What Color Is My World?: The Lost History Of African-American Inventors
by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, basketball legend and the NBA's all-time leading scorer, champions a lineup of little-known African-American inventors in this lively, kid-friendly book.

Did you know that James West’s technology is in the microphone of your cell phone? Or that Fred Jones invented the refrigerated truck that makes supermarkets possible? That Dr. Percy Julian synthesized cortisone from soy, easing the pain for countless people? These are just some of the black inventors and innovators scoring big points in this dynamic look at several unsung heroes who shared a desire to improve people’s lives. Offering profiles with fast facts on flaps and framed by a funny contemporary story featuring feisty twins, this book pays tribute to the minds behind the gamma electric cell and the Super Soaker, improvements to traffic lights, open heart surgery, and more — inventors whose ingenuity and perseverance against great odds made our world safer, better, and brighter.

“I was motivated by the fact that the history books I had when I was in grade school, especially if African-Americans were mentioned, it was only in relation to aspects of slavery and the civil rights movement. There’s so much more to the story. It’ s my attempt to fill in some of the blanks.” —Kareem Abdul-Jabbar