Marti Rosner

With illustrator KaArie Gillis, authors Marti Rosner and Frye Gaillard share with young readers one of the most inspirational stories in American philanthropy. In the early years of the 20th century, Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears Roebuck & Co., worked with educator Booker T. Washington and grassroots leaders across the South to build more than 5,000 schools for African American children. Graduates of these life-changing institutions include Maya Angelou, John Lewis, and Pulitzer Prize winners Eugene Robinson and Cynthia Tucker. After multiple interviews and extensive research, Rosner and Gaillard tell the story through the eager questions of Ezra, a curious little boy inspired by Rosner's own mixed race grandchildren. The result is an accessible, easy to read account - a history of hope in a difficult time that should not be forgotten.

With illustrator KaArie Gillis, authors Marti Rosner and Frye Gaillard share with young readers one of the most inspirational stories in American philanthropy. In the early years of the 20th century, Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears Roebuck & Co., worked with educator Booker T. Washington and grassroots leaders across the South to build more than 5,000 schools for African American children. Graduates of these life-changing institutions include Maya Angelou, John Lewis, and Pulitzer Prize winners Eugene Robinson and Cynthia Tucker. After multiple interviews and extensive research, Rosner and Gaillard tell the story through the eager questions of Ezra, a curious little boy inspired by Rosner's own mixed race grandchildren. The result is an accessible, easy to read account - a history of hope in a difficult time that should not be forgotten.

In 1870 Benjamin Turner, who spent the first 40 years of his life as a slave, was elected to the U.S. Congress. He was the first African American from Alabama to earn that distinction. In a recreation of Turner's own words, based on speeches and other writings that Turner left behind, co-authors Marti S. Rosner and Frye Gaillard have crafted the story of a remarkable man who taught himself to read when he was young and began a lifetime quest for education and freedom. As a candidate for Congress, and then as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Turner rejected the idea of punishing his white neighbors who fought for the Confederacy—and thus for the continuation of slavery—believing they had suffered enough. At the same time, he supported the right to vote for former slaves, opposed a cotton tax that he thought was hurtful to small and especially black farmers, supported racially mixed schools, and argued that land should be set aside for former slaves so they could build a new life for themselves. In this bicentennial season for the state of Alabama, the authors celebrate the life of a man who rejected bitterness even as he pursued his own dreams. His is a story of determination and strength, the story of an American hero from the town of Selma, Alabama, who worked to make the world a better place for people of all races and backgrounds.