Ray Anthony Shepard
Publications
This YA biography-in-verse of six important Black Americans from different eras, including Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama, chronicles the diverse ways each fought racism and shows how much—and how little—has changed for Black Americans since our country’s founding.
2023 Julia Ward-Howe Prize in Children’s/Older Readers
“Shepard creatively argues through captivating poetic history that racial justice is the long struggle in this country. . .” — School Library Journal starred review and Best Children’s Book
“Electrifying … Rooting the events presented in documented history, Shepard distills them into a concentrated burst of truth.” — Kirkus starred review and Best Children’s Book
Here is the riveting dual biography of two little-known but extraordinary African-American Union soldiers in Civil War history—George E. Stephens and James Henry Gooding.
A powerful poem about Ona Judge's life and her self-emancipation from George Washington’s household.
About Ray
Ray Anthony Shepard’s picture book biography Runaway: The Daring Escape of Ona Judge was a 2022 Jane Addams Peace Association Honor Book, a Notable Book by the Association for Library Services to Children, and the National Council for the Social Studies/Children’s Book Council Notable Book. His young adult biography Now or Never! 54th Massachusetts Infantry’s War to End Slavery was a Carter J. Woodson Honor Book and selected by the Massachusetts Center for the Book as a “Must Read.” His young adult verse biography, A Long Time Coming: A Lyrical Biography of Race in America from Ona Judge to Barack Obama, received the 2025 Julia Ward Howe Award for Young Adult Books.