Born into poverty, Richard Wright managed to complete only an eighth-grade education. Yet by at the age of 33, he was the best-selling author of what would become an American classic, Native Son. Before dying prematurely at the age of fifty-two, he published nearly a dozen books and left behind hundreds of unpublished manuscript pages. This biography traces Wright's life, while he attempted to answer the question, "How can I live freely?"

W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the most prolific African-American authors, scholars, and leaders of the twentieth century. In this book, Alexander traces the development of Du Bois' thought over time. "W. E.B. Du Bois was one of the most prolific African American authors, scholars, and leaders of the twentieth century, but none of his previous biographies have so practically and comprehensively introduced the man and his impact on American history as...

Madam C. J. Walker is reputed to be America's first self-made woman millionaire. Born to former slaves in the Louisiana Delta in the aftermath of the Civil War, married at fourteen, and widowed at twenty, Walker spent the first decades of her life as a laundress. By the time of her death in 1919, however, Walker had refashioned herself into one of the most famous African American figures in the nation: the owner and president of a hair-care empire...