Introduction When I was a kid, I loved listening to other people tell stories about themselves--especially when they made me see the world in a new way. That's one of the reasons why I became a newspaper journalist. My job is to ask questions, listen closely, and share what I learn. I get to write about people's lives--what they care about, what they've been through, and how they've made a difference. The section of the newspaper where I work is called Obituaries. An obituary is a story about someone who has died. It's a way to remember them, celebrate what they did, and show how their life mattered. Some of these people are well-known--like presidents who helped create important laws, athletes who broke records, and musicians whose catchy songs made us dance.

Others aren't famous, but they still changed the world in important ways that sparked imagination--like the woman who created the sock puppet. But after some time on the Obituaries desk, I started noticing a pattern. Most of the people we wrote about were men--especially men with a lot of money or power. Many of them were white. Where were the women? The people of color? The members of the LGBTQ community? The people with disabilities? Where were the people who had changed history in quieter ways? As a daughter of Indian immigrants, I wanted to see more stories that reflected the real world--and people who looked like me. So I started searching through old newspapers to find who had been left out. I discovered that The New York Times had never written an obituary about Major Taylor, the first Black world champion cyclist. Or Regina Jonas, the first woman rabbi.

Or Ruby Payne-Scott, a scientist who helped us understand that the sun makes sounds. I started talking to some friends, and we came up with an idea: What if we were to write the stories that should have been told all along? That's how Overlooked began. Overlooked is a project that honors amazing people who were left out of the newspaper--and ignored throughout history--simply because someone didn't think their stories mattered. But they do matter. This book tells the stories of eighteen people whose creativity, courage, and curiosity helped shape the world we live in today. As you read, I hope you'll ask yourself: Who else deserves to be remembered? Whose stories still need to be told?.