Howard Thurman's Great Hope - Hardcover

Kai Jackson Issa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1600602495 ISBN 13: 9781600602498

Publisher: Lee & Low Books, 2008

Synopsis

Born in segregated Daytona, Florida, in 1899, Howard Thurman grew up dreaming of a better life a life where his mother and grandmother would not have to cook and clean for other people; a life where he could become a college man, honoring his late father s wishes and his own dreams. Through hard work, perseverance, and the support of friends and family, young Howard transcended the limits on Negro education in Daytona and earned a scholarship to an out-of-town high school. His dream did not come easily and was nearly lost, until a kind act by a stranger at a railroad station aided Howard in a time of need. A moving testament to the bonds of community and the power of faith, Howard Thurman's Great Hope illuminates the early life of the man who became a seminal civil rights leader and an inspiration to the nation.

About this title

About the Author

Kai Jackson Issa is a freelance writer and managing editor with The Howard Thurman Papers Project at Morehouse College in Atlanta. Jackson Issa lives in Clarkston, Georgia, with her husband and their two children.

Review

This handsome book introduces one of the first leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Reverend Thurman inspired Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote more than 20 books, and was the first African American to travel to India to meet with Mahatma Gandhi. Born in 1900 in Daytona, FL, he lived with his grandmother and sisters while his widowed mother cleaned and cooked for others. In 1914, the one public school for Negroes in town stopped at the seventh grade, making high school virtually impossible. Nevertheless, Thurman was the best student in the school, and the principal offered to prepare the ambitious boy for the rigorous eighth-grade examination. He passed the exam with a perfect score, earning a full scholarship to the Negro high school in Jacksonville, almost 100 miles away. Thurman graduated first in his class; he attended Morehouse College and was one of only a handful of Negroes to attend Rochester Theological Seminary. The format features a page of text facing an illustration that sometimes extends onto the opposite page. Reds, blues, and yellows pop against brown wood desks or whitewashed walls in vivid, realistic oil paintings. The author drew from Thurman's memoir and papers to create this accessible, engaging biography. --School Library Journal

This important profile introduces young readers to a Civil Rights Movement figure who should be better known. --Kirkus Reviews

This picture-book biography describes the bone-weary working conditions and unfair educational situation for African Americans in the segregated South as well as the uphill struggle of escaping poverty through education. Dawson s realistic oil paintings capture the fatigue, hope, and dignity of Thurman and his hard-working family. An appended note summarizes Thurman's subsequent education, lifetime accomplishments as a prominent minister, and his influence on Martin Luther King Jr and other civil rights leaders. Too few children know about Thurman, but his inspirational struggle to obtain an education make this a worthy title for social-studies units and Black History Month. --Booklist

About this edition

• Publisher: Lee & Low Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1600602495
• ISBN 13: 9781600602498
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Arthur L. Dawson