Now a classic, Freedman's book tells the dramatic stories of the heroes who stood up against segregation and Jim Crow laws in 1950s Alabama. Full of eyewitness reports, iconic photographs from the era, and crucial primary sources, this work brings history to life for modern readers.

This engaging look at one of the best-known events of the American Civil Rights Movement feels immediate and relevant, reminding readers that the Boycott is not distant history, but one step in a fight for equality that continues today.

Freedman focuses not only on well-known figures like Claudette Colvin, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King Jr., but on the numerous people who contributed by organizing carpools, joining protests, supporting legal defense efforts, and more. He showcases an often-overlooked side of activism and protest--the importance of cooperation and engagement, and the ways in which ordinary people can stand up for their beliefs and bring about meaningful change in the world around them.

Freedom Walkers has long been a library and classroom staple, but as interest in the history of protest and the Civil Rights Movement grows, it's a perfect introduction for anyone looking to learn more about the past--and an inspiration to take action and shape the future. A map, source notes, full bibliography, and other backmatter is included.

Winner of the Flora Stieglitz Straus Award
Winner of the NCSS Carter G. Woodson Award
Cybils Nonfiction Award Winner, MG/YA
Jane Addams Award Honor Book
NCTE Orbis Pictus Award Honor Book
Five Starred Reviews
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Russell Freedman's engaging narrative, incorporating meticulous research and quotes from contemporary accounts, follows the rising tensions between the citizens of Boston and representatives of the British Crown. From the controversial, unpopular taxes on tea through the defiant act of dumping hundreds of chests of British cargo into the harbor, this exciting retelling puts readers in the middle of this historic event.

Detailed watercolor illustrations bring this story of early American protest to life, artfully depicting the colonial era and the charged atmosphere of Boston in the weeks leading up to the Boston Tea Party. Informational backmatter includes a bibliography, index, and historic map of Boston.

A perfect introduction to a pivotal moment in American history for young readers.

This engaging narrative account of Orville and Wilbur Wright, two men with little formal schooling but a knack for solving problems, follows their interest from a young age in the developing field of aeronautics. Russell Freedman's writing brings the brothers' personalities to life, enhancing the record of events with excerpts from the brothers' writing and correspondence, and accounts of those who knew them.

Chronicling their lives from their early mechanical work on toys and bicycles through the development of several flyers, The Wright Brothers follows the siblings through their achievements--not only the first powered, sustained, controlled airplane flight, but the numerous improvements and enhancements that followed, their revolutionary airplane business, and the long legacy of that first brief flight.

Illustrated with numerous historical photographs--many taken by the Wright brothers themselves--this is a concise, extremely reader-friendly introduction to these important American inventors.

Includes a note on the Wright brothers' photographs, as well as recommendation for further reading and learning.

This 1988 Newbery Medal-winning biography of our Civil War president is warm, appealing, and illustrated with dozens of carefully chosen photographs and prints. Russell Freedman begins with a lively account of Abraham Lincoln's boyhood, his career as a country lawyer, and his courtship and marriage to Mary Todd. Then the author focuses on the presidential years (1861 to 1865), skillfully explaining the many complex issues Lincoln grappled with as he led a deeply divided nation through the Civil War. The book's final chapter is a moving account of that tragic evening in Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865. Additional content includes a sampling of Lincoln's writings and a detailed list of Lincoln historical sites.

The intriguing story of Eleanor Roosevelt traces the life of the former First Lady from her early childhood through the tumultuous years in the White House to her active role in the founding of the United Nations after World War II. A Newberry Honor Book.

Drawing on memoirs, diaries, letters, and other firsthand accounts, and richly illustrated with classic archival photographs, this book by one of the most celebrated authors of nonfiction for children places the Great Depression in context and shows young readers its human face. Endnotes, selected bibliography, index.

A biography of the modest Frenchman who, after being blinded at the age of three, went on to develop a system of raised dots on paper that enabled blind people to read and write.

Nonfiction master Russell Freedman illuminates for young readers the complex and rarely discussed subject of World War I. The tangled relationships and alliances of many nations, the introduction of modern weaponry, and top-level military decisions that resulted in thousands upon thousands of casualties all contributed to the great war, which people hoped and believed would be the only conflict of its kind. In this clear and authoritative account, the Newbery Medal-winning author shows the ways in which the seeds of a second world war were sown in the first. Numerous archival photographs give the often disturbing subject matter a moving visual counterpart. Includes source notes, a bibliography, and an index.

Photobiography of early twentieth-century photographer and schoolteacher Lewis Hine, using his own work as illustrations. Hines's photographs of children at work were so devastating that they convinced the American people that Congress must pass child labor laws.

Among the wealth of good Holocaust literature available, Freedman's volume stands out for its focus and concision, effectively placing the White Rose in its historical context, telling the story of Nazi Germany without losing the focus on the White Rose, and doing so in just over 100 pages. (Kirkus starred review)

In his signature eloquent prose, backed up by thorough research, Newbery medalist and nonfiction master Russell Freedman tells the story of Austrian-born Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie. They belonged to Hitler Youth as young children, but began to doubt the Nazi regime.

As older students, the Scholls and a few friends formed the White Rose, a campaign of active resistance to Hitler and the Nazis. Risking imprisonment or even execution, the White Rose members distributed leaflets urging Germans to defy the Nazi government.

Their belief that freedom was worth dying for will inspire young readers to stand up for what they believe in. Archival photographs and prints, source notes, bibliography, index.

A Sibert Honor Book

This engaging narrative account of Orville and Wilbur Wright, two men with little formal schooling but a knack for solving problems, follows their interest from a young age in the developing field of aeronautics. Russell Freedman's writing brings the brothers' personalities to life, enhancing the record of events with excerpts from the brothers' writing and correspondence, and accounts of those who knew them.

Chronicling their lives from their early mechanical work on toys and bicycles through the development of several flyers, The Wright Brothers follows the siblings through their achievements--not only the first powered, sustained, controlled airplane flight, but the numerous improvements and enhancements that followed, their revolutionary airplane business, and the long legacy of that first brief flight.

Illustrated with numerous historical photographs--many taken by the Wright brothers themselves--this is a concise, extremely reader-friendly introduction to these important American inventors.

Includes a note on the Wright brothers' photographs, as well as recommendation for further reading and learning.

1965. Selma, Alabama. The Edmund Pettus Bridge.

This is the story of Bloody Sunday and the moments leading up to and after this fateful day in the fight for African American voting rights.

Across the segregated South, African Americans were denied the most fundamental right in a democracy--the right to vote. Tired of reprisals for attempting to register to vote, Selma's Black community began to protest. A march was planned for people, young and old, to march from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights.

But the march quickly became the site of horrific struggle as law officers brutally attacked peaceful demonstrators. When vivid footage and photographs of the violence was broadcast throughout the world, it attracted outrage and spurred demonstrators to complete the march at any cost.

Newbery Medalist Russell Freedman has written a riveting account of this monumental event in the fight for civil rights. Illustrated with more than forty archival photographs, this is an essential chronicle of events every young person should know.

ALA Notable Children's Book
California Reading Association, Eureka! Nonfiction Children's Honor Book
ILA Teachers' Choices
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Editors' Choice
A Bank Street Best Book of the Year
A Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Book
NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People
Paterson Prize for Books for Young People Honor Book
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Historical photographs show what life was like for pioneer and Indian children growing up in the American West during the late nineteenth century.

Beginning with an overview of Vietnam's long fight for independence from the Chinese, the French, and the Japanese, Freedman then untangles the puzzling and catastrophic decisions that led to U.S. boots on the ground.

Coverage includes the French war in Vietnam, the rise of Ho Chi Minh, the fall of President Diem, the Tonkin Gulf, the Tet Offensive, the My Lai massacre, the bombing of Cambodia, and the fall of Saigon, as well as the U.S. anti-war movement. Freedman concludes with a hopeful epilogue on modern Vietnam.

The book includes nearly 100 historic photographs and illustrations, as well as candid photographs showcasing the state of Vietnam today. A glossary, source notes, bibliography, and index are included.

A Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A CCBC Choices Title
A Junior Library Guild Selection

Traces the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt from his birth in 1882 through his youth, early political career, and presidency to his death in Warm Springs, Georgia, in 1945.

Angel Island, off the coast of California, was the port of entry for Asian immigrants to the United States between 1892 and 1940. Following the passage of legislation requiring the screening of immigrants, the other Ellis Island processed around one million people from Japan, China, and Korea. Drawing from memoirs, diaries, letters, and the wall poems discovered at the facility long after it closed, the nonfiction master Russell Freedman describes the people who came, and why; the screening process; detention and deportation; changes in immigration policy; and the eventual renaissance of Angel Island as a historic site open to visitors. Includes archival photos, source notes, bibliography, and index.

Newbery Honor Book * Sibert Medal Winner

Carefully researched and expertly told, this Newbery Honor and Sibert Medal-winning book is a moving account of the life of a talented and determined artist who left her mark on musical and social history. Through her story, Newbery Medal-winning author Russell Freedman illuminates the social and political climate of the day and an important chapter in American history. Notes, bibliography, discography, index.

A voice like yours, celebrated conductor Arturo Toscanini told contralto Marian Anderson, is heard once in a hundred years.

This insightful account of the great African American vocalist considers her life and musical career in the context of the history of civil rights in this country. Drawing on Anderson's own writings and other contemporary accounts, Russell Freedman shows readers a singer pursuing her art despite the social constraints that limited the careers of black performers in the 1920s and 1930s.

Though not a crusader or a spokesperson by nature, Marian Anderson came to stand for all black artists--and for all Americans of color--when, with the help of such prominent figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, she gave her landmark 1939 performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which signaled the end of segregation in the arts.