Video

Vashti Harrison’s most inspiring role models from black history

In February 2017, Vashti Harrison began a mission to illustrate and tell the stories of women from black history as part of a Black History Month challenge. Discover six of the forty amazing women she features in Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History...

25 October 2018
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History

  • Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History

  • I made up my mind to try. I tried and I was successful. - Bessie Coleman

    Meet the little leaders. They're brave. They're bold. They changed the world.

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

    Did you know the treatment for leprosy was developed by a young scientist called Alice Ball?
    And Josephine Baker- world famous cabaret singer and dancer- was also a spy for the French résistance?

    Featuring 40 trailblazing black women in the world's history, this book educates and inspires as it relates true stories of women who broke boundaries and exceeded all expectations.

    Debut author/illustrator Vashti Harrison pairs captivating text with stunning illustrations as she tells the stories of both iconic and lesser-known female figures of black history, including:

    Nurse Mary Seacole
    Politician Diane Abbott
    Mathematician Katherine Johnson
    Singer Shirley Bassey

    Inspire your own little leader with the stories of these amazing women.

  • Buy the book

Vashti Harrison

Vashti Harrison earned her MFA in Film/Video from CalArts and BA from the University of Virginia. Her experimental films and documentaries have shown around the world at film festivals. After a brief stint in television as a production coordinator, she is now a freelance graphic designer and a picture-book illustrator. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, USA.

Vashti Harrison

Read more

/content/dam/prh/articles/archive/Little-Leaders-snippet.jpg

Audio

Audio pick of the month | Little Leaders

Featuring 40 trailblazing black women in the world's history, Little Leaders is the inspirational true stories of women who broke boundaries and exceeded all expectations. To celebrate it being our Audio Pick of the Month, we spoke to Pippa Bennett-Warner - narrator of the audiobook - about her experience and what it meant to her.
/content/dam/prh/articles/archive/little-leaders-character-profile-snippet-2.jpg

Inspiration

5 inspirational female role models from black history

Get to know these five extraordinary figures from black history – they were brave, they were bold, they changed the world!
/content/dam/prh/articles/archive/vashti-harrison-little-leaders-editorial-snippet.jpg

Why representational role models in books matter | Vashti Harrison

Author of Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History, Vashti Harrison discusses the importance of profiling diverse heroes, role models, and everyday women in books.

Our Use of Cookies

We use cookies on this site to enable certain parts of the site to function and to collect information about your use of the site so that we can improve our visitors’ experience.

For more on our cookies and changing your settings click here

Strictly Necessary

Strictly Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions. See More.

Analytics

Analytics cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. These cookies may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. See More.

Preferences & Features

Preference and Feature cookies allow our website to remember choices you make, such as your language preferences and any customisations you make to pages on our website during your visit. See More.

Targeting / Advertising

Targeting cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. They perform functions like preventing the same content from reappearing, ensuring ads are displayed and, in some cases, selecting content based on your interests. See More.