Black History Month: Honoring Authors Who Have Woven an Enduring Thread in the Tapestry of History

Authors from all walks of life have stories to share, and the Foundation has featured a multitude of storytellers at signature events throughout the years, many of whom have shared their personal experiences through their eyes and the eyes of their ancestors.

In honor of Black History Month, the Foundation spotlights the talented authors who have graced the stage of our events and left an indelible mark on us all.

Dr. Rick Rigsby

Beyond his academic background as an award-winning professor at Texas A&M, Dr. Rigsby is a former award-winning journalist and a regular contributor on various national television and radio programs. His genuine commitment to helping individuals realize their full potential is evident in his transformative podcast, How Ya' Livin’? where he draws upon four decades of experience and expertise to encourage, inspire, and challenge people at every level.

Dr. Rigsby is not only a respected speaker but also a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Amazon bestselling author, with notable works such as Lessons From a Third Grade Dropout and Afraid to Hope.

Dr. Rigsby was a featured author in 2022 at A Celebration of Reading: Life. Liberty. Literacy, sharing meaningful life lessons from his father, gifting words of wisdom despite having a third-grade level of education. Through his multifaceted contributions, Dr. Rick Rigsby exemplifies a sincere dedication to empowering others to dream bigger, stretch beyond their comfort zones, and achieve the impossible.

Isabel Wilkerson

Isabel Wilkerson has become a leading figure in narrative nonfiction, bringing the invisible and marginalized into the light and our hearts. Her debut work, The Warmth of Other Suns, won the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is a National Humanities Medal recipient, and during her tenure as Chicago Bureau Chief of The New York Times, became the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism. Her most recent bestselling book, Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, invites us to discover the inner workings of an American hierarchy that goes beyond the confines of race, class, or gender.

Wilkerson was a featured author in 2023 at A Celebration of Reading: Faith, Family, and Friends, where she discussed her writing journey and how valuable it is to share the story of her ancestors. Wilkerson shares, “…I am the product of the history that I’ve written about because of our country’s history. It was actually against the law for my ancestors to learn to read and to write, and here I stand before you as a Pulitzer Prize winner who makes my living doing exactly what they were prohibited from doing.”

From the great migration to Jim Crow Law, Wilkerson was compelled to write these novels with today’s climate in mind and urges others to continue to educate themselves and hold each other accountable.

James McBride

James McBride is an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of eight books including Miracle at St. Anna, Song Yet Sung, Oprah’s Book Club selection Deacon King Kong, and, most recently, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. His landmark memoir, The Color of Water, spent more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list and is considered an American classic. The Good Lord Bird won the National Book Award for Fiction. McBride has been a staff writer for The Boston Globe, People Magazine, and The Washington Post, and is an accomplished musician, and screenwriter. A recipient of a National Humanities Medal, McBride is also a distinguished writer in residence at New York University.

The Ladies for Literacy Guild had the pleasure of hosting McBride at their 2025 First Lady’s Book Club event. During the program, he joined Foundation Board Member Ruth Simmons, Ph.D. for a conversation about his latest novel, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, which explores the intertwined lives of Black and Jewish residents in the impoverished Chicken Hill neighborhood of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in the 1920s and 1930s.

Ruth Simmons

Ruth Simmons, Ph.D. is a pioneering leader in higher education whose life covers many years of profound impact. She holds a Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literature from Harvard University and has held faculty and administrative roles at the University of Southern California, Princeton University, and Spelman College. Simmons led Smith College, the nation’s largest women’s college, where she launched the first engineering program at an American women’s college. She then assumed the presidency of Brown University from 2001 to 2012 and later became the first woman president of Prairie View A&M University in its 140-year history.

Her many honors include the President’s Award from the United Negro College Fund, the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal, the Foreign Policy Association Medal, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and the Centennial Medal from Harvard University. Simmons continues to hold memberships in numerous societies and participates on a variety of non-profit boards such as the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation.

Outside the classroom, she is the author of Up Home: One Girl’s Journey which was released in 2023. The inspiring memoir dives into the details of her life from a sharecropping family in Jim Crow Texas to becoming the first Black president of an Ivy League university.

Leon Carroll, Jr.

Leon Carroll, Jr. is a man who has worn many hats over the course of a distinguished career. An author, military veteran, and law enforcement professional, his service spans decades. A commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps, Carroll rose to the rank of Major before embarking on a 20-year career as a Special Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). His assignments included serving as a Special Agent Afloat aboard the USS Ranger (CV-61) and as Special Agent in Charge of NCIS offices in the Republic of Panama and the Pacific Northwest.

Following his retirement, Carroll spent more than 20 seasons drawing on his real-world experience as a technical advisor for the hit television series NCIS. Among his most recent accomplishments is co-authoring the bestselling Ghost series with Mark Harmon. The series will expand on April 14, 2026, with the release of Ghosts of Sicily: The True Story of the Naval Intelligence Agents Who Courted the Mob to Fight Nazis in America and on the Battlefields of Italy. Carroll will be one of four authors at this year’s A Celebration of Reading, where he will share his insights and champion the mission of literacy.

Yolanda Adams

Yolanda Adams is no stranger to the world of music. Widely regarded as the “Queen of Contemporary Gospel Music,” she boasts an extraordinary career marked by both commercial success and critical acclaim. With more than 10 million albums sold worldwide, Adams has earned four Grammy Awards, six NAACP Image Awards, four Dove Awards, seven Soul Train Music Awards, and an impressive 16 Stellar Gospel Music Awards, along with induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

A Houston native, Adams’ ability to uplift and inspire audiences through her powerful voice and messages of faith, hope, and perseverance extends far beyond the stage. Her influence is reflected in her work as a philanthropist, entrepreneur, and author of Points of Power: Discover a Spirit-Filled Life of Joy and Purpose.

Adams will serve as a musical guest alongside an exciting author lineup that features author Leon Carroll, Jr. at this year’s A Celebration of Reading, held at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. The event will highlight the theme, “Literacy for All” while commemorating our nation’s 250th anniversary. This signature event honors Barbara Bush’s enduring commitment to literacy and her belief in empowering individuals to reach their fullest potential.

Learn more at https://www.barbarabushhouston.org/celebration