Anderson, Marion.
My Lord, What A Morning
. New York: Viking Press, 1956.
The life and rise to stardom of this well-known opera singer.
Angelou, Maya.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
. New York: Random House, 1969.
Descriptions of the author’s early life with her grandmother in Arkansas and her later years in St. Louis and San Francisco.
Ashe, Arthur.
Advantage Ashe
. As told to Clifford George Gewecke, Jr. New York: Coward/McCann, 1967.
The career of this tennis star is described beginning with his teen years in Virginia.
Baldwin, James.
Notes of a Native Son
. New York: Bantam Books, 1904.
Powerful autobiographical work of growing up black.
Bates, Daisy.
The Long Shadow of Little Rock
. New York: David McKay, 1962.
A memoir describing the person behind the fight for school integration in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.
Bibb, Henry.
Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb.
Miami: Mnemosyne Publishers, 1969.
The story of the slave system and one slave’s growth to manhood and dignity within that system.
Bradley, Bill.
Life on the Run
. New York: Quadrangle/New York Times Book, 1976.
A Rhodes Scholar and All-American basketball player. His life as a pro.
Brown, Jimmy, with Myron Cyse.
Off My Chest
. Garden City: Doubleday, 1964.
The high and low points in the career of this Cleveland Brown fullback.
Campanella, Roy.
It’s Great to be Alive
. Boston: Little, Brown, 1959.
A one-time Dodger’s catcher who has to learn to live with paralysis after a car accident.
Dahl, Ronald.
Boy
. New York: Farrar-Straus-Giroux, 1984.
Memoirs of the school years of the author of
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
and
James and the Giant Peach
.
Douglass Frederick
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
. Garden City: Dolphin Books, 1963.
Douglass’ life as a slave his struggles to learn to read and write, and his eventual escape to freedom.
Frank, Anne.
The Diary of A Young Girl
. New York: Pocket Books, 1964.
The journal of a young Jewish girl in hiding from the Nazis in Holland during World War II.
Franklin, Benjamin.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
. New York: Pocket Books, 1939.
A printer, inventor, statesman, and singer of the Declaration of Independence.
Fritz, Jean.
China Homecoming
. New York: G.P. Purnam’s Sons, 1985.
The story of an American woman’s return to China after leaving there at age 13.
Gibson, Althea.
I Always Wanted to Be Somebody
. New York: Harper and Row, 1958.
The story of a champion tennis player’s efforts to gain a foothold in the all-white tennis world.
Gordy, Barry, Sr.
Movin’ Up
. New York: Harper and Row, 1979.
The story of the father of the man who started Motown Records.
Lund, Doris.
Eric
. New York: Dell, 1974.
The author describes her son’s battle against leukemia and the effect his illness has on her family and herself.
Malcolm X, with the assistance of Alex Haley.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
. New York: Grove Press, 1965.
The autobiography of this famous religious and black leader who was assassinated in 1965.
Nhuong, Huynh Quang.
The Land I Lost
. New York: Harper and Row, 1982.
A collection of remembrances of the author’s boyhood in Viet Nam.
Owens, Jesse, with Paul C. Neimark.
The Jesse Owens Story
. New York: Putnam’s, 1970.
For younger readers, the major events in Owen’s life.
Salzman, Mark.
Iron and Silk
. New York: Vintage Books, 1987.
Memoirs of the author’s two years in China as a teacher of English and student of martial arts.
Sandburg Carl.
Prairie-Town Boy
. Harcourt, Brace and World, 1952.
This American poet’s story of his boyhood in Galesburg, Illinois.
Singer, Isaac Bashevis.
A Day of Pleasure
. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1963.
Nobel Prize winning author describes growing up in Poland from 1908-1918.
———.
Lost in America
. Garden City: Doubleday, 1981. Singer’s dreams of a trip to America in 1930.
Sloane, Verna Mae.
What My Heart Wants to Tell
. Washington, D.C.: New Republic Books, 1979.
Growing up in the Kentucky Mountains at the turn of the twentieth century.
ten Bloom, Carrie, with John and Elizabeth Shemill.
The Hiding Place
. Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell, 1971.
The author’s experiences during the Nazi’s invasion and occupation of Holland during World War II.
Wojciechowski, Maia.
Till the Break of Day
. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Javanovich, 1972.
This is an account of this Newberry Medal-winning author’s life during World War II and her escape from Poland after the Nazis invaded in 1939.