by Dan Perkins  

One of the biggest events of All Star Week is the dinner hosted by Major League Baseball for its Diverse Business Partners.  This year, the dinner was held at the elegant River Room in Manhattan, which offers a spectacular view of the George Washington Bridge.  There, we met Janus Adams, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, historian, producer and publisher.  To our delight, we discovered that Adams is the author of nine books and the creator of the award-winning BackPax children’s book-and-audio series.  Adams told diversityinbusiness.com that it is her life’s mission to inspire others, especially children, through celebrations of “history, heritage and hope.”

After our meeting, we visited Adams’ website (www.janusadams.com) and discovered that our new friend has been intimately engaged with history ever since childhood.  At the tender age of eight, Adams writes that she was one of four children selected to end the de facto segregation of New York City’s elementary schools.  That action was taken following the Supreme Court’s historic Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954.  Adams went on to graduate from New York’s celebrated High School of Performing Arts; and later earned a master’s degree in Pan-African Culture.  Adams writes that hers is considered the nation’s first graduate degree in Black Studies.

When Adams became a mother, she was determined to protect her twin daughters from negative images of race and gender that were, and still are, prevalent in American society.  While Adams knew she would be successful shielding her own children, she wanted to do something to serve children more broadly.  Adams decided to embark upon a career in publishing, and created BackPax, “publishers to the thinking child.”

Since 1986, BackPax has garnered a wide circle of praise from numerous organizations, including the American Library Association.  BackPax has earned the Parents Choice “Gold Seal” Award for innovation in children’s media, and it is the first independent publisher ever featured by Children’s Book-of-the-Month Club.

Adams continues to demonstrate her commitment to children with her “What Do We Tell Our Children?” essays; but her sphere of influence extends well beyond children’s literature.  Adams is a featured commentator on National Public Radio (NPR).  Her syndicated column appears in Connecticut newspapers and online – including the Stamford Advocate and Greenwich Time; and is now in its fourteenth year.

Adams is currently developing a three-part documentary on the history of African American women for PBS, entitled “Glory Days: A Tradition of Achievement.”  The documentary series is based upon her highly-acclaimed “Glory Days” trilogy of books.

diversityinbusiness.com welcomes opportunities to celebrate pioneering visionaries, such as Janus Adams - people who expand our knowledge and understanding of who we are as a people, and who have a special commitment to the positive development of our youth.  We are grateful to have met such an enormously gifted and gracious talent, and we look forward to chronicling her success in the future.  In the meanwhile, you can discover more about Janus Adams, her books, and her current engagements by visiting her website.  She is definitely someone you will want to know, and someone you will want the children in your life to know.

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