The small and the mighty : twelve unsung Americans who changed the course of history, from the founding to the civil rights movement / Sharon McMahon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McMahon, Sharon, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--History--Anecdotes.

United States.

United States--Biography.

Social reformers--United States--History.

Social reformers.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

307 pages ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

Twelve unsung Americans who changed the course of history, from the founding to the civil rights movement

12 unsung Americans who changed the course of history, from the founding to the civil rights movement

Place of Publication:

New York : Thesis, [2024]

Summary:

"From America's favorite government teacher, a heartfelt, inspiring portrait of twelve ordinary Americans whose courage formed the character of our country. In The Small and the Mighty, Sharon McMahon proves that the most remarkable Americans are often ordinary people who didn't make it into the textbooks. Not the presidents, but the telephone operators. Not the aristocrats, but the schoolteachers. Through meticulous research, she discovers history's unsung characters and brings their rich, riveting stories to light for the first time. You'll meet a woman astride a white horse riding down Pennsylvania Ave, a young boy detained at a Japanese incarceration camp, a formerly enslaved woman on a mission to reunite with her daughter, a poet on a train, and a teacher who learns to work with her enemies. More than one thing is bombed, and multiple people surprisingly become rich. Some rich with money, and some wealthy with things that matter more.This is a book about what really made America - and Americans - great. McMahon's cast of improbable champions will become familiar friends, lighting the path we journey in our quest to make the world more just, peaceful, good, and free." -- Publisher's website.

Contents:

New York, 1804

Angel of the Rockies. Clara Brown, Kentucky, 1830s

Bleeding Kansas, 1850s

Clara Brown, Colorado, 1870s

The next needed thing. Virginia Randolph, Virginia, 1890

Henrico County, Virginia, 1907

America the Beautiful. Katharine Lee Bates, Cape Cod, 1859

Katharine Lee Bates, England, 1880s

Katharine Lee Bates, Chicago, 1890s

Forward out of darkness. Inez Milholland, New York, 1910

Maria de Lopez, California, 1911

Rebecca Brown Mitchell, Idaho, 1856

Inez Milholland, the West, 1916

France, 1916

An orientation of the spirit. Anna Thomas Jeanes, Philadelphia, 1822

William James Edwards, Alabama, 1869

Julius Rosenwald, Illinois, 1862

Booker T. Washington, Virginia, 1856

Go for broke. The Inouyes, Hawaii, 1924

The Minetas, California, 1942

Daniel Inouye, Europe, 1943

Norman Mineta, 1950s

Momentum. Claudette Colvin, Alabama, 1950s

Septima Clark, Charleston, South Carolina, 1898

America, 1950s

Teenagers in the American South, 1950s

Montgomery, Alabama, 1955.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-307).

American Book Awards - Winner, 2025

ISBN:

0593541677

9780593541678

OCLC:

1415749237

Publisher Number:

90100418165