“Most folks my age and complexion don’t speak much about the past. Sometimes it’s just too hard to talk about— nothing we want to share with you young folk.” As the unnamed narrator of Kadir Nelson’s stirring work continues, she bares her heart and soul to recount the oral history that’s been passed down in her own family from pre-slavery times to the present day, and in doing so traces the history of African Americans. The narrative technique gives readers a view of history that is both sweeping and intimate. Every page of text is accompanied by a full-page, hauntingly realistic painting. Some are of well-known historical figures such as Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, and others are anonymous men and women who represent the scope of African American lives. Each one shows determination in facial expression and body posture, a resolve to move their families forward. The personal story culminates with the elderly narrator voting in 2008 for the man who would become the first African American president. (Ages 8–14)

The story of America and African Americans is a story of hope and inspiration and unwavering courage. But it is also the story of injustice; of a country divided by law, education, and wealth; of a people whose struggles and achievements helped define their country. This is the story of the men, women, and children who toiled in the hot sun picking cotton for their masters; it’s about the America ripped in two by Jim Crow laws; it’s about the brothers and sisters of all colors who rallied against those who would dare bar a child from an education. It’s a story of discrimination and broken promises, determination and triumphs.

Kadir Nelson, one of this generation’s most accomplished, award-winning artists, has created an epic yet intimate introduction to the history of America and African Americans, from colonial days through the civil rights movement. Written in the voice of an “Everywoman,” an unnamed narrator whose forebears came to this country on slave ships and who lived to cast her vote for the first African American president, heart and soul touches on some of the great transformative events and small victories of that history. This inspiring book demonstrates that in gaining their freedom and equal rights, African Americans helped our country achieve its promise of liberty and justice—the true heart and soul of our nation.