. >> host: kevin merida, there were two people in this book i never heard of, i'm ashamed to say. one was john michelle basket. >> guest: yes. well, he was really kind of like avant-garde painter. he really was, and right now some of his paintings are i think, his paintings were up there at the highest resale value now turkey died young and he was somebody that, like some young geniuses, they die too young and you never know what they could have become. but even him, we kind of put in as a disruptive because the raw a lot of other artists and in a couple people on our staff, i'm going to call jessie washington. he thought there should have been other notable painters or others that were more deserving of being an artist. .. i think all should be considered. the achievement, success was important. there were a lot of factors. we didn't have a scoresheet. it was just a debate. >> host: the other one i had not heard of. doctor charles drew. >> guest: he is a pie in the air in medicine. in nashville. he represents the importance of medical discovery and the contribution there and the

kevin merida is the editor-in-chief of the undefeated. he's also 11 of the authors on this book, "the fierce 44", book black americans to shook up the world. >> thanks peter. : : :

. >> so kevin merida, why is espn putting down a book called "the fierce 44: black americans who shook up the world". >> guest: our platform that focuses on race, sports and culture, we've done a digital project in 2017, to the first african-american president, hence the title the fee is 44. we had this idea, let's do in homage to i think the greatest achievement for african-americans, to become president. >> host: who should be on the list? >> it was an interactive digital project and it was well received, highly debated and houghton mifflin harcourt publisher said could you turn this into a children's book and because there are not a lot of african-american biographies of a genre that is popular, children's biography collections so they -- robert ball had these beautiful illustrations so we edited our digital project and turned it into a book. >> what the format of this book? >> short bio sketches coupled with illustrations and it just gives you the best give kids enough that they can learn about these tremendous african-american achievers and absorb some of the inspiration and great

. >> kevin merida, why is espn putting out a young readers book called thefierce 44 ? >> for the undefeated, our platform which focuses on race, sports and culture, we had done a digital project 2017 that was kind of an ode tothe first african-american president . hence the title the fierce 44 so we had this idea that let's do kind of an all my two and arguably the greatest achievement for african-americans and who should be on that list? it was a digital project and it was well received, highly debated and then houghton-mifflin said could you turn this into a children's book because there were not a lot of african-american biographies, that's a genre that was popular, children's biography collections so they loved robert ball had these beautiful illustrations so we edited our digital project and turned it into a book. >> what's the format of this book? >> it's basically short bio sketches with a couple would illustrations and it gives you enough that they can learn about these tremendous african-american achievers and just absorb some of the inspiration and greatness

so good. >> host: kevin merida is the editor-in-chief of the undefeated. he is also one of the authors on this book, "the fierce 44" black americans who shook up the world. >> guest: thanks peter. : : :

. >> and there were two people in this book, kevin merida, two people i'd never heard of. jean michelle bass quiat some of his paintings are at the highest resale value right now. he died young. like some young geniuses, they die too young and you never know what they could have become, and even him, he was-- we kind of put him in as a disrupter because there were a lot of other artists and i know a couple of people on our staff, i'm going to call jessie washington out, he thought there should have been other notable painters, roman bearden or others more deserving of being in there as artists, elizabeth katlan. i think this every genre, you have success. you have so much success that you're making choices for lots of different reasons and i like the fact that we have, you know, some zags where people would not expect a person to be in the list. >> so disrupters was important to be included? >> i think, yeah, i think disruption is good. i think courage, bravery. where you're-- or taking a chance, going into places where others, you know, fields that others haven't gone. i

. >> kevin - kevin merida why is there a book called "the fierce 44: black americans who shook up the world"? >> for the undefeated, our platform which focuses on race, sports and culture we have done a digital project in 2017 that was kind of in code to the first african-american president, and the title the fierce 44 so we had this idea let's do kind of an homage to in arguably the greatest achievement and who else should be on that list? we did a list, it was interactive digital projects and it was well received, highly debated and then houghton mifflin harcourt publishers said could you turn this into a children's book. because there are not a lot of african-american biographies in a genre that was popular, children biography collections and they loved, robert ball have these beautiful illustrations so we edited additional project and turned it into a book. >> what is the format of this book? >> it is basically a short biography coupled with illustrations and it gives you enough the kids can learn about these tremendous african-american achievers and just absorb some of the inspir

. >> host: kevin merida is editor in chief of the undefeated and one of the authors of "the fierce 44: black americans who shook up the world". >> guest: thanks for having me. >> you are watching a special edition of booktv airing during the week, while members of congress are in the district due to the coronavirus pandemic. tonight, life in america. american enterprise institute scholar michael strain argues the future is bright for those who want to become successful in the united states. the washington examiner's tim carney has thoughts on why the american dream is less attainable today and later pulitzer prize winning journalist nicholas kristof reporting on the issues facing the working-class in rural america, enjoy booktv now and over the weekend on c-span2. >> joining me is the author of the fellowship award for emerging digital arts writers. a resident at ibm, and instructor at the school for a poetic computation. they have appeared in publications such as the new york times. she will be joined in conversation by a clinical instructor and lecturer on law at harvard law school

. >> host: so kevin merida why are we putting out a young readers book called fierce

. >> kevin merida, why is espn putting out a young readers book called thefierce 44 ? >> for the undefeated, our platform which focuses on race, sports and culture, we had done a digital project 2017 that was kind of an ode tothe first african-american president . hence the title the fierce 44 so we had this idea that let's do kind of an all my two and arguably the greatest