As a child, she daydreamed about beats and lyrics, and hummed along with the music from her family's Majestic radio. At age seven, Melba fell in love with a big, shiny trombone, and soon taught herself to play the instrument. By the time she was a teenager, Melba's extraordinary gift for music led her to the world of jazz. She joined a band led by trumpet player Gerald Wilson and toured the country. Overcoming obstacles of race and gender, Melba went on to become a famed trombone player and arranger, spinning rhythms, harmonies, and melodies into gorgeous songs for all the jazz greats of the twentieth century: Randy Weston, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, and Quincy Jones, to name just a few. Brimming with ebullience and the joy of making music, Little Melba and Her Big Trombone is a fitting tribute to a trailblazing musician and a great unsung hero of jazz.

    Baker Jr. was in the seventh grade, he saw a photograph of four former slaves in his social studies textbook. When he learned that two of them were his grandmother's grandparents, he began the lifelong research project that would become The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation, the fruit of more than thirty years of archival and field research and DNA testing spanning 250 years. A descendant of Wessyngton slaves, Baker has written the most accessible and exciting work of African American history since Roots. He has not only written his own family's story but included the history of hundreds of slaves and their descendants now numbering in the thousands throughout the United States. More than one hundred rare photographs and portraits of African Americans who were slaves on the plantation bring this compelling American history to life. Founded in 1796 by Joseph Washington, a distant cousin of America's fi rst president, Wessyngton Plantation covered 15,000 acres and held 274 slaves, whose labor made it the largest tobacco plantation in America. Atypically, the Washingtons sold only two slaves, so the slave families remained intact for generations. Many of their descendants still reside in the area surrounding the plantation. The Washington family owned the plantation until 1983; their family papers, housed at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, include birth registers from 1795 to 1860, letters, diaries, and more. Baker also conducted dozens of interviews -- three of his subjects were more than one hundred years old -- and discovered caches of historic photographs and paintings. A groundbreaking work of history and a deeply personal journey of discovery, The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation is an uplifting story of survival and family that gives fresh insight into the institution of slavery and its ongoing legacy today.

    Stanton devoted her life to the cause of advancing the political, legal, and social standing of women, and she became its most eloquent spokesperson. Whereas Susan B. Anthony, her "steadfast friend for half a century," had a gift for organizing and mobilizing women to take action, Stanton's talent was for publicizing the key issues of the movement and speech writing. This talent is evident on every page of this autobiography, which records as much about the cause that was her life's work as it does about her personal reminiscences.Here she vividly describes the momentous occasion of organizing the Seneca Falls Convention in the summer of 1848, her first speech before the New York State legislature, the preparation and delivery (by Susan B. Anthony) of the Woman's Declaration of Rights at the national centennial celebration in Philadelphia in 1876, writing the History of Woman Suffrage and The Woman's Bible, plus her views on theology, marriage, and divorce, as well as reminiscences of her parents, husband, and seven children. Two chapters are devoted to Susan B. Anthony, and there are many anecdotes about Lucretia Mott, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and other leading feminists of the day.This fascinating account of history in the making conveys the amazing commitment of all of these pioneering women's rights advocates, against the indifference and derision of what seemed to be a hopelessly patriarchal society. Through it all Stanton displays an unflagging, exuberant optimism and the determination that the noble goal to which she dedicated her life would someday be accomplished.This unabridged edition is enhanced by an introduction by Denise M. Marshall, trustee of the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Foundation.

    This bestselling book inspired the play, motion picture, and television series I Remember Mama.

    Their mission: learn Western ways and return to help nurture a new generation of enlightened men to lead Japan.Raised in traditional samurai households during the turmoil of civil war, three of these unusual ambassadors—Sutematsu Yamakawa, Shige Nagai, and Ume Tsuda—grew up as typical American schoolgirls. Upon their arrival in San Francisco they became celebrities, their travels and traditional clothing exclaimed over by newspapers across the nation. As they learned English and Western customs, their American friends grew to love them for their high spirits and intellectual brilliance.The passionate relationships they formed reveal an intimate world of cross-cultural fascination and connection. Ten years later, they returned to Japan—a land grown foreign to them—determined to revolutionize women’s education.Based on in-depth archival research in Japan and in the United States, including decades of letters from between the three women and their American host families, Daughters of the Samurai is beautifully, cinematically written, a fascinating lens through which to view an extraordinary historical moment.

    But Lincoln was tragically shot one night at Ford's Theater--the first President to be assassinated. Over 100 black-and-white illustrations and maps are included.

    Although his freedom had been taken, Amos never lost his dignity and courage. For 45 years, Amos worked as a slave and dreamed of freedom. And, at age 60, he finally began to see those dreams come true.