Three times a year, this extraordinary reference series provides biographical profiles of important persons of African heritage. Whether they are personalities from the news, selected 20th-century notables, or individuals who are not yet household names, these are the men and women who are changing today's world and shaping the world of tomorrow.

Each volume of Contemporary Black Biography contains at least 65 full-length biographies written in an easy-to-follow prose style, ranging from 2 to 4 pages each. Arranged alphabetically, entries are divided by subheads for quick scanning....