Great Black Heroes: Five Bold Freedom Fighters

by Wade Hudson, Ron Garnett (Illustrator)

An easy-to-read collection of brief biographies of five Black freedom Richard Allen, Harriet Tubman, Mary Church Terrell, Medgar Evers, and Fannie Lou Hamer.

This easy-to-read biography describes the early lives of Richard Allen, one of the founders of the Free African Society, the first formally organized African American group in the United States; Harriet Tubman, a major conductor of the Underground Railroad; Mary Church Terrell, a founding member of the NAACP and a leading figure in the women's suffrage movement; Medgar Evers, the first field secretary for the NAACP; and Fannie Lou Hamer, a leading civil rights activist who gained national attention when she tried to vote in rural Mississippi.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, African American, Childrens

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Wade Hudson is the author of nearly 30 books for children and Young adults. He and his wife Cheryl are the founders of Just Us Books, Inc., a leading publisher of multicultural books for children.

Reviews

[Cecoiya Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great easy-read for students transitioning into reading chapter books. This is a book that has short biographies about 5 great freedom fighters. The book tells about Frannie Lou Hamer, Harriet Tubman, Mary Church Terrell, Richard Allen and Medgar Evers. This is a great book for 2nd and 3rd graders. Great book for classroom libraries in 2nd-5th grade.

[Jordan Vinson]

"Great Black Heroes: Five Bold Freedom Fighters" is a biography that discusses the lives of 5 different freedom fighters. It is an amazing story to begin the journey of learning black history. The book tells about the lives of Richard Allen, Harriet Tubman, Mary Church Terrell, Medgar Evers, and Fannie Lou Hamer. The book explains their impacts on life today.
Grade Level-2-4
Lexile Level-910L

[Tracie Anderson]

Wonderful book for Black History, Women in History and even doing a wax museum.


Biography and Autobiography
Grades: 2 - 4
Lexile® Measure: 910L
Guided Reading Level: GR Level P

[Rosie Gearhart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good idea. Bad execution. This is not a living book. It’s a series of quick-shot facts all pasted together.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great early biographical text for around third grade. It is a little dry, but it outlines five different people critical to freedom for slavery in the US. It has many real photos mixed with colorful drawings and includes information on feelings and what made these men and women so brave. It does not contain a table of contents or glossary which I would have liked to see.

I think this is a good book to give a class and let each child choose one person they want to write a short essay about or do a poster. It seems this would fit well with the third grade curriculum and allow kids to have choice, but not too much choice as to make it overwhelming. I would be very curious about why each student chose the person they did.

[RJ Meehan]

Grades 2-4
Level 910L
This is a book that has 5 short biographies of five black freedom fighters.