African American Explorers & Adventurers

From the top of Everest to the deepest recesses of previously unexplored caves, from the heart of the sea to the far reaches of space, African American explorers and adventurers have helped chart the unknown, push the boundaries of the frontier, scale the heights, and shoot for the stars. With profiles of courageous and pioneering figures like Arctic explorer Matthew Alexander Henson, the Lewis and Clark corpsman York, and pilot Bessie Coleman, this inspiring collection celebrates the often unsung accomplishments of African American whalers, gold rush fortune-seekers, explorers, mountaineers, pilots, and other intrepid adventurers. They overcame injustice, prejudice, and inequality to triumph in expanding our knowledge of the world and our notions of what was possible within it.