BRAVE. BLACK. FIRST.

Accompanied by Robinson’s brightly textured illustrations, Hudson’s text highlights trailblazing African American women from the 1700s until the present day.

Including women from all industries and spheres of activity—theater to mathematics to tennis—everyone here has made her mark. The illustrations evoke a reverence for these women and capture iconic poses, such as Zora Neale Hurston in her fur-trimmed coat and feathered cap and Angela Davis with a raised fist. Each one-page biography includes a famous, inspiring quote from its subject as epigraph. “Women know how to get things done,” for instance, introduces civil rights activist Dorothy Irene Height. Alongside familiar figures are names likely new to many readers: sculptor Augusta Fells Savage, fashion designer Ann Lowe, and Union Army nurse Susie King Taylor, for instance. Although the book does include a few members of the lesbian, bisexual, and queer community, such as Sheryl Swoopes, there is an absence of transgender women, many of whom have achieved historic firsts in the 20th and 21st centuries. It is disappointing to see the omission of such pivotal figures, who have often stood side by side with cisgender black women to advance the rights and freedoms of African Americans. The backmatter provides additional facts about each woman along with information on artifacts at the National Museum of African American History and Culture and at the National Portrait Gallery.

A beautifully illustrated testament to the continuing excellence and legacy of African American women.