Black Pioneers of Science and Invention

A readable, perceptive account of the lives of fourteen gifted innovators who have played important roles in scientific and industrial progress. The achievements of Benjamin Banneker, Granville T. Woods, George Washington Carver, and others have made jobs easier, saved countless lives, and in many cases, altered the course of history.

Book: Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

The #1 New York Times bestseller

The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner.

Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.

Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South’s segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America’s aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam’s call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.

Even as Virginia’s Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley’s all-black “West Computing” group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens.

Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliances and used their intellect to change their own lives, and their country’s future.

Diamond Cut The Pain How To Shine Like A Diamond

Unique, edgy, authentic and relatable, Diamond Cut The Pain How To Shine Like A Diamond is an interactive eye opening self-help guide that will not only give you a lift where you are on the road of life, but send you on an emotional tour and have you laughing at the bumps and curves all the way to your destination!

Filled with helpful tips, real-life quotes, hands-on-exercises, stories and poems that are sure to make you say "I've been there," or "I hope that NEVER happens to me!" Diamond Cut The Pain How To Shine Like A Diamond is a down-to-earth fun way to inspire you to change the way you view life and yourself.

Fasten your seat belts, and get ready for the ride of a lifetime, highlighted by events from some of Miss Tiff's life...and yours!

Source: http://www.tiffanildance.com

ASPW: THE MARCUS THIGPEN STORY

Average Skill Phenomenal Will: The Marcus Thigpen Story

Success isn't given. It's earned.

Sometimes the trauma of rejection makes success seem impossible; especially in the face of unyielding obstacles. How many times do you have to fall before throwing in the towel makes sense? How many doors have to close before you consider other options? 

NFL star, Marcus Thigpen, takes us through his journey of failures turned success in a riveting tale of how perseverance and iron will can change even the most average of circumstances. 

This is a must read for students and adults of all ages! 

*PRE-ORDER ITEM* Shipments containing this item will Start shipping out  the week of {JAN. 7, 2016}. Other items ordered along with it will ship on the same date.

http://shop.etinspires.com/products/aspw-thigpen

THE LITTLE BOY/GIRL WHO COULD (COLORING BOOKS)

@NeoDaviso

Bring home both The Little Boy and Little Girl Who Could Special Edition Coloring Books!

**Coloring Books are only available as a set**

The Little Boy Who Could & The Little Girl Who Could series was created by Authors Nehemiah Davis & S.Deen, to inspire & motivate our children readers to be the best that they can be in all areas of life. These books discuss the importance of school as well as the importance of having & following your dreams. We understand that leaders are readers so we created not only fun stories, but stories with messages to encourage our youth to go from good to great. These Inspiring stories will keep our readers engaged from start to finish & they will encourage our youth to read more. These books are also read in MP3 audio format by international Speaker Naeem Hudson & International Entrepreneur Taylor Moxey.

Author: http://nehemiahdavis.com/

NFL star Martellus Bennett on his new children’s book and app, Hey A.J.

It’s not everyday that a 6 ft. 7 in. NFL star says he is going to spend his offseason designing and launching a new interactive children’s app.

So to learn more, we sat down with Martellus Bennett, tight end for the New England Patriots and founder of The Imagination Agency, a multimedia production company designed to bring Martellus’ ideas to life.

The first product out of the studio is Hey A.J., a children’s book with an accompanying interactive mobile app. The app lets you read along with different narrators and play a game where you help A.J. make breakfast.

It’s certainly unusual for an NFL star to be creating children’s characters and stories in his spare time. But as Martellus explained, it’s something he’s done his whole life. But now, using proceeds from his football career, Martellus is shifting his focus from creating characters to actually putting them to work inside content like books, apps and animated film.

While Hey A.J. is the only project released so far, Martellus explained he has “hundreds of characters in his head” just waiting to be turned into a story. And it seems that he’ll get his wish, as his startup is planning to release two more apps and books over the next year, as well as upcoming animated TV and film projects showcasing Martellus’ creativity.

Watch the above video to learn more about Martellus’ vision for The Imagination Agency, how he thinks technology like virtual reality will change entertainment and what it’s been like trying to start a new company while playing in the NFL.

Hey A.J. is available online now, and the app is available in both the iOS App Store and Google Play Store.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/30/nfl-star-martellus-bennett-talks-about-hey-a-j-his-new-childrens-book-and-app/

THE LITTLE BOY/GIRL WHO COULD

@NeoDaviso

The Little Boy Who Could & The Little Girl Who Could series was created by Authors Nehemiah Davis & S.Deen, to inspire & motivate our children readers to be the best that they can be in all areas of life. These books discuss the importance of school as well as the importance of having & following your dreams. We understand that leaders are readers so we created not only fun stories, but stories with messages to encourage our youth to go from good to great. These Inspiring stories will keep our readers engaged from start to finish & they will encourage our youth to read more. These books are also read in MP3 audio format by international Speaker Naeem Hudson & International Entrepreneur Taylor Moxey.

Author: http://nehemiahdavis.com/

The Librarian Who Saved Timbuktu’s Cultural Treasures From al Qaeda

For custodians of the ancient heritage of the Middle East and North Africa, the recent rise of Islamist extremist groups has posed a dire challenge. Since its seizure of the historic Iraqi city of Mosul in early 2014, Islamic State has pillaged and demolished mosques, shrines, churches and other sacred sites across the region. The group continues to launch “cultural cleansing” operations from Tikrit to Tripoli.

In this grim procession, there have been occasional victories for culture over extremism, like the recapture last month of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, which may now be restored to something of its previous glory. A less familiar case of cultural rescue features an unlikely hero: a 51-year-old book collector and librarian named Abdel Kader Haidara in the fabled city of Timbuktu, in the West African country of Mali.

The story begins in April 2012, when Mr. Haidara returned home from a business trip to learn that the weak Malian army had collapsed and that nearly 1,000 Islamist fighters from one of al Qaeda’s African affiliates, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, had occupied his city. He encountered looters, gunfire and black flags flying from government buildings, and he feared that the city’s dozens of libraries and repositories—home to hundreds of thousands of rare Arabic manuscripts—would be pillaged.

The prizes in Mr. Haidara’s own private collection, housed in his Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library, include a tiny, irregularly shaped Quran from the 12th century, written on parchment made from the dried skin of a fish and glittering with illuminated blue Arabic letters and droplets of gold. His collection also boasts many secular volumes: manuscripts about astronomy, poetry, mathematics, occult sciences and medicine, such as a 254-page volume on surgery and elixirs derived from birds, lizards and plants, written in Timbuktu in 1684. “Many of the manuscripts show that Islam is a religion of tolerance,” he told me.

Historic Timbuktu Texts Saved From Burning (Feb. 1, 2013)
Mr. Haidara knew that many of the works in the city’s repositories were ancient examples of the reasoned discourse and intellectual inquiry that the jihadists, with their intolerance and rigid views of Islam, wanted to destroy. The manuscripts, he thought, would inevitably become a target.

A few days after the jihadist occupation began, Mr. Haidara, who worked full time as a book restorer, archivist and fundraiser, met with his colleagues at the office of the Timbuktu library association, which he had formed 15 years earlier. “I think we need to take out the manuscripts from the big buildings and disperse them around the city to family houses,” he told them, as he recalled the conversation for me two years later. “We don’t want them finding the collections of manuscripts and stealing them or destroying them.”

Months earlier, the Ford Foundation office in Lagos, Nigeria, had given Mr. Haidara a $12,000 grant to study English at Oxford in the fall and winter of 2012. The money had been wired to a savings account. He emailed the foundation and asked for authorization to reallocate the funds to protect the manuscripts from the hands of Timbuktu’s occupiers. The money was released in three days. Mr. Haidara recruited his nephew, and they reached out to archivists, secretaries, Timbuktu tour guides and a half-dozen of Mr. Haidara’s relatives.

The result was a heist worthy of “Ocean’s Eleven.” They bought metal and wooden trunks at a rate of between 50 and 80 a day, made more containers out of oil barrels and located safe houses around the city and beyond. They organized a small army of packers who worked silently in the dark and arranged for the trunks to be carried by donkey to their hiding places.

Over the course of eight months, the operation came to involve hundreds of packers, drivers and couriers. They smuggled the manuscripts out of Timbuktu by road and by river, past jihadist checkpoints and, in government territory, suspicious Malian troops. By the time French troops invaded the north in January 2013, the radicals had managed to destroy only 4,000 of Timbuktu’s nearly 400,000 ancient manuscripts. “If we hadn’t acted,” Mr. Haidara told me later, “I’m almost 100% certain that many, many others would have been burned.”

Mr. Haidara was especially proud of rescuing one manuscript: a crumbling volume about conflict resolution between the kingdoms of Borno and Sokoto in what is now Nigeria, the work of a Sufi holy warrior and intellectual who had briefly ruled Timbuktu in the mid-19th century. This man, Mr. Haidara argued, was a jihadist in the original and best sense of the word: one who struggles against evil ideas, desires and anger in himself and subjugates them to reason and obedience to God’s commands. It was, he thought, a fitting rebuke to all that the militants stood for.

Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-librarian-who-saved-timbuktus-cultural-treasures-from-al-qaeda-1460729998

Brave: S. Cherry

Athena Davenport is a young woman going nowhere fast. On the outside, everything seemed to be perfect, but on the inside, there was an outcry for more than her average job, normal safe home and she was still in search of real love. She could feel a storm brewing and it was becoming impossible to ignore. Come step into her accidental journey of self-discovery and wild trial and error romances. Have you ever wondered what you were born to do? Well, so did she and through wobbly knees and shaking hands she went in search of the life she wanted but discovered exactly what she needed. Will she choose what’s comfortable or will she go get the life she secretly covets in her dreams? You will laugh, you will cry, but most of all you will come to understand we are all a part of the greatest love story that has ever been told and we are all Brave!

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1536856576

Girl Overcomes A Hard Childhood To Become A Ballerina

Michaela DePrince ended up in an orphanage in Sierra Leone after her parents died. In this orphanage you were ranked from 1 - 27 depending on how much they liked you with 1 being the best and 27 being the worst. Because of her skin condition she was ranked 27 and constantly called a devil child. One day she saw a picture of a ballerina without knowing what it was. It was that day that she decided that is what she would strive to be. Check out the video to hear her whole story.

Source: http://sfglobe.com/?id=17901&src=mbl_17901&t=syn

Trust Your Journey: Raelia Lewis

@raelia_lewis

Trust Your Journey is an ode to dreamers. This book is an inspirational story that encourages readers to believe. It includes visionary exercises, and real life experiences that strengthen the mind, change perspectives, and promote positive thinking. All things are possible if you believe that they are!

Link: http://raelialewis.com/product/trust-your-journey/

Homeless at Age 13 to a College Graduate: An Autobiography

In this autobiography, Anthony takes the reader through his harrowing past of ending up homeless at age 13 in Washington, D.C. after the death of his grandmother and escaping being murdered by his mother with a meat cleaver one night due to her habitual drug use. Despite not being able to attend high school because the need to feed and clothe himself at such a young age, he was able to earn his GED and leave a homeless shelter behind after getting accepted into a University in North Carolina in 2009. From being a 4.0 student and apart of numerous honor societies since freshmen year, Anthony prepares the reader to experience what it was like being homeless at age 13, to becoming one out of 14 homeless students in the country recognized by the United States of America's Interagency Council on Homelessness and being elected Student Body President of the university his junior year all while graduating Magna Cum Laude in the top percentile of his graduating class in year 2013. This is his story.

Chess for Success: Using an Old Game to Build New Strengths in Children and Teens

Maurice Ashley immigrated to New York from Jamaica at the age of twelve, only to be confronted with the harsh realities of urban life. But he found his inspiration for a better life after stumbling upon a chess book and becoming hypnotized by the game. He would eventually break the chess world's color lines by becoming an International Grandmaster in 1999.

Ashley realized that chess strategies could be used as an educational tool to help children avoid the pitfalls often associated with growing up. In this book, he serves up compelling anecdotes about how chess has positively affected young players. He also offers tips on technique, how to make the game fun for children of all ages and levels, and how to overcome the myth that chess isn't cool. Through his guidance, readers will understand how chess strategies can improve a child's mental agility, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Chess for Success is a much-anticipated resource for parents, teachers, counselors, youth workers, and chess lovers.

African American Quiz Bowl: Honoring the Legacy: Honoring the Legacy - Press Release

Author Brenda Lang-Knapp sheds light on the African-American truths and contributions to American history. After an extensive research, she put her findings together in “African American Quiz Bowl.” This is not a typical book about African Americans. It is an account of the many trials, tribulations, and contributions of African Americans to the United States in particular and the world in general. 

“The African American Quiz Bowl” is a compilation of facts about African American pioneers and leaders who have made an impact on people’s lives through their innovativeness and talents.  Many African Americans never received the recognition that they deserved because school curriculum and media outlets have neglected to include an unbiased accounting of their achievements. It is a resource that reveals the many contributions of Black people that have been omitted from the history books. 

The concept of the quiz bowl format is to enable teachers and students to learn about African American achievements in a contest type setting. Additionally, for teachers who wish to use the book as a contest, there will be a teacher’s guide of educational activities to complement the text. This will also help students become more knowledgeable about the past and use this information in decision making and lifelong learning.

Written in an easy-to-understand question and answer format, this book could make a difference in how African Americans are viewed in the United States and around the world. Readers should be able to see that they have been shortchanged in their learning, and that they would want to acquire a more accurate understanding and knowledge of this hidden past.

Russell Westbrook Launches New Initiative to Promote Childhood Literacy

Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook’s latest move is a true reflection of NBA players caring about the next generation of community leaders.

On October 27th, Westbrook launched his new “Russell’s Reading Room” initiative at North Highland Elementary School in Oklahoma. Funded by his organization, Russell Westbrook Why Not? Foundation, the NBA superstar stocked the new reading center with 1,200 books for children of all ages and plans to open two more centers within the next couple of months.

Partnering with Scholastic for their National Read 100,000 program, Westbrook is challenging students to log 100,000 minutes of reading throughout the year. At the end of the school year, Subway will sponsor an assembly with Westbrook and the school that has the most students with logged in reading minutes.

“Reading is a key to success,” Westbrook tells NewsOK. “When people in my position are able to do things like this, give kids something exciting to see, give them some type of encouragement, give them access or some type of way to reward them for reading.”

Russell Westbrook Why Not? Foundation was launched in 2012 with the mission to inspire kids and encourage them to ask “Why Not?” when faced with the challenge of being told they can’t do something. Westbrook’s foundation hosts annual Thanksgiving and Christmas events for the community in order to provide resources for individuals in need.

Source: http://www.blackenterprise.com/education/russell-westbrook-promote-childhood-literacy/

The Science Behind America's Game

Did you hear the one about the MacArthur genius physicist and the NFL coach? It's not a joke. It's actually an innovative way to understand chaos theory, and the remarkable complexity of modern professional football.

In Newton's Football, journalist and New York Times bestselling author Allen St. John and TED talker and former Yale professor Ainissa Ramirez explore the unexpected science behind America's Game. Whether it's Jerry Rice finding the common ground between quantum physics and the West Coast offense or an Ivy League biologist explaining--at a granular level--exactly how a Big Mac morphs into an outside linebacker, Newton's Football illuminates football--and science--through funny, insightful stories told by some of the world's sharpest minds.

With a clear-eyed empirical approach--and an exuberant affection for the game--St. John and Ramirez address topics that have long beguiled scientists and football fans alike, including:

* the unlikely evolution of the football (or, as they put it, "The Divine Random Bounce of the Prolate Spheroid")
* what Vince Lombardi has in common with Isaac Newton
* how the hardwired behavior of monkeys can explain a head coach's reluctance to go for it on fourth-down
* why a gruesome elevator accident jump-started the evolution of placekicking
* how Teddy Roosevelt saved football using the same behavioral science concept that Dreamworks would use to save Shrek
* why woodpeckers don't get concussions
* how better helmets actually made the game more dangerous

Every Sunday the NFL shares a secret with only its savviest fans: The game isn't just a clash of bodies, it's a clash of ideas. The greatest minds in football have always possessed an instinctual grasp of science, understanding the big ideas and gritty realities that inform the game's rich past, as well as its increasingly uncertain future.

Blending smart reporting, counterintuitive creativity, and compelling narrative, Newton's Football takes gridiron analysis to the next level, giving fans a book that entertains, enlightens, and explains the game anew.

Ainissa G. Ramirez, Ph.D. is a science evangelist who is passionate about getting the general public excited about science.  She co-authored (with Allen St. John) Newton’s Football: The Science Behind America’s Game (Random House); and, authored Save Our Science: How to Inspire a New Generation of Scientists (TED Books).

Before taking on the call to improve the public’s understanding of science, she was an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science at Yale University.  Technology Review, the magazine of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), named her as one of the world’s 100 Top Young Innovators for her contributions to transforming technology.  She has been profiled in The New York Times, Fortune Magazine, CNN, NPR, ESPN, The Hartford Courant and numerous scientific magazines (Scientific American and Discover Magazine).

Dr. Ramirez received her training in materials science and engineering from Brown University (Sc.B.) and Stanford University (Ph.D.). Prior to being on the faculty at Yale, she was a research scientist at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, in Murray Hill, New Jersey were she did award-winning research. She has authored more than 50 technical papers, holds six patents, and has presented her work worldwide.

She now focuses her energies on making science fun, and gave an impassioned called to action at TED on the importance of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, which generated widespread enthusiasm. At Yale, she was the director of the award-winning science lecture series for children called Science Saturdays and hosted two popular-science video series called Material Marvels and Science Xplained.

As a graduate student she wrote as a science correspondent for Time magazine’s Washington D.C. bureau, which ignited her passion for communicating science.  Now, she speaks internationally on the importance of making science fun and has served as a science advisor to the American Film Institute, WGBH/NOVA, and several science museums.

Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/05/football-science-concussion-helmet-nfl_n_5924600.html

Dr. Dennis Kimbro On How To Become Wealthy

Wouldn't it be nice if there were a roadmap to becoming a millionaire? Well, according to Dennis Kimbro's new book, "The Wealth Choice," there absolutely is.

Roland Martin sat down with author, Dennis Kimbro to discuss the roadmap to becoming a millionaire.

Subscribe to the Washington Watch Video Podcast on iTunes @http://ow.ly/khAbi

Operation-Back to the Field

It is always good to see a new book on the shelf that's worth the read. But this book is a little different because the author is only seven years of age. Yes, his name is Amare Small and he has written his first book which focuses on getting back onto the field of one of his favorite sports.

“No football this year” said dad. These words rang in Amare’s ears like bells. All Amare ever wanted to do was to become a great football player and go to the National Football League one day like his favorite player Cam the Man, and his parents were crushing his dream. He know if he was going to play football he had to convince his parents that he needed to be on that field with his teammates. He needed to come up with a plan…. Not just any plan… the best plan ever! OPERATION BACK TO THE FIELD is a go!

Source: http://www.operationback.com/

Universal Talk Laws

KINJADIXON.COM Everyone who's attained wealth, regardless of how, had to SPEAK to someone. Whether the aspiration was to start a company, acquire a promotion or seal a multimillion dollar deal, it was by means of skillful communication that their lives were forever changed. The most influential person you know has a way with WORDS that causes everyone to be drawn to him or her no matter what the situation. We have all heard of the person who can SELL anything to anyone at anytime with seemingly no effort. The secret to how these people do this is in your hands right NOW •How to gain disciplines and create actions to ensure that each day of your life is productive •How to vitalize your family's core value with proven mindset principles dated back as far as the 18th century •How to recognize and utilize opportunities in your current role as preparation for your next position •How to manage all fears •How to become self-reliant in a sales environment and in life •What Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Andrew Carnegie, and many more successful people have in common •How to turn each of your employees into independent bosses •How to live a more joyous life regardless of your conditions •How to turn pain into positive production. Kinja Dixon is a motivational speaker, life coach, and sales guru with more than a decade of consistent sales excellence. Most recently awarded the 2013 Stevie Award for Sales Represenative of the year and 2013 ARDY for Inhouse Salesperson of the year. Kinja has personally helped thousands of families from all over the globe enhance their quality of living by spending more time together away from home.

Source: http://www.kinjadixon.com/

Misty Copeland - Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina

As the only African American soloist dancing with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre, Misty Copeland has made history. But when she first placed her hands on the barre at an after-school community center, no one expected the undersized, anxious thirteen-year-old to become a ground­breaking ballerina.

When she discovered ballet, Misty was living in a shabby motel room, struggling with her five siblings for a place to sleep on the floor. A true prodigy, she was dancing en pointe within three months of taking her first dance class and performing professionally in just over a year: a feat unheard of for any classical dancer. But when Misty became caught between the control and comfort she found in the world of ballet and the harsh realities of her own life (culmi­nating in a highly publicized custody battle), she had to choose to embrace both her identity and her dreams, and find the courage to be one of a kind.

With an insider’s unique point of view, Misty opens a window into the life of a professional bal­lerina who lives life center stage: from behind the scenes at her first auditions to her triumphant roles in some of the most iconic ballets. But in this beautifully written memoir, she also delves deeper to reveal the desire and drive that made her dreams reality.

Life in Motion is a story of passion and grace for anyone who has dared to dream of a different life.

Source: http://www.amazon.com/Life-Motion-An-Unlikely-Ballerina/dp/1476737983