Production Credits

Sports Information Director: Mike Ferraro / Camera: Maria Quiroz / Contributing Coordinator: Asia Po / Research Assistant & Advising: Michail Papanikolaou & Jason Papanicolaou

Let's Talk
About It
Pause and reflect with the children on the setting, characters, events and the cultural representations in the book.

Our Children Can Soar

Step by step presentation of African-American historical figures and how they lead us to our first black President. A unique depiction of each personality by a different award-winning illustrator.


Foreword copyright © 2009 Marian Wright Edelman
Text copyright © 2009 by Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.
Our Ancestors illustration copyright © 2009 by James Ransome
George Washington Carver illustration copyright © 2009 by Leo and Diane Dillon
Jesse Owens illustration copyright © 2009 by AG Ford
Hattie McDaniel illustration copyright © 2009 by R. Gregory Christie
www.rgregorychristie.com & www.gas-art.com
Ella Fritzgerald illustration copyright © 2009 by Pat Cummings
Jackie Robinson illustration copyright © 2009 by Charlotte Riley-Webb
Rosa Parks illustration copyright © 2009 by Cozbi A. Cabrera
Ruby Bridges illustration copyright © 2009 by Shadra Strickland
Martin Luther King Jr. illustration copyright © 2009 by Frank Morrison
Jacket and Thurgood Marshall illustration copyright © 2009 by Bryan Collier
Barack Obama illustration copyright © 2009 by Eric Velasquez
Our Children illustration copyright © 2009 by E.B. Lewis
Used with permission of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.

  • Written by Michelle Cook
  • Illustrated by Leo Dillon, Diane Dillon, Eric Velasquez, R. Gregory Christie, James Ransome, Bryan Collier Shadra Strickland, Frank Morrison, Pat Cummings, Cozbi Cabrera, Charlotte Riley-Webb A.G. Ford, E.B. Lewis
  • Published by Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.
  • Narrated by Jordan Jones
  • Running Time 00:06:03
  • Date of Filming October 2020
  • Written by Michelle Cook
  • Illustrated by Leo Dillon, Diane Dillon, Eric Velasquez, R. Gregory Christie, James Ransome, Bryan Collier Shadra Strickland, Frank Morrison, Pat Cummings, Cozbi Cabrera, Charlotte Riley-Webb A.G. Ford, E.B. Lewis
  • Published by Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.
  • Narrated by Jordan Jones
  • Running Time 00:06:03
  • Narrator Jordan Jones
  • Position Center
  • Team Marist Red Foxes - Marist College
  • Hometown Baltimore, Maryland
  • Birthdate May 25, 1998
  • Height 6' 8"
  • Favorite Book Assata: An Autobiography
  • Favorite Basketball Player LeBron James
  • Bio Link