Our Brave Foremothers

Inspired by her own foremothers' legacies, debut author Rozella Kennedy centers and celebrates the life stories of 100 Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous women, both famous and little-known, who changed the course of US history.

Featuring women of color changemakers, risk-takers, and visionaries, artists, scientists, activists, and more, Our Brave Foremothers is a rich collection of short biographies detailing the women's accomplishments, hardships, passions, and joys. Included alongside the stories are inspirational quotes from the women, beautifully detailed artwork by illustrator Joelle Avelino, and actionable prompts that encourage readers to impact the world around them in positive ways as a tribute to the foremothers in the book and their own.

Contents

Ada Blackjack

Mary Ellen Pleasant

Rose Fortune

Pura Belpré

Fannie Lou Hamer

Kateri Tekakwitha

Angela Davis

Chien-Shiung Wu

Shirley Chisholm

Bharti Mukherjee

Bessie Stringfield

Kalpana Chawla

Anna May Wong

Mary Ann Shadd Cary

Lucy Gonzalez Parsons

Clara Hale

Mary Golda Ross

Felicisima "Ping" Serafica

Claudette Colvin

Lili'uokalani

Mamie "Peanut" Johnson

Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson

Lozen

Clara Brown

Alice Augusta Ball

Susan La Flesche Picotte

Caterina de San Juan

Kala Bagai

Marie Laveau

Marsha P. Johnson

Emma Ping Lum

Mary Fields

Old Elizabeth

Lydia Mendoza

Florynce "Flo" Kennedy

Umeko Tsuda

Etel Adnan

Martha Louise Morrow Foxx

Tidye Pickett

Red Wing

Ellen Smith Craft

Mabel Ping-Hua Lee

Della Irving Hayden

Sono Osato

Mary McLeod Bethune

Augusta Savage

Xue Jinquin

Sonia Sotomayor

Katherine Johnson

Komako Kimura

Mary Kaye

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

Elizabeth Key Grinstead

Lorraine Hansberry

Zitkála-Šá

Pauli Murray

Grace Lee Boggs

Emma Naea Kaleleonalani Rooke

Cicely Tyson

Gwendolyn Brooks

Wilma Mankiller

Septima Poinsette Clark

Mary Evans Wilson

Dorothy Toy

Bridget "Biddy" Mason

Bernadita Camacho-Dungca

Florence Ebersole Finch

Sojourner Truth

Phillis Wheatley

Jovita Idár

Mimi Jones

Charlotte Forten Grimké

Mitsuye Endo

Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich

China Mary

Maria Montoya Martinez

Mary Jones

Charlotte E. Ray

Sylvia Rivera

Sue Ko Lee

Ida B. Wells

Rebecca Lee Crumpler

Thelma Garcia Buchholdt

Zarina Hashmi

Mary Church Terrell

Pablita Velarde

Amelia Boynton Robinson

Edmonia Lewis

Jane Johnston Schoolcraft

Mary Richards

Sylvia Mendez

Althea Gibson

Mary Paik Lee

Mary Jane Patterson

Tsuru Aoki

Madam C. J. Walker

Buffalo Calf Road Woman

Dolores Huerta

Harriet Tubman

Yuri Kochiyama