National Portrait Gallery USA Book Recommendations & Book Mentions

National Portrait Gallery USA

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma was born in Paris to Chinese parents and moved to New York City at seven years old. A child prodigy, he perfect his craft at Juilliard and went on to play with many of the world's major orchestras. 🎻 #SmithsonianAANHPI 🖼: https://t.co/ohQwwdmmtl https://t.co/7IH20c6HhL

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National Portrait Gallery USA

Toni Morrison published her 1st novel, "The Bluest Eye" in 1970. Over the course of her career, she received: 🏆 A Pulitzer Prize for "Beloved" 🏆 A Nobel Prize for Literature 🏆 A Presidential Medal of Freedom #SmithsonianWHM 📸: https://t.co/uGyjbkGOqV © Brian Lanker Archive https://t.co/8MskjG0wKg

National Portrait Gallery USA

Toni Morrison published her 1st novel, "The Bluest Eye" in 1970. Over the course of her career, she received: 🏆 A Pulitzer Prize for "Beloved" 🏆 A Nobel Prize for Literature 🏆 A Presidential Medal of Freedom #SmithsonianWHM 📸: https://t.co/uGyjbkGOqV © Brian Lanker Archive https://t.co/8MskjG0wKg

National Portrait Gallery USA

This month we’re highlighting members of the LGBTQ+ community from our portrait collection. Edward Albee wrote "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" in 1962. In his long career, Albee was awarded three Pulitzer Prizes and three Tony Awards. #Pride 🎨: https://t.co/JUc9GehfaL https://t.co/NBlMnuhak7

National Portrait Gallery USA

Happy #EarthDay! 🌎 Biologist Edward O. Wilson laid the groundwork for sociobiology and biogeography. As the world’s foremost expert on ants, his research explored broader questions of human nature & the future of life on Earth. #OurSustainablePlanet 🖼: https://t.co/lf9ueVHJF0 https://t.co/UvELRVgLgq

National Portrait Gallery USA

Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote, #OTD in 1919. Carrie Chapman Catt, as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, was key to securing this victory for the women’s suffrage movement. 🖼: https://t.co/6GIMwlfKQY https://t.co/g749IAch2m

National Portrait Gallery USA

Able to excel in roles as both men and women, Charlotte Cushman was billed as “the greatest living tragic actress” of the mid-19th c. Her most notable roles included Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Romeo, and Lady Macbeth. (L): https://t.co/tJf5fo3nkZ (R): https://t.co/bvddjeDvyJ https://t.co/B00QJ2s1GR

National Portrait Gallery USA

Poet and writer Maya Angelou was born #OnThisDay in 1928. With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in 1969, she launched a series of 7 remarkable autobiographical novels. Angelou was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. 📸: https://t.co/Rbve4Rsw4V https://t.co/im5MOumlMT

National Portrait Gallery USA

For all of our bookworms, here’s a reminder that today is D.E.A.R. Day, aka Drop Everything and Read Day. So unplug and enjoy! 📖 As First Lady, Laura Bush took her passion for childhood literacy and cofounded the National Book Festival. 🖼: https://t.co/MqBOX1gOo3 https://t.co/O0s6yerXjH

National Portrait Gallery USA

Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London and moved to Rhode Island at the age of two. She became a voice of the South Asian immigrant experience in the U.S. and won the Pulitzer Prize for her short-story collection, “The Interpreter of Maladies” (1999). #WHM 📸: https://t.co/9HDIVnFsyC https://t.co/HmlrIkXQGK