Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen
by George McCalman

From an award-winning graphic designer comes this gorgeous collection that celebrates African Americans and their contributions—many little known—to politics, science, literature, music, and other fields, complemented by stunning illustrations.

Illustrated Black History is a comprehensive chronicle that spans many decades and fields, from activism, business, and medicine to technology, food, and entertainment. Each entry includes a stunning line drawing rendition of these extraordinary black men and women, and most notably the "hidden figures" who have contributed invaluably to American culture, along with an insightful essay summarizing each of their life stories.

In addition to towering figures, including Nina Simone, Frederick Douglass, Ava Duvernay, Martin Luther King, Jr, Ben Carson, Nat King Cole, Hattie McDaniel, Colin Kaepernick, James Baldwin, Octavia Butler, bell hooks, and Audre Lorde, Illustrated Black History honors heroes such as:

• Documentarian Madeline Anderson, who produced I Am Somebody, a film about the 1969 strike of mostly women hospital workers
• Virginia Allen, of the Black Angels, a group of 300 nurses who risked their lives to care for patients with tuberculosis
• James and Eloyce Gist, whose traveling ministry crisscrossed America in the early 1900s Renaissance man, Paul Robeson
• Dr. Eliza Ann Grier, who was born into slavery and became the first black woman to practice medicine in America
• Guion S. Bluford, the first black person to travel into space
• Claudette Colvin, the civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat on a bus nine months before Rosa Parks
• And many more

The depth and breadth of African American history has always been integral, but has so often been excised from the official American narrative. With recent successes like Hidden Figures and the New York Times Magazine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 project, this reading of history is beginning to receive its just due. Accessible and eye-opening, this beautiful, four-color book is a long-overdue homage to the contributions of African Americans and a celebration of the black experience that is sure to become a keepsake for generations.