Builders of Our Nation
Commemorate the innumerable ways the African American community has shaped the foundation of the United States in this stunning, poetic picture book from the Caldecott Honor-winning team behind Freedom in Congo Square.Black hands molded clay, chiseled marble,rendered portraits, and painted vistas.Black hands penned literary testamentsthat have stood the test of time.Since the United States won independence in 1776, African Americans have contributed greatly to the nation’s culture, politics, economy, and landscape. Black Hands celebrates the countless contributions of African Americans—from building the White House, birthing jazz, and landing a man on the moon to pushing for social justice. Black excellence, however, has too often been overlooked.Black Hands reunites Newbery Honor winner Carole Boston Weatherford and Coretta Scott King award-winning illustrator R. Gregory Christie to chronicle the remarkable progress of African Americans, even in the face of adversity.
Contributors: (W) Carole Boston Weatherford (A) R. Gregory Christie
Carole Boston Weatherford is a two-time NAACP Image Award Winner, an ALA-ALSC Children’s Literature Legacy Award Winner, and the author of Standing in the Need of Prayer, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner; Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, which won the Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Awards, a Caldecott Honor, and a Sibert Honor; the Newbery Honor Book Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom; Family Feast!; and many other acclaimed books. She was also named the 2025–2026 Young People’s Poet Laureate. Carole was born in Baltimore, where she now resides.R. Gregory Christie has illustrated more than sixty books for young adults and children, including the Caldecott Honor Book Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford and Nana’s New Soul Food. He has also received two New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year Awards, one Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, six Coretta Scott King Honors for illustration, the NAACP Image Award, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award. In addition, Greg has designed John Coltrane album covers and animated films on Netflix, and he operates his online store of autographed children’s books, GAS-ART Gifts. He lives and works in the Atlanta area.