What If There Were No Black Folks?
What if the light bulb, the traffic signal, and the blood bank never existed? This activity and coloring book takes young readers through a world reimagined without the inventions of African American inventors — showing, page by page, just how much of daily life traces back to Black innovation most people never learn about in school.
Inside, kids color, read, and explore short profiles of the inventors behind everyday objects and life-saving technology, paired with “what if it didn’t exist” illustrations that make the impact concrete rather than abstract. Designed for elementary-through-middle-grade readers, and just as suited to a classroom read-aloud as a quiet afternoon at the kitchen table.
By Toni Abasi Hill, illustrated by Rashid Abut-Bey. Price includes shipping.
This book also serves as the core text for The Innovations Scavenger Hunt, a project-based course for learners who want to trace these same inventions further — into their own neighborhoods, and into the problems still worth solving today. Explore the course →
