The story of how a young Southern girl who was raised on a pig farm became one of the most influential and inspiring people in the world.

We all know Oprah Winfrey as a talk-show host, actress, producer, media mogul, and philanthropist, but the “Queen of Talk” wasn’t always so fortunate. She suffered through a rough childhood and went on to use her personal struggles as motivation. Oprah’s kindness, resilience, and determination are just some of the many reasons why her viewers–and people all around the world–love her. The richest African American person of the twentieth century, Oprah is often described as the most influential woman in the world.

Read all about how a young Black girl who loved numbers grew into a brilliant mathematician who helped land the first person on the moon in this inspiring addition to the Who Was? series.

From a very young age, Katherine Johnson counted everything—the number of dirty dishes she’d washed, the steps she walked to church, and even the number of leaves on the trees. By 1928, she was so intelligent and skilled at math that she was able to skip several grades and start high school at age ten! And while Katherine had to deal with racism, segregation, and prejudice throughout her life, she did not let this hold her back from becoming a mathematician.

In 1953, she started working as a “human computer” at America’s space agency, now known as NASA. Katherine calculated complex equations by hand, and these calculations helped astronauts travel safely into space. She was a part of many important missions, including the Apollo 11 mission that put the first person on the moon.

Katherine Johnson broke barriers and became a trailblazer for women and people of color in the fields of math and science, and her story in this illustrated biography shows young readers that with hard work and determination, anyone can reach for the stars!

Okay, readers, now let’s get in formation! Learn about the life of the perfectionist performer known as Queen Bey and how she created her flawless discography of hit records like Renaissance and Cowboy Carter.

In 2003, Beyoncé went solo after being in the popular girl group Destiny’s Child and began one of the most iconic, successful music careers in history. She has won thirty-two Grammy Awards and has been nominated over eighty times, making her the most-awarded person in Grammy history. Beyoncé has released eight studio albums, including Lemonade and I Am…Sasha Fierce. She puts on record-breaking world tours with fashion-forward costumes and complex choreography, as seen on the Renaissance world tour. Beyoncé’s fluid voice and her incredibly wide vocal range have allowed her to create some of the most popular songs of the twenty-first century, spanning different genres like pop, R&B, country, dance, and hip-hop. This fierce singer has had the gift of music since she was a young child and continues to captivate the world with her incomparable artistry.