The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, From the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement

Sharon McMahon presents twelve ordinary Americans whose actions shaped the nation's history from its founding through the Civil Rights Movement. Rather than focusing on presidents and aristocrats, McMahon identifies lesser-known figures—telephone operators, schoolteachers, and others—whose stories have been absent from standard historical accounts. Through extensive research, McMahon brings these individuals to life, including a woman on horseback riding down Pennsylvania Avenue, a young boy held in a Japanese incarceration camp, a formerly enslaved woman seeking to reunite with her daughter, a poet traveling by train, and a teacher who learned to work with those she opposed. The narratives span dramatic events and unexpected turns of fortune, with some characters gaining financial wealth while others accumulate forms of wealth they valued more highly. The book examines what fundamentally shaped America and Americans, presenting these improbable figures as examples for those working toward a more just, peaceful, good, and free world.