SUCCESS: Margot Lee Shetterly
MARGOT LEE Shetterly’s Hidden Figures exposed the world to the truth. The truth being that white men alone weren't responsible for winning the space race, and showcased women – most importantly black women's role within that.
After the film adaptation becoming a major hit, it has been announced by publishing house Viking that Shetterly will be writing two new books which will examine “the idea of the American Dream and its legacy” by telling the stories of “extraordinary ordinary African-Americans whose contributions to American history have, for one reason or another, been untold, unseen, or overlooked.”
For her first book, Shetterly will tackle Baltimore and the prominent black families that empowered its citizens in the middle of the 20th century, as well as the discriminatory policies and norms, such as redlining, that black Baltimore residents faced.
The upcoming book will focus on Willie Adams, a venture capitalist who invested in numerous black-owned businesses at a time when access to capital was hard for black Americans to come by.
Upon his death in 2011, former Baltimore Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro told the Baltimore Sun, “He brought black entrepreneurs into the formerly all-white business community.”
Adams’ wife, Victorine, was also the first black woman on the Baltimore city council.
In this book, the successful author will also examine the lives of the Murphys, a powerful family who published the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper.