NEW YORK, Nov. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Black women have inspired, elevated, and transformed society throughout the ages and across generations. While often breaking through barriers of racism and sexism, with underwhelming recognition or documentation, they managed to achieve greatness. TRAILBLAZERS, Black Women Who Helped Make America Great, American Firsts/American Icons by Gabrielle David shines a light on these historically marked footholds, which often led to widespread cultural change. Published by 2Leaf Press, a Black/Brown female-led nonprofit based in New York, TRAILBLAZERS is a six-volume series examining the lives and careers of over 400 brilliant women from the eighteenth century to the present who blazed uncharted paths in every conceivable way. The volumes will be released over the course of 2021 and 2022. The first volume, which features activists, dancers and athletes, publishes November 1, 2021, and is available on major online outlets.
The book was edited by Carolina Fung Feng with a Foreword by Lyah Beth LeFlore, and Introduction by Chandra D. L. Waring. TRAILBLAZERS is funded, in part by Open Meadows Foundation, New York Women‘s Foundation, Women‘s Sports Foundation, the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD), The National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. (NSPDK), and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®.
Each TRAILBLAZERS volume is organized into three to four sections. Besides providing biographical information written in accessible prose for a broad audience, replete with powerful photographs, David also provides a historical timeline for each section written from a Black woman‘s viewpoint that maps out the significance of the featured women that follow.
In Volume 1, which features over seventy women, readers learn about the significance of activists like Ella Baker, and Pauli Murray, and the women following their path, like Michelle Alexander, Glynda Carr, and Leah Penniman. They learn about dancers Jeni Legon and Margot Webb, and a new generation of dancers and choreographers like Cynthia Oliver, Misty Copeland, Dormeshia, and Camille A. Brown. And readers also discover athletes who disrupted the world of sports, including the nearly forgotten tennis champion Ora Washington and Alice Coachman, the first Olympic gold medalist, to Debi Thomas, Maritza Correia McClendon, and tennis phenom Serena Williams. What binds these women together is that they persevered, often challenging and shaking-up the status quo. With painstaking research, David has created an affordable and visually appealing accessible reference book that features the foremothers who blazed the trail, to the women who follow in their footsteps.
TRAILBLAZERS offers powerful and inspiring role models for women and girls from all cultural backgrounds. An important reference book for people who are intellectually curious and want to learn more about Black women in America, TRAILBLAZERS is a clarion call for recognition of the transformative work Black women’s accomplishments. It is a vital reference guide for use in schools, libraries, and homes.
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SOURCE 2Leaf Press
