Notable Black American Women facts for kids
Notable Black American Women is an amazing three-book series. It was written by Jessie Carney Smith. These books tell the stories of 1,100 Black American women. The first book came out in 1992. The second was published in 1994. The third book followed in 2003. All the books were published by Gale. Jessie Carney Smith spent more than twenty years researching for this huge project.
Contents
About the Books
This special book series highlights the lives of many important Black American women. It shares their achievements and contributions. The first book alone featured 500 women. The entire series eventually covered 1,100 different women. These books help us learn about the amazing things these women did.
The Author and Her Dedication
Jessie Carney Smith was a professor at Fisk University. She was also a librarian. For over twenty years, she researched Black women. She collected information as she worked. She turned this information into a list of 1,000 women.
How the Books Were Made
It took two years to create the first book. More than two hundred people helped her. Smith shared that she woke up very early every day. She started working between 4:00 and 4:30 in the morning. She worked until 6:00 AM before going to her job. At work, she continued her research.
The first book, Notable Black American Women, was finished in December 1991. It was published by Gale. This book had five hundred stories. It was 1,334 pages long. It even weighed six pounds!
More Books in the Series
By February 1992, Smith already had 300 names for the second book. The second book was published in 1994. The third book came out in 2003. This brought the total number of women profiled to 1,100. The third book also included a helpful index. This index was organized by where the women lived. It also listed their jobs and what they were known for. This index covered all three books.
Jessie Carney Smith also made a shorter version of her work. It was called Epic Lives: One Hundred Black Women Who Made a Difference. This book was published by Visible Ink Press.
