"A voice like yours," celebrated conductor Arturo Toscanini told contralto Marian Anderson, "is heard once in a hundred years." This insightful account of the great African American vocalist considers her life and musical career in the context of the history of civil rights in this country. Drawing on Anderson's own writings and other contemporary accounts, Russell Freedman shows readers a singer pursuing her art despite the social constraints that...

When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, a movement was set in motion that led to other nonviolent boycotts, marches, and walks--resulting in the civil rights movement and major social changes throughout the nation.

Looks at the history of the port of entry off the coast of California that was "the other Ellis Island" for Asian immigrants to the United States between 1892 and 1940.

Introduces the life of Benjamin Franklin, detailing how he left home at age seventeen to go to Philadelphia and went on to become an American icon and distinguished statesman, inventor, and scientist.