Heroes in Black History: True Stories from the Lives of Christian Heroes

by Dave Jackson, Neta Jackson

Drawn from the lives of key Christians from the past and present, Heroes in Black History is an inspiring collection of forty-two exciting and educational readings that highlight African-American Christians through a short biography and three true stories for each hero. Whether read together at family devotions or alone, Heroes in Black History is an ideal way to acquaint children ages six to twelve with historically important Christians while imparting valuable lessons. Featured heroes include Harriet Tubman, George Washington Carver, William Seymour, Thomas A. Dorsey, Mary McLeod Bethune, Martin Luther King Jr., and many more.

Includes brand-new material as well as content from previous Hero Tales editions.

Genres: History, Biography, Christian, Middle Grade, Nonfiction

190 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2008

About the author

Dave and Neta Jackson are a full-time husband/wife writing team who have authored and co-authored many books on marriage and family, the church, relationships, and other subjects. Their books for children include the TRAILBLAZER series and Hero Tales, volumes I,II, III, and IV. The Jacksons make their home in Evanston, Illinois.

Reviews

[Laurie DelaCruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fitting that I should finish this on MLK day. I loved reading snippets of people's lives, and leaned about several people that I want to find full biographies on, so I can learn more about them.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good resource for families and/or children in the older elementary to younger middle school grades. Each section focuses on one person from history, giving a short biography. Then it follows up with three short stories about that person's life with scripture references and character traits to go along with the story. A few questions are added at the end for further discussion.

This would be good for families homeschooling as well to work on language arts skills. A few of the people highlighted in this book are well-known, but I found that most I had not heard of before.

[Elisha Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun book to read with my daughter- we both learned a lot about a number of black historical figures that we hadn't learned about before. It was a stretch for her but she stayed engaged for the most part and we had some really fruitful conversations about racism and the importance of education. I love teachers!

[Sarah Mekonnen]

I appreciate the thorough exposure to a variety of Black Christians whose lives honored the Lord, but I was discouraged to see the “don’t call yourself a victim” narrative spilling out in some places.

[Miguel Ringer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was good book that is worth your time being able to learn about different kinds of cultures and history in general.

[Tracey]

Pastor David Platt mentioned this book as a favorite for their family devotional times.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good history of several Black Americans for middle grade readers

[Hopson · Rating 3 out of 5]

We read through this book during family worship for about six months after a recommendation by David Platt. The chapters feature short stories about various African-American Christians, each one highlighting a Christian virtue. Although I wish the authors were a bit more careful theologically and a bit more gospel-centered, this was still a helpful resource. It led to a bunch of great discussions with our kids.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read Soong-Chan Ra's book The next Evangelicalism I was humbled and convicted that my reading spectrum overwhelmingly consisted of Caucasian Western/European writers. When I read Middle Class Teachers, Black students by Jawanza Kunjufu, I was humbled at how little of African American history I knew.

Dave and Neta have left me humbled again. Though I know several names in their book of Heroes in Black History, there were many that I did not.

The Jacksons have written a wonderful book telling the stories of Brothers and Sisters from the Body of Christ. Probably written more as a Family book, but it works for all readers, the Jackson write about 14 Heroes of faith. They begin with a short introduction of each person and then have short narratives of each person that expound different virtues of the Kingdom of God. There are some great stories here, and they leave you wanting to know more.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good book. A lot of information that may seem boring but is really fun. After they tell that African American's story or part of it, they ask this little questions about that story or paragraph you just read. And they have yoou talk about it. With a family member or friend. That's pretty cool. But not as cool as showing quotes from the Bible. That was what made this book AWESOME. The theme is historical/history/non-fiction/ maybe humor. Because some parts of the different African American was funny. Like for Samuel Morris. He visited this preacher and while talking to him, (the preacher) he was talking about other things then what Samuel really wanted to talk about. So Samuel got down on his knees and said: "Dear Father, I have come all this way to talk to this guy but all he wants to do is talk about other things. Can you please make him talk about more important things like your Holy Spirit?" or something like that. That was pretty funny. But also kinda true

[Linda Lowry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book!!!

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://thechuppies.com/2011/02/black-...

[Ruth]

I love the set up of this book: it was perfect for reading aloud to the Podlings. Each individual highlighted is introduced with a quick life overview before expanding into three small chapters, each chapter focusing on a specific event from that person's life. Each chapter concludes with Scriptures and discussion questions. Although some of the people were familiar to us, many were not. I have to wonder, however, that with the co-authors both being from majority culture, to what extent their worldview could have affected interpretation.