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African Icons: Ten People who Shaped History
NEW Paperback Edition!

When American schoolchildren learn about Black History, they are typically taught American

stories rooted in the struggle over enslavement, inequity, and oppression. While these stories

are essential, they are only part of a rich history that spans across millennia and the vast

African continent. Now in paperback and complete with a gorgeous new cover, AFRICAN

ICONS: Ten People Who Shaped History by TraceyBaptiste skillfully transforms how Black history is presented by spotlighting the incredible achievements of ten awe-inspiring African innovators. Filled with stunning full-color portraits by artist Hillary Wilson along with maps, photographs, and other graphics, AFRICAN ICONS is “a lullaby to a continent,” Baptiste says. “It’s about the people whose histories have been left off the books or disregarded because they didn’t come from Europe, and about the land that changed under their feet.”


AFRICAN ICONS highlights trailblazers, visionaries, queens, and military strategists whose contributions to culture, politics, religion, and civilization continue to reverberate around the world.

Kirkus

“What Baptiste accomplishes in only 139 pages of narrative is near miraculous....Refreshingly free of generalizations, this impressively researched work was clearly a massive undertaking (as evidenced by the source notes)...The result is empowering, necessary, and required reading for all. Game changing.” — starred review

Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist

“In African Icons, Baptiste engages in the hard work of unveiling the myths about the African continent to young readers . . . This is a great beginner’s guide to pre-colonial Africa.”

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Awards

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Eureka! Non-Fiction Children's Book Award

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New York Public Library Best Book

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School Library Journal Star

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Publisher's Weekly Star

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Kirkus Star
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