stories in this book take you from the northeastern-most tip of our country to the forests in central India, from indigenous languages that are thousands of years old to those that have developed recently.

It was long ago that Bushy Bushy came on the scene. Modern day investigations have revealed that the Bushy Bushy in this story was actually the grandson of the original Blackbeard. Thus, the “Bushy Bushy,” shorthand for “grandson of.” Melissa Murgatroyd first appeared in night time stories in the year 1982. Melissa lived on a street in Memphis. Her driveway at that time was graveled and quite long.

Racism is a real and present danger. But how can you fight it if you don’t know how it works or where it comes from? Using a compelling mix of memoir, cultural criticism, and anti-oppressive theory, Khodi Dill breaks down how white supremacy functions in North America and gives listeners tools to understand how racism impacts their lives. From dismantling internalized racism, decolonizing schools, joining social justice movements and more, Dill lays out paths to personal liberation and social transformation.

Three college, star football players and friends. One dream. Upon graduating from the University of Alabama, they vow that whoever gets the first head coach job will bring the other two along with them. Thus began their quest to be the winningest partnership of coaches the sport had ever seen. Only one lived to see their dream realized. Their story remained untold. Until now.

"Welcome to "Paradoxical Leadership," a groundbreaking exploration of leadership in its most unorthodox forms. This book is not your typical leadership manifesto. It delves deep into the heart of paradoxes, ironies, and unexpected truths that define leadership in the modern era. With a witty and engaging narrative, "Paradoxical Leadership" invites listeners on a captivating journey through the multifaceted world of leadership, revealing the intricate tapestry of traits and decisions that shape effective leaders.

Centering Black voices and the narratives of enslaved people, Breaking the Chains offers a thoroughly researched account of the ways people in bondage were themselves a driving force behind their own emancipation.

Jonell Joshua spent her childhood shuttling back and forth between Savannah and New Jersey—living in grandparents’ homes during the times her mother, struggling with mental illness, needed support to raise her and her brothers. Together the family found a way to keep going even in the darkest of times. How Do I Draw These Memories? is a memoir about nostalgia, faith, the preciousness of life, and unconditional love.

On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships.

Twenty-four hours: that's how long fourteen-year-old Elvira Gonzalez is given to come up with the $40,000 she needs to save her kidnapped mother from a drug cartel. It's 2006 and Elvira's hometown of Laredo, Texas, has become engulfed by the Mexican Drug War. Elvira's life is unraveling around her—setting her on a harrowing path that leads her to being locked up in one of South Texas's worst juvenile detention centers. After Elvira's released from juvie, she's resolved to never go back. That's when her unexpected salvation arrives in the form of 33-inch-high plastic hurdles.

Ona Judge wanted more than the best job an enslaved person could have, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman challenged why some people are masters and others enslaved, Ida B. Wells exposed post-slavery brutality, Martin Luther King Jr. was the key voice to overturn Jim Crow, and Barack Obama changed modern-day racial attitudes. For author Ray Anthony Shepard A Long Time Coming is highly personal, a chronicle of the times of his grandparents, parents, and himself.

In The Things He Could Have Been, W. Nikola-Lisa pulls back the curtain on Babe Ruth’s off-the-field shenanigans, offering the listener a humorous, yet highly informative, portrayal of the Yankee slugger. Ruth was multi-talented and, it's not really hard to imagine, could have been many things - a professional golfer, a heavyweight boxer, a movie star, a football player, just to name a few of his interests.

As a black child growing up in 1920s Colorado, Frank Macon was often told that he would never amount to anything. His severe dyslexia didn’t help, nor did his tendency for mischief. But in spite of all that, Frank rose to heights beyond anyone’s imagining. Ever since childhood—when he jumped off a roof wearing homemade wings—he wanted to be a pilot. In this inspiring memoir, Frank tells his story of achieving that dream.

When Angeline Jackson was a child, she wondered if there was something wrong with her for wanting to kiss the other girls. But as her sexuality blossomed in her teens, she knew she wouldn’t “grow out of it” and that her attraction to girls wasn’t against God. In fact, she discovered that same-sex relationships were depicted in the Bible, which she read devoutly, even if the tight-knit evangelical Christian community she grew up in believed any sexual relationship outside of marriage between a man and woman was a sin, and her society, Jamaica, criminalized homosexual sex.

From the acclaimed Ojibwe author and professor Anton Treuer comes an essential book of questions and answers for Native and non-Native young listeners alike.

You need to work to live. That’s the truth for most people, and plenty of people in power have been abusing that truth for centuries. Long before the first labor unions were formed, workers still knew what exploitation looked like. It looked like the enslavement of Black people. It looked like generations of children dying in dangerous jobs. It looked like wealthy people hiring private militaries to attack their employees. But workers have always found a way to fight back.